Alton made bread in his dutch oven. I had to make bread in my dutch oven, too! It’s actually a very easy bread to make, perfect for beginner bread makers. Why? There’s no kneading! You just have to wait a really really long time for it to rise. Like 19 hours, and then 15 minutes, and then another 2 to 3 hours. It was worth it in the end. It was really yummy. I love homemade bread.
This recipe is from Alton Brown.
Ingredients:
- 17 1/2 ounces bread flour, plus some extra (about 5 cups)
- 1/4 teaspoon active-dry yeast
- 2 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 12 ounces filtered water (I had to add a little more, my dough was too dry)
Directions:
1. Mix together all ingredients. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise for 19 hours.
2. Punch down dough. Turn onto lightly floured work surface and fold over itself a few times. Cover with tea towel. Let rest for 15 minutes.
3. Uncover dough, shape into ball. Cover towel with flour (he uses cornmeal, but I didn’t have any – I used it all to make cornbread) and put dough on it. Sprinkle some flour on the dough and cover. Let rise for 2 to 3 hours.
4. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Place the dutch oven inside while it heats. When the oven is ready, carefully put dough inside the dutch oven. I put some parchment paper to make sure it didn’t stick, but I’m pretty sure that was unnecessary. Bake covered for 30 minutes, then uncover and bake for another 30 minutes. Let cool 15 minutes before serving.
Alton made this straight on coals. I’m not that cool. If YOU are that cool, try it and let me know how it goes.
