A savory country bread that bakes in a cast iron Dutch oven and takes about 2.5 hours from start to finish. Most bread recipes bake best in a convection oven, however, you want to bake this in a conventional oven (fan off) because of the lag time involved in getting the Dutch oven to a baking temperature.
This simple country bread uses garlic salt and Rosemary, which provides a savory herbal tone with a salty finish. A bread like this goes exceptionally well with grilled steak dinners or roasted chicken. It has a nice crust and soft interior that begs you not to butter it.
Ingredients
- 630g Flour (4.5 cups)
- 1 tsp Garlic salt
- 1 tsp Kosher salt
- 2 tsp Rosemary – chopped – divided
- 1 TBL dry active yeast
- 16 oz. water – at 110 degs. F
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1 TBL olive oil – divided
Process
- Mise en Place – measure and prepare your ingredients before starting.
- Pitch yeast – mix yeast and sugar into warm water. Cover with a towel and allow to activate for 10 mins.
- Mix dough – While yeast is pitching, put flour, garlic salt, kosher salt, and 1 tsp rosemary into mixer.
- Stir for 1 min at speed 1.
- Add yeast mixture and stir for 4 mins at speed 1.
- Knead dough – increase mixer speed to 4 and knead for 8 mins.
- Rub olive oil in cast iron Dutch oven on sides and bottom.
- Shape dough into a round mound and place in Dutch oven turning once.
- First Proof: Cover oven and let dough rise 1 hour.
- Second Proof: punch bread down and allow to rise 30 mins.
- Preheat oven to 400 degs F.
- Brush olive oil over top of loaf and sprinkle with rosemary and either sea salt or garlic salt.
- Bake for 30-45 mins depending on your oven and Dutch Oven. You want the upper crust to have a nice golden brown finish.
- Remove from oven but leave in Dutch Oven for 10 mins. The oven will continue to bake the bread.
- Put bread on a wire rack to cool. You need to give the loaf 15 mins to cool and frim up before you start slicing.
