No Knead Dutch Oven Bread

For years, I resisted in trying to make the Dutch Oven Bread. The word of hot Dutch Oven and its close proximity to my fragile skin was enough to make me shy away from any recipes requiring hot Dutch Oven. Until I saw Meredith Laurence’s video of her making the No Knead Bread. In here, she practically dumped the dough into the hot pan using the parchment paper, and I thought, hey, I could do that!

So I informed Hubby that I would try to make this recipe and he proceeded to find another recipe that is much saver for me to follow. After all, I’m a klutz and an accident waiting to happen. Ha ha.

Here comes the Le Creuset’s No Knead Dutch Oven Bread, which uses a cold Dutch Oven to start with, so I don’t have to be afraid of getting burnt for handling the hot pan.

The result? Well, I was pretty pleased how easy this was, and how beautiful the bread turned out. Thank you Le Creuset for sharing this recipe!

Print recipe here.
Recipe courtesy: Le Creuset

Ingredients:
4 cups of bread flour
1.5 tsp salt
1 tsp instant yeast (I used bread machine yeast)
1.5 cups room temperature water
1 tbs apple cider vinegar
Oil (I used avocado oil)

Equipment:
6.5 quartz Dutch oven

Dough Preparation
In a large bowl, stir the flour, salt, and yeast to combine.
Make a well in the center, and add the water and apple cider vinegar.
Stir with a wooden spoon to mix until there is no dry flour in the bowl.
Cover the bowl with plastic wraps tightly. Cover with a towel, let sit in the counter for 12 – 18 hours.

Dutch Oven preparation: grease the bottom and the side of the pan with oil. Set aside.

Shaping the dough:
Flour the surface you will be working on to shape the dough very well.
Using your floured fingers, pull the dough away from the bowl, and transfer it to the floured space.
Pull the edges of the dough to make a ball, and turn the dough over.
Using the palm of your hands, shape the dough into a tight ball by turning and tucking the dough several times.
Put the dough in the center of the greased Dutch oven.
Cover the lid, and let the dough to rest for an hour or two, until it doubled in size.

Baking:
Preheat the oven at 450F about half an hour prior the end of the rising time.
Optional: score the dough with a sharp knife or a bread scoring tool.
Return the lid.
Put the covered Dutch oven into the oven, bake for 30 minutes.
After 30 minutes, open and remove the cover. Turn down the oven to 350F, and continue baking for 15 to 20 minutes, until the bread is golden brown.
Let the bread cool in a rack for 30 minutes, as the bread will finish its cooking.
Slice and enjoy!