Crusty Dutch Oven Bread

I found this recipe one day while searching for an easy bread recipe. This recipe looked delicious and pretty easy (which is a must when I am cooking). One thing I love about this recipe is that this is no kneed bread. You just mix the ingredients and let it rest. 

You don't have to use a dutch oven. You can use a pot with a tight lid that can stand temperatures of around 450 degrees. If you want a dutch oven, Le Creuset is a popular brand. I am too cheap to buy a Le Creuset.  I actually go ours from Amazon. It is half the price of Le Creuset but still looks and works great. 

You do not need to oil the pot. At least not in an enamel covered cast iron or regular cast iron pot. I have never had problems with the bread sticking.

Ingredients:

3 cups of white, unbleached flour

1 3/4 teaspoon of salt

1/2 teaspoon of rapid rise or instant yeast

1 1/2 cups of water

Directions:

In a large bowl, add 3 cups of white, unbleached flour. To the flour, add salt and yeast and combine with whisk. Once combined, add water.  Then cover and let it sit in the bowl for 12-18 hours. 

The dough will look like a shaggy mess but that is ok. DO NOT put the dough in the oven. It needs to sit on the counter to rise. 

After 12-18 hours, the dough will look like this:

It is going to be really sticky, but that is ok and just part of the game. 

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Once it hits 450 degrees, put your dutch oven or pot into the oven to heat up. Let pot sit in the oven for 30 minutes. 

Right after you put the pot into the oven, put the dough on a heavily floured surface and shape into a ball. Cover with the same wrap you used to cover the dough in the bowl and let sit while pot reheats. 

Remove the pot from the oven and carefully pick up the dough and drop into the pot. I recommend putting flour on your hand so that the dough doesn't stick to you. 

Put the lid back on the pot and put the pot into the oven for 30 more minutes. 

Once the bread is done, take it out of the oven and let it rest on a cooling rack for about 5 minutes before slicing. 

The bread will look like this when it is done:

This bread is so good. I love how soft it is inside while the outside is nice and crusty. 

I make this bread whenever I am doing a lighter dinner. Actually, I try to make this recipe to go with every dinner.  It is the perfect compliment to any salad, pasta, soup, etc.  The fact that it is easy makes it my go-to bread.

Hope you enjoy it!

KK