While we tend to lean low carb in our eating habits, we do like a piece of hearty toast in the morning before heading out to do the farm chores. Having taken a break from our sourdough to explore other options, we recently found an easy recipe for this rustic, crusty whole wheat loaf – baked in cast iron!
Note: though this post was written by me, the bread baking is done by Mr. fMf, as described here. Can I bake bread? Yes. But I have plenty of other interests to keep me busy.
I adore my Lodge enameled cast iron dutch ovens – they look great, work exactly as expected, and are easy to clean. We have a 6 quart and a 2.5 quart, and each is well-used. While we use non-enameled cast iron, too, I prefer to cook acidic foods like spaghetti sauce in the enameled cast iron to prevent the tomato’s acid from reacting with the iron. Following the recipe author’s lead, we used enameled cast iron, but I suspect that a properly-seasoned standard cast iron dutch oven would work, too.
Making the bread begins with mixing the flour, salt, and yeast (and we add 1 Tbsp psyllium powder to boost the fiber) with the water and letting the dough rise for at least 8 hours. We typically let ours rise around 10-12 hours.
The dough is then shaped – not kneaded – and dropped into the pre-heated (and very hot) dutch oven. The pre-heated part is important – follow the instructions to the letter.
The bread then bakes – covered for the first part, followed by an uncovered baking period. It develops a beautiful, rustic crust over its entire surface. It looks like it was baked in a bread oven on a 16th century rural farm (like on Tales from the Green Valley).
The loaf should slide right out of the dutch oven after it’s done. A knock on the bottom of the loaf sounded properly hollow, so we let it cool on a wire rack.
This crusty bread makes fantastic toast and is hearty and soft for sandwiches. Comparing the loaves we’ve made with and without psyllium powder, we prefer the ones made with – they actually seem to have a lighter crumb. Plus, who couldn’t use a bit more fiber in their diet?
Why buy commercially-made bread and deprive yourself of the wholesomeness of homemade? Plus, there’s nothing quite like the fragrance of baking bread wafting from your kitchen. Start baking today!