Mar 11 2014
Here it is 59 deg. in Ohio and I am inside. The crazy weather is not considering my cooking plans! The forecast is rain tonight then turning to snow tomorrow and a low in the single digits tomorrow night. Possible 3 to 5 inches of snow. Then back to 50 deg. by Friday! I should have had something planned for the smoker today.
I wanted to try one of my Bread in 5 loaves in cast iron; kind of marrying it with Lahey’s no-knead bread recipe. I made up the ball and let rise for 40 minutes and had my 5 quart Dutch oven preheating in a 450 deg. oven. I had the loaf on parchment paper and just lifted paper and all and placed it in the Dutch oven, covered with the lid. I did it with lid on for 20 minutes then took the lid off and continued to bake. I checked it in 5 minutes and it looked good to me. Looks like I got a crispy crust with good color.
I had baked a lot of loaves with the Lahey recipe and knew I got a crust with more crispness than the Bread in 5 method. I would describe the Bread in 5 crust as crispy but slightly chewy. I still like the Bread in 5 method the best; I like the convenience of having the dough ready in the fridge all the time and I can get a nice loaf of bread done in an hour and a half. Using the heavy Dutch oven is not that easy and will probably just do it once in a while. Lodge makes a 4 quart Dutch oven and it would be a little lighter to handle.
Ready for the oven
Cooling
Smokin Don
