Comments on: Easy Dutch Oven Bread (and sweater vest dreams)

By: Maureen Corbin

Maureen Corbin — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 00:49:15 +0000

I just made your bread without reading the comments and mine was runny too. I thought maybe I didn’t measure my flour correctly until I read that a few others had the same problem. I will reduce water next time. My bread looks gorgeous and my husband wants to cut it right away but I noticed you said ‘cool completely’. Is that cool in the pot or cool on a rack? Thanks for your recipe and your pictures…. the pictures are sooo cool!

By: Michael Logue

Michael Logue — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 01:06:06 +0000

Sorry, that should be a 2:1 ratio of flour to water…..

By: Michael Logue

Michael Logue — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 01:04:49 +0000

Here’s what I found works well: A 3:1 ratio of flour to water.

For each cup of water, a teaspoon of salt.

Using active dry yeast, 1/2 teaspoon per cup of water.

Eight to twelve hours covered.

Fold with flour.

Wait another two hours.

In a preheated DO (30 minutes min), bake covered for 30 minutes.

Uncover and let bake until crust achieves desired color.

Remove from DO and allow to cool – if you have the patience…..

Slather slices with SALTED butter!

By: Merna

Merna — Sat, 29 Dec 2012 00:28:33 +0000

What happens if you use rapid rise yeast? I’ve been planning this all day and don’t have any “regular” on hand… Tomorrow (while it’s rising) I’ll go get the handle replacement. Thank you so much for the great recipe and info!

By: Tara

Tara — Mon, 12 Nov 2012 23:01:59 +0000

I had the same problem with the runny dough, i keep adding more flour but its just not staying in a ball shape. I usually use the same recipe but with one and a half cups of water and only tried this to see the difference. I’ll stick with one and a half:)

By: Sandy

Sandy — Sun, 11 Nov 2012 23:14:45 +0000

I should have read the comments first. I had to add an extra cup of flour plus some to keep it from being runny. I agree that there’s too much water in the recipe. My dough was still very soft. I also found that 475 was too hot. My first loaf came our really dark brown with some burnt spots. I lowered the temperature to 450 for the second loaf & it was better. Sure smells good.

By: Sharon

Sharon — Fri, 26 Oct 2012 18:59:42 +0000

I will have to try again, then, using 1/2 cup less water.

By: Sherald

Sherald — Wed, 24 Oct 2012 17:16:49 +0000

You can either use less flour, or you can fold in a little additional flour when you turn it out. I just added enough (a small amount at a time) to give me enough consistency to be able to form a ball, even though the ball was a bit limp when I put it in my Dutch oven. The dough rose and browned perfectly. Also, see my last post to this thread about bread rejuvenation.

By: Sherald

Sherald — Wed, 24 Oct 2012 17:13:22 +0000

The recipe as outlined works extremely well. I tried both water amounts. Typically you get a much more “airy” loaf if the dough is slack, unless you are willing to put in a lot of effort. Please read my last comment in this post to see how to rejuvenate your loaf before eating if you like that crusty touch and feel.

By: Sherald

Sherald — Wed, 24 Oct 2012 17:07:37 +0000

The bread turns out great, even though the original dough is extremely wet. Also, you should be sure to rejuvenate that crusty bread touch and feel be utilizing my last comment below.