Crusty Dutch Oven Bread

The first bread I made was a crusty dutch oven bread an I've gotta say, I think it's still my favorite bread.  You get all the best things from this kind of bread - the softness of the inner bread and the crispy crunchiness from the hard outer shell.  So naturally, when I decided to make sandwiches, I knew that I needed to make a crusty loaf.  I'll tell you that this loaf looks a little strange because I decided to do some bread art scoring.

Don't laugh, but I've seen some beautiful bread art on instagram and was so excited to try some art of my own with this loaf.  I found a picture that had an easy looking design, so I decided to try to mimic it slightly, but also do my own thing.  It's not very easy to cut the dough because of the elasticity, but I thought I did a pretty good job.  Then I let the dough rise and it totally changed the pattern I'd created.  Fast forward to when it baked and nothing really came through.  Rather than be discouraged, I decided that I need to do a little research and find a way to do better next time.

And guess what?  After just a quick google search and 2 youtube tutorials, I learned a TON.  1st, bread artists (not their official name, but let's go with it) use razor blades to make their cuts.  Razor blades are, well, razor sharp, so they are able to get precision cuts through the dough.  2nd, you're supposed to make your cuts and then immediately place the dough in the oven so the art doesn't get misshapen.  I made my cuts before the last proof, so the dough expanded and the art looked kind of weird before it even went in the oven.  So despite the fact that my bread art didn't turn out, this loaf was absolutely delicious and had a great crust.  I was hoping to make sandwiches out of this bread and it has the perfect size, shape, & consistency.  So here's to good tasting bread, even if it doesn't look all that pretty.

Ingredients:

4 cups AP flour

2 tsp dry active yeast

1/2 cup warm water

1/4 tsp sugar

3/4 tbs salt

1 cup room temp water

1 egg

1 tbs olive oil

Instructions:

1. Stir yeast into warm water and sugar and allow to bloom for about 5 minutes, until it begins to bubble.
2. In a large bowl, mix flour and salt.  Once combined, pour in the water & yeast mixture, room temp water & egg.  
3. Stir until thoroughly combined and then knead dough in the bowl for about 5 minutes, until it begins to pull away from the sides of the bowl.  If the dough is too sticky, add more flour until you reach the desired texture of tacky, but not sticky.
4. Drizzle olive oil over the dough and cover with a clean kitchen towel.  Allow to rise for 1 1/2-2 hours, until doubled in size.  You'll know the dough is ready when you poke it with your finger and it gives under the pressure and then slowly deflates.
5. Fold the corners of the dough towards the center, repeating 4-5 times around the dough loaf.  Cover and let rise for 1 more hour.
6. Once the dough is doubled again, lightly knead it and shape the dough into a loaf shape.  Place in a lightly greased Dutch oven and allow to rise for 1 additional hour.  Optional: sprinkle the top with flour and score lines on the top.
7. Preheat oven to 450° F while the dough is on its last rise.
8. Bake the loaf with the lid on for 30 minutes, then remove the lid and bake for an additional 10 minutes, until a dark brown crust forms.

Here's what happens when you score your bread and then proof it.  Your cuts get all uneven and poofy and your beautiful art doesn't look all that beautiful anymore.  Lesson learned - proof and then slice.

Luckily when it came out of the oven, it didn't look so bad.  There were some nice cracks along my cuts that got super crispy.

And the one little leaf-like pattern I made did turn out.  So here's to more bread art, now knowing a ton more than I knew going into this!