Sourdough bread and Dutch Oven baking. Is there any better combination? From it’s first beginnings in San Francisco, sourdough bread and dutch ovens have always been closely connected. To me, they’re almost inseparable!
If you’re like me, you love Sourdough bread, but struggle baking it. This is mostly because in order to make really good sourdough, you need a sourdough starter. But finding or making a good starter, then keeping that starter alive, can be a very difficult thing. Don’t you wish there was an easier way? Don’t you wish you could simply buy a starter at any local grocery store? Don’t you wish you could have fresh baked, delicious sourdough bread everyday?
Ladies and Gentlemen, I have found that way! With a little research online, I’ve found a way to create warm, fluffy sourdough bread without a starter. What’s the secret? Yogurt. That’s right, by simply substituting this easy-to-find ingredient in place of your starter, you can make amazing, aromatic sourdough bread every time! Throw that bread into a Dutch Oven and, well, you’ve got a loaf of bread that will turn your simple kitchen into a high profile bread bakery in minutes! I added some baked barley to our recipe, but you can include any grains you’d like. The recipe will always turn out perfect! So grab that cast iron beauty and your favorite prospector hat, it’s time to bake up some Dutch Oven Barley Sourdough Bread!
Ingredients:
3 cups Plain Greek Yogurt
2 cups Warm Water
1/4 cup Olive Oil
1/3 cup Honey
2 cups Honeyville Pearled Barley, cooked
1 Tbsp Salt
4 Tbsp SAF Yeast
10 cups Honeyville Alta Artisan Bread Flour, divided
Directions:
Before beginning your bread, bake your barley.
To do so, add 1 cup barley to 4 1/2 cups water, in your Fagor 3 in 1 Pressure Cooker. Bake at “High Pressure” for 18 minutes. Once baked, release pressure, drain excess liquid, and remove barley. Your barley will have a rice-like texture.
Preheat your oven to 450 degrees. Once it reaches that temperature, place your Dutch Oven in the oven and allow it to warm in the oven for 40 minutes. If you’re using a traditional Dutch Oven outdoors, simply skip this step and prepare your coals.
In your BOSCH Universal Mixer, add the following ingredients in this order: yogurt, water, oil, honey, cooked barley, salt, 4 cups flour, yeast. Turn mixer to the #2 setting and let ingredients mix completely. Slowly add remaining flour 1 cup at a time until dough begins to pull away from the sides. Once it does this, let dough knead in the mixer for an additional 2-3 minutes, then remove.
Place dough on a lightly oiled surface, and shape into a round loaf. Depending on the size of your Dutch Oven, you may need to remove some dough and bake it separately in bread pans. I used a 5 quart Dutch Oven and found I had to remove about 3 1/2 lbs of dough (which then made 2 extra loafs of bread) in order for it to fit. Place the dough ball on a sheet of parchment paper.
Remove warmed Dutch Oven from the oven and place dough ball in the oven, with the parchment paper acting as a sling in the oven. Place lid on top and bake in oven at 450 degrees for 30-35 minutes. If baking outside with coals, place the proper amount of coals below and on top of the oven to achieve the 450 degree mark.
Once baked, remove from oven, lift out of Dutch Oven with parchment paper, slice, and serve.
This bread is everything you’ve come to expect from a campfire or traditional Sourdough bread. The Dutch Oven bakes it up perfectly and evenly, giving you all the crunch and texture you hope for. The yogurt made the inside of the bread super soft, moist, and amazing. Personally, this was probably the best tasting bread I’ve ever made. And all because of yogurt?! The cooked barley added a delicious aroma, texture, and taste that was unexpected, yet totally welcomed. For a minute, I thought I was saddled up next to a creek in California, panning for gold!
Dutch Ovens and Sourdough were meant to be together. And now, thanks to a little yogurt and a fired up Cast Iron, you can enjoy amazing Sourdough bread at any time!
