About a week (or so) ago, I created a list of a few "homemaking" or "homesteading" skills that I desire to learn, (and hopefully master!). The list consisted of various things, from being able to quilt and sew, to making cheese at home. It's a pretty lengthy list.. But some of these things that our great grandmothers did every day are becoming a lost art!
So anyway, after hearing a friend of mine share how she had made a fantastic "artisan bread", I knew it was something I wanted to try! I was browsing Pinterest for a good, easy recipe, and happened upon one for loaves cooked in a dutch oven (which was also on my "list" of things to learn) How perfect! I read through the recipe, and instantly realized, this should be a cinch! Very easy instructions, few ingredients, and quick prep time.
Now, just to locate our cast-iron dutch oven. We bought our Lodge dutch oven about a year ago, and it had only been used for an apple pie over an open fire once! P.S. A super scrumptious apple pie..
I found it under a few buckets of various kitchen items and lifted the lid..
Oh yeah, I forgot.. The remains from the apple pie had been scorched on the bottom and left for the lucky finder to give their try at scrubbing the inches of blackened crust off. Yipee.
I started off with good efforts, removing much of the hardened goop. But after about 30 minutes of scraping and boiling and scrubbing, I thought I would cry.
You know, when life gets tough... You give up.
Just kidding. You go to Grandma's.
No, really.
She loaned me her pretty, new, never-used, enameled dutch oven! :)
(just to clarify, this recipe uses a dutch oven inside a regular oven)
Then the fun part, making the dough! This recipe was a very simple, 4 ingredient white bread. Nothing fancy. I thought it was a great one to use for a practice run!
There was only one rising period of about 2 hours. Not a lot of kneading, which I never enjoy for fear of over-working the gluten and having a tough bread. And basically you cook the dough in the already warmed dutch oven, inside your regular oven (at 450*). Super easy!
Because of the simple use of a dutch oven, your bread has a very crispy and thick browned crust, which was my favorite part! It reminds me of the breads you get at specialty sandwich shops like Panera. And the round loaf made it all the much cuter!
Haha, yeah, the appearance and aesthetic of food means a lot to me.
So yeah, if you are interested in trying a new, easy bread recipe that isn't your usual white dinner loaf, give this a go! You won't be disappointed. After eating one whole loaf in two days, *sheepish grin*, we sliced and froze the other. And after today, I can tell you it makes great grilled cheeses too!
:)
You can find the whole recipe here!
Until next time!
Bethany
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