Just four easy ingredients to make this incredibly tasty and irresistible dutch oven bread. This recipe comes together quickly and with little effort, and you won’t believe that this bread didn’t come from your local bakery!
The smell of homemade bread in my oven is one of my favorite smells ever! While there are some recipes for some amazing bread that will have you in the kitchen for long periods of time with the dough rise, kneading, etc. this is certainly not one of them. You’ll never know it when you cut the first piece and sink your teeth into it though. Perfectly crusty on the outside and incredibly soft on the inside, your family will mistake this recipe for something that took you all day to make, and by all means let them think that!
This Easy Dutch Oven Bread is a great addition to any meal, or as a snack on it’s own with some homemade honey butter (my favorite topping). Serve it with our One Pot Skillet Lasagna, Slow Cooker Chicken Noodle Soup, or even my favorite Easy Classic Meatloaf!
How To Make Dutch Oven Bread
This recipe is perfect for a beginner! If you’re a bit new to the kitchen, or to making homemade bread this is the recipe you want!
- Mix together the dry ingredients – add the flour, salt, and yeast to a large bowl and combine
- Add the water – pour the warm water into the dry ingredients
- Stir – using a spatula or wooden spoon, stir the ingredients together until everything is combined and you can form a slight ball of dough. It will be very sticky at this point
- Let rise – cover the mixing bowl with a kitchen towl and let rise
- Form a ball – add a bit of flour to your kitchen counter and form a ball with the dough
- Prepare the dutch oven – put your dutch oven into your oven while you’re preheating it. Once your oven is preheated remove the dutch oven and sprinkle about 1 tablespoon of flour on the bottom. Carefully lay the ball of bread dough on the bottom of the dutch oven.
- Cover and bake – for 30 minutes with the lid on. Remove the lid and bake an additional 15-20 minutes, or until it’s golden brown
- Slice and serve – serve with butter, honey, olive oil for dipping, or anything you like
Letting Your Dough Rise
This recipe only needs one rise, therefore it’s pretty much hands off. Simply mix all the ingredients in one bowl. Once mixed you’ll just lay a towl over the bowl and allow to rise to 2-3 hours until it just about doubles in size. At that time the dough will still be sticky, so be sure to flour your surface a bit before turning the dough out to form a ball.
If your home is a bit cold you can turn your oven on for about 5 minutes. Turn it off and put your bowl in the oven then close the door. The heat will remain in the oven and help the dough to rise.
Cooking Tips for Dutch Oven Bread
- FLOUR You can use both all-purpose flour and bread flour for this recipe. Both will yield about the same texture of bread.
- DUTCH OVEN I use a 3.5-quart dutch oven for this recipe and it works perfectly. If your dutch oven is larger just know that it will result in a more flattened loaf as it will spread to the size of the bottom of your pot.
- MAKE AHEAD You can make this recipe ahead of time by mixing everything and allowing the dough to rise. Put in an airtight continer and refrigerate for up to 5 days before baking.
- STORAGE Keep your homemade bread at room temperature. Wrap any remaining loaf or sliced pieces in foil or in a paper bag. Storing a crusty bread in plastic will soften the crust, so avoid plastic containers or bags if possible.
- FREEZING Homemade bread can easily be frozen. If you do decide to freeze your bread after baking, freezing it on the day of baking is always best. You can preslice the loaf then freeze the pieces storing each between a piece of parchment paper. Thaw only what you’ll eat and keep the rest frozen in a freezer safe container or bag tightly sealed.
IF YOU’VE MADE THIS RECIPE AND ENJOY IT PLEASE CONSIDER GIVING IT A STAR RATING AND LEAVING A COMMENT BELOW. I LOVE TO HEAR FROM EVERYONE!
ALSO, IF YOU’RE NOT ALREADY FOLLOWING ME ON PINTEREST YOU CAN HEAD OVER HERE NOW TO PIN THIS RECIPE AND FOLLOW ME THERE!
Equipment
- 3.5-Quart Dutch Oven
Ingredients
- 3 cups flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 2 teaspoons active dry yeast
- 1 1/2 cups water, room temperature
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, salt, and yeast.
- Add the water and stir until combined and dough can form a ball.
- Spray plastic wrap with cooking spray and cover the bowl. Let rise for 2-3 hours in the bowl.
- When you have about 30 minutes left for the dough to rise, preheat your oven to 450 degrees. With the lid on, place your dutch oven inside the oven and allow to heat for the full 30 minutes.
- When the dough is done rising sprinkle flour over the dough and flour your hands. Remove the dough from the bowl and gently form it into a ball on the floured surface.
- Using oven mitts, remove the dutch oven from the preheated oven and remove the lid. Sprinkle a bit of flour o the bottom of the hot dutch oven and gently drop the ball of dough in the the pot. Place the lid back on the dutch oven and place it in the preheated oven.
- Bake for 30 minutes. Remove the lid and bake an additional 15-20 minutes, until the bread if golden brown.
- Remove the bread from the dutch oven and let cool. Slice and serve.
Leave a Reply