Dutch Oven Bread

I recently posted a recipe for a 4-hour Dutch Oven Bread and wanted to also post the original recipe I made which takes 18-24 hours to rise. A few years ago I helped my cousin Andrew prepare food for a baptism party and he made paninis using this bread. He got the recipe from a friend, Katie Newkumet, and sent it to me. I've made it multiple times and really like it. It's very simple to make and perfect if you like to plan ahead.

With a blizzard in the forecast at the end of last week, I made this dough on Thursday night and baked it on Friday afternoon just as the snow began to fall. I had some bread with my dinner that night, made French toast with it in the morning, had it again with multiple lunches and dinners, and used it to make croutons to put in French onion soup! This bread can be used for so many things.

I baked this in my Lodge cast iron 3-quart dutch oven, but it can be baked in any pot with an oven-proof lid.

Edit December 2021: my cousin Vincent said this bread comes out best using King Arthur All-Purpose Flour, not Bread Flour!

Dutch Oven Bread

4 cups King Arthur Bread Flour (yes, this specific flour is the key!)

2 cups warm water

2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon active dry yeast

Mix everything together in a bowl and let in rise in a warm place for 18-24 hours.

Preheat the oven to 400°F; place your empty dutch oven into the oven for 30 minutes.

Take the dough out of the bowl and roll it in some flour so it doesn't stick to your hands. No kneading required - just form a ball shape.

Take the dutch oven out after 30 minutes and drop the dough into it.

Place it back in the oven with the lid on for 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes, take the lid off and leave bread in for another 15 minutes.

Remove bread from dutch oven and let it cool before slicing.

Mix everything together in bowl

Let rise for 18-24 hours

Take dough out

Roll in ball shape

Drop dough ball in dutch oven

Bake for 30 minutes with lid on

Bake for 15 more minutes with lid off

Cool and slice

Photos by JoJo