No Knead Dutch Oven Bread (Le Creuset)

A Lodge cast iron pot with bread inside.

Use my foolproof Dutch Oven No Knead Bread recipe to make delicious bakery style bread at home. Perfect for beginners and seasoned bread bakers alike. Super easy recipe for a perfect golden crust with a soft and fluffy inside. Just 4 ingredients, 3 mins prep and a Dutch oven are all you need.

5 from 2 votes

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Course: bread

Cuisine: American

Prep Time: 3

Cook Time: 45

Proving Tme: 3

Total Time: 3 48

Servings:

Calories: 144kcal

Author: Sarah James

Equipment

Large Cast Iron Dutch Oven - I like to use my Lodge Cast Iron Pot 4.7 litre / 5 US quart. Whilst in Guernsey I used a Le Creuset 26 cm 5 litre Cast Iron Round Casserole.
A large circle of baking parchment (crumpled) to fit your Dutch oven

Ingredients

600 g strong bread flour
2 tsp salt
1 tsp diastatic malt powder or soft brown sugar
1½ tsp instant yeast I use Doves Farm
1 tbs rapeseed /Canola oil
500 ml lukewarm water

Metric - US Customary

Instructions

Stir all the dry ingredients together in a large bowl before pouring in the water and oil.
Mix your ingredients with a spatula or whisk. Don't worry about the very wet shaggy mess in front of you, it will work.
Cover your bowl and leave for 3 hours at room temperature for the magic to happen. Alternatively, leave overnight (or up to 48 hours) in the fridge.
If your dough has been in the fridge, bring it out for a couple of hours to reach room temperature.
Sprinkle flour onto a work surface and scrape out the dough.
Shape the dough by pulling edges into the centre to form a ball. Pinch and rotate until it makes a tighter ball.
Flip it over and tighten a bit more by pulling towards you and rotating. Place on crumpled baking parchment and cover for half an hour.
Put your Dutch Oven or Le Creuset in the oven and preheat to 240°C / 220°C fan / 475 °F / 425 °F fan for 30 mins.
Carefully take out the very hot Dutch Oven and remove the lid. (Be careful where you place the “counter top burning” lid)
Lift the dough using the edges of the parchment and place into the Dutch Oven. Score across the top of your dough.
Replace the Dutch Oven lid and bake at 220°C / 200°C fan / 425 °F / 400 °F fan for 30 minutes.
Remove the Dutch Oven lid and bake for a further 15 to 20 minutes until golden brown.
Carefully lift your baked loaf from the Dutch Oven, again using the baking parchment, and allow to cool.

Notes

Cuts into 12 to 16 slices.
Use a Very Strong White Bread Flour high in protein (15%) for best results.
Use lukewarm water - you should be able to comfortably dip your finger into lukewarm water. Yeast works best at around 37°C / 98°F.
Never put a cold Dutch Oven / Le Creuset casserole in a very hot oven - it may crack.
Don't be tempted to slice a loaf while it is still warm. If you do, your bread will have a gummy texture.
No Knead Dutch Oven Bread freezes well. Make sure your loaf is fully cooled before placing in a freezer bag and then freezing for up to three months. It can also be sliced and then frozen, avoiding waste as you can take out slices when needed.
To defrost, remove your bread from the freezer a couple of hours before needed and defrost at room temperature.
Nutrition information is approximate and meant as a guideline only