Dutch Oven Bread

SoCalTim

I absolutely love baking on my egg ... made dough last night, let it sit for 18+ hrs  .. did the final prep work this afternoon, placed dough on parchment paper, set it inside the dutch oven, placed it in a 450 degree egg (covered) then 15 minutes uncovered.

It came out awesome!

bgebrent

Great looking loaf!

SciAggie

The bread looks great. I've tried multiple times to duplicate the color and texture you get like this versus naked on the egg and I can't do it. I use a stoneware cloche instead of a Dutch oven but I don't think it matters. 
Here's an idea to chew on... Think about using your pizza stone on the grill and then inverting the Dutch oven over the bread - like a hat. Managing the dough might be easier that way and you'll still get the same effect. It would look a bit like this:
You would just have the Dutch oven in place of the cloche. I think putting a "hat" on the bread might be easier than dropping dough into a hot pot. Something to think about. Either way, your bread looks great my friend. 

Tinyfish

Pass the butter please.

CPARKTX

Looks great. Never thought to use parchment paper like you I'd, great idea

stv8r

looks fantastic!  I have a woefully underused dutch oven.....need to get off my behind and try this

Roadpuke0

Nice. I'm jelly 

tarheelmatt

Nice! Now, what's the benefit to mixing on the washer?  I want to know all the ins and outs!   

bgebrent

tarheelmatt said:

Nice! Now, what's the benefit to mixing on the washer?  I want to know all the ins and outs!   

Saw that and assumed it was an accessory island with increased ambient humidity and temp to help with the rise

SciAggie

bgebrent said:

tarheelmatt said:

Nice! Now, what's the benefit to mixing on the washer?  I want to know all the ins and outs!   

Saw that and assumed it was an accessory island with increased ambient humidity and temp to help with the rise

This is funny stuff - and could be entirely plausible. 

Terrebandit

That looks awesome. Can I see it sliced?

blasting

Tim, that is a great looking loaf right there.  Very impressive.  Is that a 7 quart DO are you using for that?

SoCalTim

@blasting .. thanks, it's a 5 qt, @Terrebandit .. dang it, forgot to take a sliced pic.

Chubbs

Looms great. Mind sharing which recipe you used for dough?

SoCalTim

@Chubbs  .. It was actually really simple, 3 cups King Arthur all-purpose flour,1/2 teaspoon rapid rise yeast 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1& 1/2 cups of water.

Fold ingredients gently (as not to bruise the dough) into each other .. cover overnight.

ryantt

I cooked a some on the egg just once and it came out really nice.  My wife likes the King  Arthur no need bread recipe.  Cooked it on the pizza stone wasn't brave enough to try the D.O like Tim.  

ryantt

@SoCalTim that was an amazing looking cook my friend. I honestly am amazed at the color you got on the crust.  All I would need with it is a big pot of Sunday gravy aka red sauce for you non Italians.   

1move

@SoCalTim how long was it in the egg before you removed the lid?

SoCalTim

1move said:

@SoCalTim how long was it in the egg before you removed the lid?

I sat the DO in the egg while the egg came to temp (450 degrees) .. once at temp, I placed the dough on parchment paper and put it in the egg. I then put the cover on the DO and let it go 30 minutes, then took lid off for 15 minutes to finish, that's how it browns and develop's the incredible crust - for a total cook time of 45 minutes.

1move

Thanks Tim, just about to do my cook, can't wait to see how it turns out

bobroo

Just an FYI SoCalTim, reading your post today has inspired me to bake 5 loaves today. Thanks for the great idea!

caliking

That loaf looks terrific.

I'm just getting the kind of oven spring i would like to see (i.e. like yours). Have tried new yeast, and even bought some SAF yeast recently. I seem to get better results in a DO than uncovered on a stone, but still not the kind of oven spring that many here seem to get. Most recent attempt was with the King Arthur no knead recipe which is similar to the Artisan Bread in 5min recipe. 

Panathinaikos55

My daughter (she's 3) and I made a few loaves yesterday too (she put feta cheese in hers) and we topped them with some cheddar!  We didn't use a dutch oven though.

TN_Egger

With a well seasoned DO, you really don't need the parchment paper.  It truly will slide around when it's ready.

SoCalTim

@TN_Egger, this particular DO is only a month old, just breaking it in.

Photo Egg

SciAggie said:

The bread looks great. I've tried multiple times to duplicate the color and texture you get like this versus naked on the egg and I can't do it. I use a stoneware cloche instead of a Dutch oven but I don't think it matters. 
Here's an idea to chew on... Think about using your pizza stone on the grill and then inverting the Dutch oven over the bread - like a hat. Managing the dough might be easier that way and you'll still get the same effect. It would look a bit like this:
You would just have the Dutch oven in place of the cloche. I think putting a "hat" on the bread might be easier than dropping dough into a hot pot. Something to think about. Either way, your bread looks great my friend. 

SoCalTim is getting why would he want to change it up?

Thatgrimguy

Photo Egg said:

SciAggie said:

The bread looks great. I've tried multiple times to duplicate the color and texture you get like this versus naked on the egg and I can't do it. I use a stoneware cloche instead of a Dutch oven but I don't think it matters. 
Here's an idea to chew on... Think about using your pizza stone on the grill and then inverting the Dutch oven over the bread - like a hat. Managing the dough might be easier that way and you'll still get the same effect. It would look a bit like this:
You would just have the Dutch oven in place of the cloche. I think putting a "hat" on the bread might be easier than dropping dough into a hot pot. Something to think about. Either way, your bread looks great my friend. 

SoCalTim is getting why would he want to change it up?

Because a cloche  is a Heck of a lot easier to work with. Getting bread out of a 450 degree DO is dangerous work. 

Photo Egg

Thatgrimguy said:

Photo Egg said:

SciAggie said:

The bread looks great. I've tried multiple times to duplicate the color and texture you get like this versus naked on the egg and I can't do it. I use a stoneware cloche instead of a Dutch oven but I don't think it matters. 
Here's an idea to chew on... Think about using your pizza stone on the grill and then inverting the Dutch oven over the bread - like a hat. Managing the dough might be easier that way and you'll still get the same effect. It would look a bit like this:
You would just have the Dutch oven in place of the cloche. I think putting a "hat" on the bread might be easier than dropping dough into a hot pot. Something to think about. Either way, your bread looks great my friend. 

SoCalTim is getting why would he want to change it up?

Because a cloche  is a Heck of a lot easier to work with. Getting bread out of a 450 degree DO is dangerous work. 

Guess I have been lucky. Mine have handles and I just tilt them over and they fall out onto the counter. I guess depends on style of cast iron dutch oven.

Thatgrimguy

Because a cloche  is a Heck of a lot easier to work with. Getting bread out of a 450 degree DO is dangerous work. 

Guess I have been lucky. Mine have handles and I just tilt them over and they fall out onto the counter. I guess depends on style of cast iron dutch oven.

I don't think it's a huge deal. But for multiple loaves I don't pull my cloche out of the oven ever. It's a little easier but not a huge deal for sure.

Photo Egg

Thatgrimguy said:

I don't think it's a huge deal. But for multiple loaves I don't pull my cloche out of the oven ever. It's a little easier but not a huge deal for sure.

Great point...being able to leave it in the oven.

SciAggie

Photo Egg said:

SciAggie said:

The bread looks great. I've tried multiple times to duplicate the color and texture you get like this versus naked on the egg and I can't do it. I use a stoneware cloche instead of a Dutch oven but I don't think it matters. 
Here's an idea to chew on... Think about using your pizza stone on the grill and then inverting the Dutch oven over the bread - like a hat. Managing the dough might be easier that way and you'll still get the same effect. It would look a bit like this:
You would just have the Dutch oven in place of the cloche. I think putting a "hat" on the bread might be easier than dropping dough into a hot pot. Something to think about. Either way, your bread looks great my friend. 

SoCalTim is getting why would he want to change it up?

For sure he is getting great success. I'm not implying my way is better - I was just offering something to think about that might make managing the bread easier. Particularly if you slash a loaf and then have to drop it in a Dutch oven - I think plopping it on a pizza stone is easier. Others may have different ideas. Again, I certainly don't mean to sound like I'm some kind of know-it-all. I was throwing out an idea for discussion.