A Dutch Oven No-Knead Bread Recipe

taugust

Adventurer
I find it interesting that the Overland Journal always has articles with topics related to something I have recent experience with. Case in point: The most recent issue (Winter 2008) has articles on Dual Batteries (I recently installed my system), Hole-In-The-Rock Trail (I took a week-long trip to southern Utah last summer with the ultimate destination as the Hole-In-The-Rock on the north side) and Dutch Oven No Knead Bread (which I got into after a So-Cal Dutch Oven Convention last October). Since the convention, I have found and tried several recipes and I have modified and adapted this one to camp dutch oven cooking.

One thing that I have found is that most recipes leave a lot of specific info out of the procedure (OJ included). I have tried to be thorough in the procedure details. If I missed something, please let me know. This recipe came from a website forum called Breadtopia, where the method (procedure) is given in video format, no written directions. This is helpful in some ways, but difficult to follow when you are actually baking, especially for me with a dialup connection.

I wrote the procedure for either a kitchen oven using a Dutch Oven (no legs and a domed lid), or a Camp Dutch Oven (legs and flat lid) with charcoal. When I followed the other recipes, I found the crust to be too hard and thick. I like mine thinner and a little chewy. This bread has excellent flavor and I like the fact that it uses very basic ingredients, like the "olden days." It rarely lasts more than a day or two.

The only hitch for some people might be the sourdough starter. I got mine from Bruce C. at the Dutch Oven Convention and have been keeping it going in the fridge at home. There is a lot of conflicting info available on the net. Most of what I know, I got from Bruce's class and handout that he provided. It really is not a chore to maintain the starter. I feed it about every week and it's fine. For those that don't know, sourdough starter is simply a mixture of flour and water that has been allowed to acquire wild yeasts from the local surrounding air. The yeasts multiply and consume the flour, fermenting it and creating the sour flavor and the CO2 bubbles that cause the bread to rise. You can substitute 1/4 tsp instant or rapid rise yeast for the sourdough starter in the recipe. The long rise time will still provide the sourdough flavor.

Most bread bakers recommend weighing the flour, as it provided a more consistent loaf. There are a lot of variables in the flour to measure with a measuring cup. If you don't have a kitchen scale, try using 3 1/2 cups flour.

One of the things that is very important: Don't peek at the bread as it is baking. When you open the dutch oven (especially early in the bake), you release the steam that is critical to the additional rise of the bread as it bakes (bakers call this "oven spring"). Also, avoid using tap water, as the yeast doesn't like the clorine.

Here are some links to forums with Dutch Oven cooking info and bread recipes that I have found useful. The first is:

http://www.camp-cook.com/forum/

This forum is moderated by Joanne, who taught a class on bread baking in a dutch oven at the Dutch Oven Convention. Her recipe that got me started is here: http://www.camp-cook.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=864 Again, some details are left out. The followup posts are informative and provide several links to other recipes and methods, including:

http://www.breadtopia.com/sourdough-no-knead-method/

This is the basis for my recipe. You will easily see how I modified and adapted it to suit my needs. Again, the followup posts (a lot of them) give some interesting info that is very helpful in understanding what is going on in the bread baking process.


Enjoy!


Sourdough No Knead Bread (for oven or dutch oven)

16 oz. Bread Flour
1½ tsp. Salt
¼ cup Sourdough Starter
1½ cups Warm, Purified Water (120º-130ºF)

Mix flour and salt in large bowl with wisk or spoon. Pour sourdough starter into water and mix.

Add water/starter to flour and mix with wooden spoon. Dough will be shaggy and sticky. Cover with plastic wrap and let stand in warm (70ºF) area for 16-18 hours. Dough will be bubbly.

Turn out onto floured board and gently spread out in rectangular shape with your floured hands. Fold one third to the middle, then the other third to the middle, like a letter fold. Fold this in half and cover with plastic wrap. Let rest 15 minutes.

Lift dough from board (using scraper as needed), turn over and shape into a ball, folding the edges under. Set seam side down on a sheet of parchment paper (dutch oven liner) sprayed with Pam, inside a large skillet and cover with cotton towel. Let rise for 90 minutes.

About 30 minutes before end of rise, place covered kitchen dutch oven in cold oven and preheat to 400º F. When dough has about doubled in size, cut an X in the center of the ball with a knife or scissors. Remove dutch oven from the oven, remove lid and lower parchment/dough into dutch oven. Replace lid and return dutch oven to oven. Bake for 40 minutes. Remove lid and bake for an additional 5-10 minutes to brown crust. Bread is done when an instant read thermometer indicates an internal temperature of 200º F and the crust is a golden brown.

Remove dutch oven from oven and remove bread from dutch oven. Cool on rack and cut.


For baking in the dutch oven with charcoal:

Start charcoal about 70 minutes into the final proofing stage, using a camp stove to light (two minutes over flame). When coals are ready, in approximately 12 minutes, preheat camp dutch oven by arranging 10 coals under outside edge of dutch oven. Place approximately 20 coals on top, 16 around perimeter, with four of the coals spread around the center. Let heat, empty, for 10 minutes. Cut an X in the center of the dough ball with a knife or scissors. Remove lid, lower dough on parchment into the dutch oven and cover. Bake for approximately 45 minutes. Rotate lid and pot 90º in opposite directions every 10 minutes. Do not peek. Bread is done when an instant read thermometer indicates an internal temperature of 200º F and the crust is a golden brown. Remove bread from dutch oven. Cool on rack and cut.

For cold weather(45º F), I added 9 coals on top and 6 on the bottom, about 30 minutes into the bake time.

Here are a couple photos of my latest loaf. This was done in my driveway, using the camp dutch oven and charcoal, including the additional coals for cold weather.
 

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taugust

Adventurer
As I mentioned above, I got interested in sourdough at the Dutch Oven Convention in Orange County last October. A gentleman by the name of Bruce Crabtree taught a class on sourdough starter and baking with sourdough. His handout for the class was a great resource for info on the background, creation, care and feeding of sourdough starter. I just received permission to post it here. This will give a much better understanding of sourdough starter and perhaps get some of you started in creating your own. Unless you are local, sharing starter could get messy, although I know it gets shipped.
 

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Joanne

Adventurer
Tim, great job on the bread!! :chef: I really like the way that you developed your recipe and wrote out the procedure. :clapsmile I think a lot of people are intimidated by the thought of baking bread, but the No Knead recipe is a great way to get started. It's also a great "on the trail" recipe that you can make up the night before and bake in a Dutch Oven the morning. Yum, fresh bread in camp!

I try to encourage folks to try Dutch Oven bread baking because it's really not that difficult and the results are wonderful.

Here's my latest loaf that I baked on the back porch.

bread_04.jpg



Tim, I have taught quite a few classes and often wonder if anyone really gets anything out of the class. Now I know that it's worth my time to do. Thanks!!

Keep those coals hot!!

Joanne
 
That looks like great fun....is there any reason I can't just stick the whole thing in the oven to bake when we're at home?

Thanks,

Keith
 

paulj

Expedition Leader
No-knead bread gained public attention with a Mark Bittman column in the NY Times several years ago. This version started with just a small amount of yeast (about 1/4 tsp of instant), and baked in preheated dutch oven (in the home oven, about 450deg). Baking in a covered hot pot simulates the humid oven that bakers have used for years to produce a crisp crust.

I've worked from a version on R Bernanbaum's blog
http://www.realbakingwithrose.com/2006/12/noknead_balloon_bread_loaf_10.html

Cooks Illustrated has also tested this. Their main innovation was to use parchment paper when transferring the dough to the hot dutch oven.

Jacque Pepin has a variation in his series that is airing on CreateTV, More Fast Food My Way. He makes a wetter dough (2+ cups of water per lb of flour) in a nonstick sauce pan, lets it rise for a couple hours, punches it down, and does a second rise in the fridge overnight. He then bakes it in the same pot that he mixed it in (no lid). Episode 209.
http://www.kqed.org/w/morefastfoodmyway/episode209.html

Since I don't have an ovenproof nonstick pot, I've successfully transfered the dough to a prepared dutch oven (10" GSI aluminum) for the second rise and baking. This doesn't have the crisp crust of the preheated DO version, but requires less handling, and seems to give better rise.
 
Cool....I've got the Dutch oven, just need an excuse to use it at home ;)

...though my latest "vice" is an apple cake that's been doing double duty as breakfast and late night dessert :)

I'll transcribe the recipie in another thread....tomorrow...

Thanks,

Keith
 

rusty_tlc

Explorer
That looks like great fun....is there any reason I can't just stick the whole thing in the oven to bake when we're at home?

Thanks,

Keith
I have a regular dutch oven, ie one without legs, I use it in the oven at home fairly often. What I do is put it in the oven while I pre-heat the oven, other wise it takes forever for the DO to come up to heat. There is nothing better for braising lamb shanks or making osso buco. I'm pretty sure bread would come out great. Check the thrift store, you can usually find them there.
 

DontPanic42

Adventurer
That looks like great fun....is there any reason I can't just stick the whole thing in the oven to bake when we're at home?

Thanks,

Keith

Sure, go ahead and stick it the oven. A DO is just a vessel to hold something and it doesn't really care how the heat is applied. Mine have been put in ovens, over fires, on stoves, used with coals, charcoal, stacked with coals in between, etc.
 

taugust

Adventurer
Tim, great job on the bread!! :chef: I really like the way that you developed your recipe and wrote out the procedure. :clapsmile I think a lot of people are intimidated by the thought of baking bread, but the No Knead recipe is a great way to get started. It's also a great "on the trail" recipe that you can make up the night before and bake in a Dutch Oven the morning. Yum, fresh bread in camp!

...snip...

Tim, I have taught quite a few classes and often wonder if anyone really gets anything out of the class. Now I know that it's worth my time to do. Thanks!!

Keep those coals hot!!

Joanne


Thanks so much for the class you taught. Yours and Bruce's really got my interest going. It really is very easy to bake bread in a DO. I will actually try to bake the bread on the trail this month for a group. Should be fun.
 

taugust

Adventurer
That looks like great fun....is there any reason I can't just stick the whole thing in the oven to bake when we're at home?

Thanks,

Keith

Monkeyboy,

Read the first part of the procedure. It gives specific instructions for using a kitchen dutch oven in a kitchen oven. That is how I do it most of the time.
 

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