5-Ingredient Dutch Oven Bread

This bread is so easy and delicious! One of the struggles I have with making bread is that it can often come out dense after all your time and effort. Not this recipe. Something about leaving it to rest overnight makes the dough turn out so well.

This is the basic recipe. It’s very versatile. By adding just a few ingredients, it can be taken in many directions including cinnamon raisin, whole wheat, whole grain, or add cheddar and chives for a nice savoury bread.

5-INGREDIENT DUTCH OVEN BREAD

Prep: 5 min.

Rest Time: 12-18 hrs.

Cook Time: 40 min.

Makes: 1 loaf

Ingredients

3 cups + 3 tbsp all-purpose flour
3 tbsp white sugar
1½ tsp salt
1/2 tsp yeast
1½ cups warm water

Instructions

In a large bowl, combine flour through salt.
In a small bowl, add yeast to warm water (~105°-110°F) and let sit for 5 minutes.
Add yeast-water to the dry ingredients and mix with a wooden spoon or hand until combined.
Shape dough into a ball and leave in a large bowl covered in plastic wrap for 12-18 hours (over night). After the rest period (probably the next morning) check your dough. It will have risen and fallen and you should be left with a bubbly wet dough.
When ready to bake, place your dutch oven into the oven and set to 450°F. Allow to preheat for 30-45 minutes while you prepare the dough.
Remove dough from bowl with floured hands and place on the counter.
Shape dough into a ball creating a smooth surface on top. Sprinkle in a little more flour on top if the dough is too wet. You don’t want the dough sticking to the counter top. Transfer dough to a piece of parchment paper and let dough rest on the counter for 30-45 minutes.
After rest time is finished, use the edges of the parchment paper to lift your dough and place in the preheated dutch oven. Using a sharp knife, make a light cut on the top of the dough in three parallel lines or an x shape. This gives the dough room to expand while it cooks.
Cover with the lid and bake for 30 minutes. Remove lid and bake for 10 minutes more.
Let cool before cutting.

Pull out the butter, honey, jam and enjoy!

After 12 hours resting
Last 10 min. of cooking without lid
Shaped dough. Whole grain version
Look at those air pockets!

Hannah’s Hints:

Step 3: There is no need to knead this dough, but you can use your hands to knead briefly to ensure it’s fully mixed.

Step 4: The dough will seem wet and shaggy. This is normal, it helps it to ferment slightly creating a similar style bread to sourdough. However, you should be able to shape into a rough ball. Add a little more flour if you’re unable to do so.

Step 7: When I transfer the dough to the parchment, I like to put a clean tea towel under the parchment so that the cool countertop doesn’t slow down my rising dough. This will obviously depend on your countertop material.

Step 10: Cutting too soon can make your bread become gummy in texture and not that nice airy bread you worked so hard for. Resist temptation and wait one hour before cutting into your bread.