April 26, 2020 - 6:16pm
Preventing thick crust in Dutch Oven
I’ve been using my Dutch oven lately and find that the crust comes out thicker than I’d like, particularly the bottom. I am going to bake some King Arthur Vermont Sourdough tomorrow. They say to bake at 450 with the cover on for 30 minutes then 15 minutes with the cover off. I am wondering if I should flip flop that and go 15 with cover on and 30 with cover off. Or as another option go 15 with cover off then go 30 out of the Dutch oven with convection on.
This is my first time making this bread.
Thoughts?
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I wouldn’t shorten the time that much for baking with the cover on, that time is the steaming part of the bake that allows for greater oven spring. If you are finding that the crust is too thick for your liking, after taking the lid off consider dropping the temperature, say to 425 or even 400 and bake a longer time 20-25 mins. Alternatively, after taking the cover off take the bread out of the Dutch oven and continue baking directly on the rack, again you could drop the temperature and bake for longer.
Benny
I put a baking stone 1 rack below the DO. I’ll bake for 30 minutes with lid on and then remove from DO and finish baking on the rack with convection on.