To bloom or not to bloom...

Bread in a Dutch Oven? I’m game for that. This recipe was pretty easy to put together. It sure didn’t rise like I thought it would. I’m also not entirely sure why – but it tasted good, it dipped soup perfectly, smelled the house up amazingly – so what if it didn’t “bloom” perfectly. Maybe next time – I’ll blame the weather.

The Dutch Oven Bread
What you need!
20 oz. of all purpose flour – about 4 cups.
8 oz. of water (or 1 cup.)
4 oz. melted butter with chopped herbs of choice. We had thyme, parsley and green onions.
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon active or instant yeast. (if active, it would be best to sprinkle yeast over the water to let it start to work before mixing it in)

Make it!
Combined these ingredients all together in the KitchenAid stand mixer with the dough hook.
Mixed them together for about 10 minutes or so until you can successfully achieve a windowpane with the dough.
Once this elasticity has been achieved, the dough can sit out with plastic wrap over it for 1-4 hours to double in size. After it’s gotten bigger, it should be kneaded for a minute or two so that the yeast can redistribute.
Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
Cut a large ‘X’ into the surface of the bread dough so it can bloom!
Bake inside a covered cast iron pan after coating the rounded dough with olive oil and sprinkling with kosher salt. Bake for 30 minutes with the lid on, then remove lid to finish it off for another 15 to 30 minutes.