Quick Dutch Oven Crunchy Bread

Written By Sarah Field

This is my go-to bread recipe. It’s easy (no knead) and quick (3 hours) and is SO DELICIOUS and SO ACCESSIBLE for all levels of bakers.

Cook time: 45-50 minutes

Dutch Oven Crunchy Bread

Yield 1 loaf

Ingredients

2 cups warm water

1 1/2 tsp fine sea salt

1 tsp granulated sugar

1 tsp olive oil

2 1/4 tsp instant yeast (1 package) or active dry

4 cups flour

Direction

  1. In the bowl of a stand mixer or a large mixing bowl, add in water, salt, sugar, olive oil (and yeast if using active dry). Mix the instant yeast into the flour then add into the water mixture 1 cup at a time while mixing until fully combined. Mix until the dough comes together into a smooth ball.

  2. Lightly flour a clean bowl. Turn the dough into the bowl and lightly dust with flour. Cover with a clean dish towel and set in a warm area to rise about 1-1 1/2 hours or until doubled in size.

  3. Turn dough out onto the counter so the the bottom is now on top. Bring into a ball by gathering the dough down and around to meet at the bottom, like making a little package. Place seam side down back into bowl, cover with the towel, and set aside while oven preheats, about 30 minutes.

  4. While dough is resting, preheat oven to 425°F with a Dutch oven inside.

  5. When oven is preheated, carefully remove hot Dutch oven from the oven. Remove lid and lightly dust with flour. Turn dough out so the seam side is facing up and place into the Dutch oven. If you’d like, you can score the bread a little bit more by making a K shape with an extra slash in between the two angled lines.

  6. Cover with the lid and place in the oven. Bake for 30 minutes with lid on. Carefully remove lid (setting aside in a safe place as it will be incredibly hot for a while) and bake for an additional 15-20 minutes or until bread is a nice deep golden color.

  7. Remove from the oven and let sit for about 5 minutes then remove from Dutch oven and place on a wire rack to cool. I know it’s hard to wait to eat it, but it will slice better and maintain its structure better if you have a tad bit of patience for about 20 minutes!

Sarah Field