For some people (aka my wife), bread is everything. I enjoy bread but mostly see it as a vehicle for other foods and flavors. Especially most of the more bland store-bought breads out there. One great way to elevate bread is to make it yourself. So, here’s my best quick crusty bread recipe for making at home in a dutch oven.

I’ll admit that quick is a relative term. This is still bread. And it does take time for tasty results. But this has become my go-to bread recipe.

The smell of this bread alone is enough to keep you coming back for more – not to mention its delightful taste and texture. This loaf is a drastic difference in flavor and texture from my brown Irish soda bread from a few years ago.

The secret is using a Dutch oven to trap in moisture and provide the hot, steamy environment needed to develop that crackly, golden crust. This crusty Dutch oven bread is my new gold-standard bread recipe – soft with a delightful chew inside yet crusty outside.

Making this crusty bread recipe consists of just a few simple steps and some time waiting for it to rise.

Dutch Oven Bread Ingredients

Let’s get our essentials together for this scrumptious crusty bread recipe. We’ll need yeast for the perfect rise, plus water and sugar to activate it. Don’t forget the salt for a flavor boost, and a good quality olive oil to give our creation a rich, moist crumb. Finally, we’ll need flour – the backbone of our bread. Let’s dive in and transform these humble ingredients into something truly tasty.

Yeast

Most breads use yeast as a leavening agent. It gives bread the bubbles and rise.

We’re using active dry yeast for our bread, and it’s important to note that it needs to be activated before use. In simpler words, you need to wake it up from its dormant state. Don’t worry, it’s not complicated. All it takes is a little warm water and voila – it’s ready to work its magic!

Sugar

Granulated white sugar is our little secret for adding an unassuming sweetness that complements the savory notes of the bread. It’s not just about the sweet flavor though, it will also affect the final texture and have a little bit of a preservative effect.

If you are truly trying to cut sugar out of your diet altogether, you can omit the sugar without huge changes to the loaf.

Water

Water is a simple and necessary ingredient in all homemade dutch oven bread recipes. You don’t need any fancy kind of water, you just need to focus on its temperature.

It’s all about activating the yeast and helping the bread rise properly.

Too hot and you’ll kill the yeast, too cold and it won’t wake up. It can seem daunting. But don’t worry, there’s a fairly wide band of temperatures that work well for this. Aim for water around 105-115°F (45-46°C). Warm to the touch, but comfortable and not hot. Yeast begins to die off at around 120°F and will basically all be dead by 140°F. But those water temperatures are truly hot. Use an instant-read thermometer if you’re really nervous about getting temperatures right.

Salt

Salt enhances flavor.

I typically use kosher salt for bread-making. It is usually helpful to use the same kind of salt for consistency. But, we’re also doing this dutch oven bread baking by weight rather than volume. So, in the end, most any salt should work when baking this way.

Olive Oil

I’m partial to extra virgin olive oil for this recipe. My main reason for including it here is for a bit of added flavor. It’s got a lovely flavour that’ll subtly infuse your bread.

The oil helps to create that delectable, tender crumb we all adore in artisan-style breads. It does slightly impede the formation of gluten, but I think the trade-off is worth it. A little goes a long way, so it’s a relatively small amount.

Flour

The main substance of bread – flour. The choice of flour can affect the texture and flavor of your bread. For our crusty bread recipe, I suggest using bread flour. Now, you might be wondering why bread flour?

It’s higher in protein than all-purpose flour. The protein found in flour is responsible for creating gluten in your dough. So bread flour results in more gluten formation. This increased gluten leads to a dough that is more robust and elastic, essential for achieving a lofty and light bread loaf. It absorbs slightly more water too, making this higher-hydration dough a bit easier to work with.

However, if you don’t have bread flour on hand you can substitute all-purpose flour. You may need to add a little more all-purpose flour.

Mix the Crusty Bread Dough

Now, let’s move on to making the initial dough. Activate the yeast. It’s a simple step, but crucial for a good rise. Next, we’ll combine the activated yeast with our other ingredients to form a shaggy dough. Don’t worry if it’s not perfect, it’s supposed to look a bit rough around the edges!

Activate the Yeast

Grab your yeast and 100 grams of warm water. The warmth is essential here; it’s like a cozy blanket that helps our yeast feel safe and ready to grow. Mix them together and let them sit for about 10 minutes.

Watch as the yeast comes to life right before your eyes, bubbling up and creating a frothy top layer. It’s fascinating, isn’t it? This activation process is crucial as it’s the yeast that’ll give our bread its beautiful rise and fluffy texture. Keep in mind that the yeast should be frothy after 10 minutes; if it’s not, your yeast may be too old, and you’ll need to grab a fresh packet.

Combine into Shaggy Dough

It’s time to get messy!

Once the yeast has started bubbling up, it’s ready to go. Add in all of the remaining ingredients. Then, start mixing until everything comes together. You’re looking for a shaggy, fairly sticky dough. Don’t be alarmed if it doesn’t look perfect – it’s not supposed to at this stage!

Now, the important thing to remember here is not to over-mix. You’re not aiming for a smooth dough but rather a shaggy, rough one. At this stage, it will not be a smooth dough. It will also be a bit sticky still and not the easiest to work with, but trust me it is worth it.

How to Treat the Dough

Cover the Dough in a Bowl

With the dough initially mixed, we’re now gonna cover it up. Leave the dough in the bowl you mixed it in. Cover the bowl with a damp kitchen towel. You may also use plastic wrap to cover the dough.

Covering the dough prevents it from drying out and keeps any unwanted particles from settling on it. It’s like tucking it in for a little nap, ensuring it stays safe and cozy. Let it rest, covered, in a warm area for an initial 15 minutes. This is the start of its rise.

Stretch and Fold

We’re now stepping into the stretch and fold technique. I can’t stress enough how crucial this step is.

Here’s what you’ll do: After your dough has rested for 15 minutes, uncover it and gently grab one side. Then, stretch it upwards, fold it over itself towards the center of the dough, and place it down on top of itself. Rotate your bowl 90 degrees (a quarter turn) and repeat. Then repeat two more times until you’ve done this for all four sides of your dough.

Why do this, you may ask? This technique helps develop the gluten structure in your dough without the need for heavy kneading. Through some sciency magic, the gluten is strengthened with this process. This will help ensure the loaf rises up in the oven rather than just spreading out and staying flat. Better gluten structure means more gasses are trapped as bubbles in the bread.

After your first stretch and fold session, let the dough rest for 30 minutes. Repeat this process, wait another 30 minutes, and repeat it again. You will have done 3 full sets of stretch and folds.

Let it Rise

This is where the magic truly happens. Where your dough transforms from a simple mixture to potential bread. You’ve covered your dough, you’ve given good stretches and folds, and now, it’s time for it to rest and rise.

Keep it covered snugly for about an hour and 45 minutes. During this time, the yeast is working its magic, creating gas bubbles that will give your bread its deliciously light and airy texture.

Remember, patience is key here. So, kick back, relax, and let your dough rise. Trust me, the waiting will be worth it when you see the final product.

Shape the Dough

Once we’ve got our dough, it’s time to give it shape. We’ll turn it into a round loaf (don’t worry, it’s not hard!) and then let it sit in a banneton. This is a special kind of basket – a regular bowl can work in a pinch. After that, we’re gonna let it rise again. This is a crucial step, so don’t rush it. It’s all part of the magic of making your own homemade dutch oven bread.

Shape into a Round Loaf

The dough is risen, with a nice airy texture. So now we need to turn it out, shape it, and let it rise again. Try to be as gentle as possible in the next steps, we don’t want to deflate all that lovely air we’ve worked so hard to incorporate.

First, turn your dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Now, use a bench scraper (if you don’t have one, use your flattest spatula) to push the bottom edges of the dough toward the center, rotating as you go. Keep going around and around until you’ve got a nice, round ball.

See my gif above for an example. You can see that the dough is fairly elastic and bounces back, so it takes a little bit of coaxing to help it keep its shape. You’re almost stretching the top down and underneath to make the top kind of taut.

Place in Banneton

With the dough shaped, it’s time to introduce your dough to a new cozy home – the banneton.

A banneton is a special basket used in bread baking, admired for its ability to give the bread a gorgeous pattern. It’s not just for show, it also helps your dough maintain its shape during the final proofing stage. You can also use a bowl with a lightly floured towel. Note that some people like to use rice flour for dusting for better non-stick properties.

Gently pick the dough up using the bench scraper and place your dough into the banneton with the seam side up. Cover it with a damp towel or plastic wrap.

Rise Again

Shaping the dough – no matter how gentle you are – does beat it up a little. So it needs a little more time to rise again.

During this final rising stage, you’ll want to keep your dough in a warm spot. Give it 35 minutes to rise again. It should look nice and puffy when this step is done.

Preheat the Dutch Oven

While the dough is rising, it’s time to turn on the heat and get things ready to bake. We’ll put the whole dutch oven into the oven so that it can heat up and be ready to go. The heat that builds up within the Dutch oven will create a fantastic environment for your dough to bake.

Use a round 5 and 1/2 quart dutch oven. I use an enameled Le Creuset dutch oven but you can do this in any dutch oven you have available that fits the large loaf.

Place your dutch oven, with its lid on, into your oven. Crank up the heat to 450°F (232°C) and let it sit there, accumulating heat. I usually do this as soon as I have set the dough aside to rise again. But the time it takes will depend on your oven, so if it usually takes longer or heats up quickly you can adjust as needed.

You want your dutch oven to be piping hot to get the best results. So, give it time. Let it preheat completely while your dough rises. Using the dutch oven with its lid on allows a lot of moisture to build up inside as it bakes. Then we can take the lid off and let the crust fully form.

Bake the Dutch Oven Bread

Finally on to baking this crusty bread recipe we’ve worked so hard to make. Let’s score the dough – a very importan step, trust me. Next, place the dough in our preheated dutch oven, cover it with a lid, and let the magic happen. After a while, we’ll lose the lid and let it bake a bit more. Finally, the hardest part – waiting for it to cool. Patience is key here, guys.

Prepare and Score the Dough

With the dough risen again and the oven preheated, it’s time to bake. Now it’s all about scoring the dough, which in bread-making terms, means making shallow cuts on the surface of the dough. The cuts can be fancy or complicated but they don’t need to be. Simple works.

Scoring is essential in baking bread to create controlled weak points in the dough where steam can escape. Without scoring, steam may burst through the crust unpredictably. This can cause strange shapes in the final loaf. Scoring guides the dough’s rise in the oven, helping it maintain its shape and maximize oven spring.

So, transfer your risen dough onto a sheet of parchment paper or a round silicone baking mat (what I prefer). Use a bread lame or a sharp knife and make a few shallow cuts on the top of the dough. You can do a simple X or a more elaborate pattern. Don’t worry, there’s no right or wrong way to do this. It’s your bread and you can design it how you want. Here’s a website with some better ideas on dough scoring patterns.

Placing and Baking the Easy Dutch Oven Bread

Now it’s time to get the dough into the oven. Carefully, lift your prepared and scored dough using the parchment paper or silicone mat and gently place it into the hot dutch oven. The parchment paper or silicone mat will go right in with the dough and stay there the whole time as it bakes.

Cover the dutch oven with its lid. This will help to trap the steam inside, providing a moist and warm atmosphere that’s just perfect for baking bread. Bake it like this for 30 minutes. You’ll start to smell the heavenly aroma of baking bread filling your kitchen, but resist the temptation to peek! It’s important to keep that lid on to ensure the bread cooks just right. We’ll uncover in the next step, but for now, we wait.

Remove Lid and Continue Baking

After 30 delightful minutes of baking, we’re ready to remove the lid from the dutch oven. Now that the steam has finished doing its part, allowing it to escape will let your bread reach that lovely golden hue we’re aiming for.

We’re going to let the bread continue to bake for another 10-15 minutes. Keep a watchful eye on it, because we want to achieve that perfect balance of crispiness on the outside and soft, fluffy goodness on the inside. This is the part where your kitchen starts to smell like a dreamy bakery, which is always a bonus!

Just remove the bread once the outside has achieved the perfect golden-brown color.

Cool the Homemade Dutch Oven Bread

The final, yet crucial stage of our baking adventure is the cooling process. I know, you must be eager to slice into your own homemade dutch oven bread, but be patient, my friend.

Carefully lift your baked beauty out of the dutch oven and place it on a wire cooling rack. Now comes the tough part – waiting. Letting the bread cool down is essential for its texture and flavor.

I’d recommend waiting at least 30 minutes, but if you can manage to resist for an hour, it’s better. I know it’s difficult, but trust me, it’s worth the wait. It’s like giving your bread a well-deserved rest after its hot bath. So, sit back, relax, and anticipate the moment when you finally get to enjoy your labor of love.

Ways to Use this Crusty Bread Recipe

Now that we’ve mastered the art of baking our delightful homemade dutch oven bread, let’s explore some delicious ways we can put it to good use. You’ll be surprised at how versatile this loaf can be!

This crusty bread recipe is perfect for sandwiches. From a humble grilled cheese to a turkey bacon avocado to a chicken salad sandwich, this bread can handle it all. You can use it as a base for an array of mouth-watering appetizers. A simple bruschetta or an olive oil and herb dip really let the flavor and texture of the bread shine through.

And if you’re a soup lover like me, you’ll absolutely adore using this bread as a soup accompaniment. Its firm texture is perfect for dipping and it adds a delightful crunch. You could even try making two smaller loaves with this recipe and turning the bread into a bread bowl for soup. Try it with the following:

• Ham and Dill Potato Cream Cheese Soup
• Creamy Wild Rice Soup
• Roasted Garlic and Sage Soup
• Roasted Butternut Squash Soup

This quick and easy dutch oven bread is not as intimidating as you may think, and the result is always worth the effort. You’ll be amazed by the heavenly aroma filling your kitchen and the satisfaction of biting into a warm, crusty piece of bread you’ve made yourself. Happy baking!

How did yours turn out?

I’d love to hear when you try out this quick crusty dutch oven bread recipe! Take a pic of your food and share your success with me by adding it to your Instagram stories or feed, and tagging me @doyouroux, or by using #doyouroux.

Plus, leave a rating to let me know how you liked the recipe. It helps me out a lot to know how things worked out… or didn’t.

Quick Crusty Dutch Oven Bread

Recipe by Marc PetersonCourse: BreadDifficulty: Easy

Servings

10

servings

Prep time

25

minutes

Rise Time

3

hours 

35

minutes

BakingTime

40

minutes

Cooling Time

30

minutes

Total time

5

hours 

10

minutes

Make crispy dutch oven bread at home with a chewy interior and golden crust. Enjoy a simple crusty bread recipe that’s perfect for any baker.

Ingredients

• 7 grams active dry yeast

• 450 grams warm water, divided

• 25 grams olive oil

• 15 grams kosher salt

• 10 grams sugar

• 485 grams bread flour, plus more for dusting

Directions

• Mix together the yeast and 100 grams of warm water in a large bowl and let sit for about 10 minutes until the yeast has activated and looks foamy
• Add in the remaining water, olive oil, salt, sugar, and flour and mix it all to form a loose, shaggy dough
• Leave the dough in the bowl, cover it with a damp towel or plastic wrap and let stand at room temperature for 15 minutes
• Perform one set of stretch and folds by gently grabbing one side of the dough then stretching it upwards, folding it over itself towards the center of the dough, and placing it down on top of itself. Rotate your bowl 90 degrees (a quarter turn) and repeat. Then repeat two more times until you’ve done this for all four sides of your dough. This is one set of stretch and folds.
• Cover the dough and let it sit for 30 minutes and perform another set of stretch and folds, cover it again and wait 30 minutes to repeat stretch and folds again (all-in-all you will have done three sets of stretch and folds)
• Let the dough rise, covered, for an hour and 45 minutes
• Once the dough has risen, transfer it to a well-floured surface and use a bench scraper to push the dough under itself while rotating to give it a round shape with a taut dome
• Gently put the shaped dough into a banneton or a lightly floured bowl, cover it with a damp towel or plastic wrap, and let it rise for 35 minutes
• While it rises, place a 5 1/2 quart dutch oven with its lid in the oven and preheat to 450°F (232°C)
• Once the dough is risen and the oven is preheated, turn the dough out from the bowl onto a silicon baking sheet or a piece of parchment paper
• Score the top of the bread (dust the top with flour before scoring for even more contrast)
• With hot pads, remove the lid from the dutch oven and carefully place the scored dough into the hot pot with the silicone mat or parchment paper
• Replace the lid and let it bake for 30 minutes
• After 30 minutes, remove the lid and continue baking for 10-15 more minutes until golden brown
• Remove the loaf from the dutch oven to a cooling rack and let it rest for at least 30 minutes (preferably an hour or more) before slicing

Get recipes like this straight to your inbox:

The post Quick Crusty Dutch Oven Bread – The Best Bread Recipe appeared first on Do You Roux?.

Soft, chewy, and packed with flavor – these homemade pretzels are the perfect snack or appetizer for parties, family gatherings, and other special events. Follow this simple pretzel recipe to make some terrific twisted baked goods for yourself.

Pretzels became my go-to lunch in middle school. I could get a huge pretzel with a side packet of cream cheese for under 2 bucks. Which, in my mind, was a deal that couldn’t be beat.

I know cream cheese sounds weird, but don’t knock it until you try it.

This homemade pretzel recipe is so chewy and delicious, you’ll want to make them for everyone in your life. These soft homemade pretzels are perfect to serve up as an appetizer or as a side alongside a large bowl of soup. Or even mix it up by making pretzel bites or buns.

So, whether you’re trying them plain, with cream cheese, or some other dipping sauce, get to mixing, baking and salting!

Steps to Making the Pretzels

If you’re looking to make homemade pretzel dough, then you should know that you can use a stand mixer to help with this process, but I used hand mixing and hand kneading. Either method will work, but you’ll want to follow these steps to get your pretzel recipe ready for baking:

1. Activate the yeast

2. Mix in the flour, salt, and sugar

3. Stir until it makes a loose, shaggy dough

4. Knead the dough on a floured surface for about ten minutes

5. Put the dough in a bowl, cover it, and let the dough rise for 1 hour

6. Bake the baking soda

7. Cut the dough into 8 even pieces, and roll and stretch them all into long, thin ropes

8. Shape and twist the ropes into pretzels, then let them rise, covered for 30 to 45 minutes

9. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees and bring water to a boil in a large pot

10. Add brown sugar and baking soda to the boiling water and turn the heat down

11. Soak the pretzels in the water for 1 minute on each side then remove them to a baking sheet

12. Bake the pretzels for 10-15 minutes until dark brown

13. Brush the pretzels with melted butter and sprinkle them with salt or other desired toppings

Follow this simple pretzel recipe to get amazing results every time.

Ingredients for a Homemade Pretzel Recipe

This pretzel recipe uses many of the basic baking ingredients – yeast, water, flour, salt, sugar, baking soda, and brown sugar. Note that this recipe does use active dry yeast and not instant yeast. It just means we’ll have to activate the yeast with warm water before mixing the dough together.

We’ll also use butter and salt to top the pretzels when they’re finished baking. For the salt, you can just use some kosher salt. But to be truly authentic you can buy some coarse, crunchy pretzel salt for topping.

Baking some baking soda in the oven seems like a strange concept. But, it helps in this recipe.

Traditional pretzels are soaked in a lye bath before baking. The baking soda imitates a lye bath but isn’t as caustic. It causes the baking soda to become more alkali. By baking the baking soda, you can get results closer to what would come from using true lye.

Preparing Pretzel Recipe Dough

Pretzel dough follows the same basic steps as most bread doughs.

After activating the yeast and mixing together the ingredients to make a shaggy dough (as seen in the photo below), it takes time to knead the dough. Kneading the dough helps to form gluten and will take it from a loose, shaggy mess to a smooth, round ball of dough.

Knead the dough for 10 to 15 minutes until it forms a smooth dough that holds its shape relatively well.

Next, place the dough into a clean bowl and loosely cover it. I’d recommend using a clean kitchen towel to cover the bowl. I used plastic wrap here to get better photos and videos of the dough rising. Let it rise in a warm place for 1 to 1.5 hours until roughly doubled in size.

Once the dough has risen and looks nice and puffy, it is ready to go.

Shaping the Pretzels

Pretzel shaping is easier than you may think. They can honestly take any shape you want, but I’ll be covering the traditional pretzel shape in this post.

This traditional shape looks kind of like a bow or a knot, but to start making it we will need to cut the dough into individual pieces. Roll the risen dough out onto a lightly floured surface and use a bench scraper or knife to cut it into 8 roughly equal pieces. You can weigh the pieces for an accurate measure, but rough estimates work well enough.

Cover the divided-up dough with a clean towel and then take out one piece at a time to begin shaping. Roll and stretch them into a long, thin rope.

Then take both ends of the dough rope and begin turning them up into a ‘U’ shape. Bring the ends together and put one end over the other. Twist the two ends around each other once, and then rest them atop the base of the pretzel.

To help the ends stick down to the rest of the pretzel, you can use a dab of water underneath each end before lightly pressing the ends down onto the pretzel base. When all of the pretzels are formed, cover them loosely with a towel and let them rise again for 30 to 40 minutes until they look visibly puffed up.

Bathing and Baking Homemade Pretzels

Putting your food in a bath may seem a bit strange. But, for this pretzel recipe, it is an integral part of the process.

The brown sugar and baking soda bath create an alkaline bath that prevents the dough from springing up while baking in the way that traditional bread does. This gives pretzels their chewy texture, dark color, thicker ‘crust’, and unique density. It also helps to create the pretzel flavor.

Though traditionally this bath is done with lye, it can be a dangerous chemical and may not be widely available. So we’ll use baking soda. And, as noted above, we’ll bake the baking soda to make it even more alkaline to get closer to the traditional lye results.

Mix the brown sugar and baking soda into boiling water until dissolved and turn the heat down to a simmer. Then place the pretzels into the water and let them soak for a minute on each side. Then remove them to a parchment paper lined baking sheet.

Bake the pretzels in an oven preheated to 450°F (230°C). Bake for 10 to 15 minutes until they are dark brown in color.

Tips for the Best Pretzel Recipe

Here are a few simple tips for making the best pretzels:

Be careful when adding the baking soda to the boiling water. Use a wide, tall pot to give room for the water to boil a bit violently when adding the baking soda. And, rather than dumping it all in at once, slowly pour it in.

When soaking the shaped dough in the alkaline bath, use a slotted spoon or spider strainer to remove them from the bath and let them easily drain.

When you’re ready to top the pretzels, it is useful to set up a sort of topping station. I used a baking sheet lined with parchment paper with a cooling rack set inside it. The baking sheet will catch any dripping butter or extra toppings to make cleanup much easier.

Note that you can coat the pretzels in an egg wash before baking them to get an even darker color on the pretzels.

Variations and Toppings for Homemade Pretzels

You don’t have to make just the traditional shape when using this recipe. The dough can be formed and shaped into a variety of different foods, for example, buns, bites, and breadsticks.

Buns: Prepare the dough as directed, but when shaping form each piece of dough into a ball instead of a rope. Soak the dough balls in the alkaline bath for a minute on each side and place them on a lined baking sheet. Before baking, cut a shallow “X” on top of each bun.

Bites: Prepare, rise, and cut the dough as directed and then roll the pieces of dough into long ropes just as with regular shaping. But instead of twisting them together, cut the ropes into small one to two-inch pieces. These can then be soaked and baked with the same methods.

Bread Sticks: Prepare the dough, but cut it into twice as many (16) pieces. Roll the pieces into small logs and soak them in the baking soda bath. Then bake them as directed.

But the shapes aren’t the only options for customization, instead of the usual pretzel salt try some different flavor toppings or dipping sauces to mix things up with this same recipe.

Cinnamon Sugar Pretzel – After basting the baked pretzels with butter, generously sprinkle them with a cinnamon sugar mixture. The best ratio seems to be 1 part cinnamon to 4 parts sugar.

Everything Pretzels – After basting the baked pretzels with butter, generously sprinkle them with an everything bagel seasoning. You can find a recipe to make your own seasoning or buy a premade everything bagel seasoning.

Parmesan Garlic – Sprinkle the parmesan garlic seasoning over the buttered pretzels. My recommendation is to find a garlic parmesan popcorn seasoning to do the trick here.

For dipping sauces, try any of the following: nacho cheese, cream cheese (try it, I promise you’ll love it!), honey mustard, garlic sauce, ranch dressing, barbecue sauce, chocolate, and peanut butter.

You could even try dipping in some of the sauces or condiments we have here on the site:

• Chipotle Hot Honey
• Buttery Salted Caramel Sauce
• Brown Sugar Pumpkin Spice Butter

However you customize your pretzels, follow this recipe to make it the most delicious snack.

How did yours turn out?

I’d love to hear when you try making homemade pretzels! Take a pic of your food and share your success with me by adding it to your Instagram stories or feed, and tagging me @doyouroux, or by using #doyouroux.

Plus, leave a rating to let me know how you liked the recipe. It helps me out a lot to know how things worked out… or didn’t.

Soft and Chewy Homemade Pretzels

Recipe by Marc PetersonCourse: Appetizers, SnacksDifficulty: Intermediate

Servings

8

servings

Prep time

1

hour 

Cooking time

15

minutes

Rise Time

1

hour 

30

minutes

Total time

2

hours 

45

minutes

Follow this homemade pretzel recipe in your own kitchen for perfectly soft and chewy pretzels that are a great snack or party appetizer.

Ingredients

• 11 grams active dry yeast (1 tablespoon)

• 430 grams warm water (1 3/4 cups) (around 105°F/41°C)

• 885 grams bread flour (6 cups)

• 28 grams granulated sugar (2 tablespoons)

• 21 grams salt (1 tablespoon)

• 210 grams baking soda (3/4 cup)

• 3,775 grams water (16 cups)

• 21 grams dark brown sugar (2 tablespoons)

• Butter and pretzel salt for topping

Directions

• Preheat oven to 250°F (120°C)
• Stir together the yeast and warm water in a large bowl, and let it sit about 10 minutes until a bit foamy
• Add in the flour, sugar, and salt and mix them together to form a shaggy dough
• Pour the dough out onto a floured surface and knead it for 10 to 15 minutes until it forms a smooth, elastic ball
• Place the dough in a clean bowl and let it rise, covered for about 1 to 1.5 hours until doubled in size
• While the dough is rising, spread the baking soda onto a foil-lined baking sheet and put it in the oven at 250°F (120°C) for an hour, then remove and let cool
• When the dough has risen, divide the dough into 8 even pieces, cover them to keep them from drying out, and then take each one and roll them into long, thin ropes
• Shape the pretzels by turning the ends up into a U shape, then bringing the ends together and putting one end over the other, twist the ends around each other once, and then place them atop the base of the initial U shape – use a dab of water underneath each end to help them stick to the pretzel
• Loosely cover the shaped pretzels and let them rise for 30 to 40 minutes until noticeably puffy
• Preheat the oven to 450°F (230°C)
• In a wide, tall pot heat about 16 cups of water to a boil, add in the brown sugar and the baked baking soda, stir until dissolved, and then turn the heat down to a simmer
• Take each shaped pretzel and place them in the water bath to soak for 1 minute on each side then remove them to a parchment paper lined baking sheet – do not crowd the pot, just work in batches until all have been soaked
• Bake the pretzels at 450°F (230°C) for 10 to 15 minutes until dark brown
• Brush the pretzels with melted butter and generously sprinkle with pretzel salt – or top with other flavorings as desired

Recipe Video

Notes

• You can also make pretzel buns, bites, or breadsticks with this recipe, just look in the post above for specific shaping instructions

Get recipes like this straight to your inbox:

The post Amazing Soft and Chewy Homemade Pretzel Recipe appeared first on Do You Roux?.

I’ve got an alliteration problem. See my pesto pizza pasta salad or my chocolate chipotle chili con carne. I’m back at it again. This time with a perfect pillowy-soft puffy pita recipe. I just can’t help myself. Sorry.

I honestly wanted to make a spanakopita dip with homemade fried pita bread for dipping. And in order to make that, I would need some delicious pitas to make it possible. So, after a little trial and error, I have a delicious pita recipe. What we’re going to make today is a simple pita recipe where the end result has that perfect pillowy softness.

These are a little bit thicker and fluffier than most pitas usually are. Partially to get the soft, pillowy insides. And partially to make frying them work better for my other recipe. Trust me, this is the perfect pita bread for whatever you have in mind.

With just a few ingredients and some simple steps, it is possible to create a delicious, pillowy-soft puffy pita recipe, perfect for your next meal.

Equipment to Make the Pita Recipe

One of the best parts of this recipe is that you don’t really need much in the way of equipment to make it. You can choose to use more mechanical equipment, but it actually seemed to work best when made by hand.

At its most basic, you’ll need a mixing bowl, a mixing spoon, a knife or bench scraper, a towel, and a frying pan to make this recipe. This process is simple and it involves hand mixing, hand kneading, and hand shaping of the pita dough.

You could also use a stand mixer with a dough hook to mix together and knead the dough. And you can use a rolling pin to shape and roll out the individual pitas.

But I prefer hand kneading and shaping. I think it helps, especially during the shaping, to achieve fully puffed and airy pitas. While kneading, it is also easier to tell when the dough has fully come together because you will feel it as you continue to work it.

Pillowy-soft Pita Dough Ingredients

Just six simple ingredients make up this recipe: flour, water, yeast, sugar, olive oil, and salt.

For the flour, I recommend quality bread flour. You can use all-purpose flour but it would likely require less water. Because bread flours tend to have a higher protein content, they need more water to hydrate properly. Try using about 1/3 cup less water for all-purpose flour.

And for the yeast, use active dry yeast. I prefer the Red Star Active Dry Yeast because it is good quality for a reasonable price. Unlike instant yeast, this one requires activation before mixing together with all of the other ingredients. This is accomplished by combining the yeast, sugar, and some of the warm water together and letting it sit for 10 to 15 minutes.

I recommend using kosher salt and good-quality olive oil to round out the recipe.

Pita Recipe Steps

If you want to make pita bread at home, then here is a guide that will help you get started. These general steps are all that are needed:

1. Mix the Dough

First, activate the yeast with some water and sugar. Then mix in the remaining ingredients to form a shaggy dough. Turn it out and knead it until it comes together in a smooth ball of dough.

2. Rise the Dough

Give the dough a light coating of olive oil, put it in a bowl, cover it with a towel and then let it sit for about an hour in a warm spot until it has doubled in size. Tip – warm up your oven a little and then turn it off for a warm spot during the winter.

3. Shape the Pitas

Now it’s time to start shaping the pitas. Divide the dough into eight roughly equal parts. Then, you’ll roll each part of the dough into a ball. Let those rest for 10 minutes. Then, roll or stretch the balls into thin circles roughly 8 inches in diameter.

4. Cook the Pitas

Heat up a frying pan on medium heat. Place a pita into the hot frying pan and cook it for 2-3 minutes before flipping and cooking another 2-3 minutes until done. Repeat until all pitas are cooked.

5. Top or Fill

Once your pitas are fully cooked, use them however you see fit!

How to Make the Pita Dough

Because we aren’t using instant yeast, this simple dough starts with the activation of the yeast. Remember to use warm but not hot water to activate the yeast. It’s a delicate balance. Water that is too hot can kill the yeast. If you want to be exact, use an instant-read thermometer to get water between 105°F (40°C) and 115°F (46°C).

After the yeast is activated, add the remaining ingredients. Stir it all together (I like to use a wooden spoon for this). It’ll mix together into a fairly loose, shaggy dough – see the upper left photo in the collage above.

Turn the dough out of the bowl and onto a clean, lightly floured surface. Knead the dough for 10 to 15 minutes. At first, it’ll be fairly sticky but as you continue to knead it will come together more. It’ll firm up and eventually will be a smooth, elastic ball of dough.

If you’ve been kneading for 10 to 15 minutes and it still isn’t smooth, then add a little bit more flour and knead it in.

When you’ve finished kneading, lightly coat the ball of dough with olive oil and put it in a bowl. Cover it loosely with a towel and leave it in a warm spot to rise. Let it rest and rise until it is doubled in size, about an hour.

Once it has risen, dump that dough ball out onto a floured work surface. Divide it into eight roughly equal portions. If you really want to have even sizes, you can measure them out with a scale. But it really isn’t that important. Trust me, it is okay.

Shape each portion into a ball. I like to do this by pinching it together at the back. After shaping them all, let them rest, covered with a towel, for 10 more minutes.

How to Shape A Pita

With everything divided and first shaped into eight dough balls, we’re ready to form the actual pitas. The goal here is to flatten the dough into 8-inch rounds.

You can do this by hand or using a rolling pin. I prefer hand-shaping because it is a bit more gentle on the dough, and it also gives the final results less of a completely flat surface so the pitas have a bit more character.

I start hand-shaping by pressing down in the center of the ball of dough. Then I pick it up and pinch my thumbs into my fingers and stretch it out as I rotate the pita in my hands. Feel around the pita for any thicker spots that need to be stretched out, especially towards the center or the very edges of the dough.

Note that I do find it helpful to do two final shapes. Stretch them as much as they will go at first, then set them down and keep shaping the others. Come back after it has had a couple of minutes of rest and it’ll be easier to keep stretching out to a final shape.

Try to get it to between about 1/8 and 1/4-inch in thickness.

If you’re using a rolling pin, just roll over the dough until it is flattened.

Pita Recipe Cooking

I’ve seen a few different methods for cooking pitas, including using a preheated pizza stone in the oven to help cook them. I kept it simple and just turned to a frying pan on the stovetop.

To cook mine, I simply preheated the frying pan over medium heat. Then I added in one of the shaped pita rounds.

Let it cook for a few minutes on one side and then flip and cook the other side for a few minutes until done. Each side should be lightly browned in spots, as seen in the photo above.

I didn’t use any kind of fat or anything in the pan itself. But, you could wipe the pan down beforehand with a small bit of olive oil and then between pitas if you really wanted to or found that your pan was sticking. For me, it never stuck to the pan, possibly because of a light dusting of flour that the dough had accumulated.

How to Use This Pita Recipe

This pita recipe is quite versatile and can be used in a variety of meals and appetizers.

To start off, I made this recipe initially to fry and pair with a spanakopita dip. This turned out delicious and I highly recommend giving it a try. The pita turns out deliciously crunchy on the outside and pillowy on the inside. Dunking it in the dip really combines for a unique flavor combo.

You can also try making any of the following:

• Flatbreads
• Gyros
• Pita Pockets
• Hummus Dipper

However you use it, I promise that it will be delicious.

How did yours turn out?

I’d love to hear when you try out this puffy pita recipe! Take a pic of your food and share your success with me by adding it to your Instagram stories or feed, and tagging me @doyouroux, or by using #doyouroux.

Plus, leave a rating to let me know how you liked the recipe. It helps me out a lot to know how things worked out… or didn’t.

Perfect Pillowy-soft Puffy Pitas

Recipe by Marc PetersonCourse: Baked Goods, SidesDifficulty: Easy

Servings

8

servings

Prep time

30

minutes

Cooking time

25

minutes

Rise Time

1

hour 

10

minutes

Total time

2

hours 

5

minutes

So you want to eat a pillowy soft puffy pita? Here’s how to make one! Learn to make the perfect fluffy, puffy pita bread in around 2 hours.

Ingredients

• 9.5 grams (2.5 teaspoons) active dry yeast

• 5 grams (1 teaspoon) sugar

• 350 grams (1/2 cup plus 1 and 1/4 cup) warm water, divided

• 500 grams (3 1/2 cups) bread flour (more for dusting)

• 15 grams (2 tablespoons) extra-virgin olive oil

• 10 grams (1.5 teaspoons) kosher salt

Directions

• In a large mixing bowl add 100 grams of warm water and stir in the yeast and sugar until dissolved
• Let it rest until the yeast is active and starts to foam up a bit, about 10 to 15 minutes
• Add in all remaining ingredients (flour, olive oil, salt, and remaining water) and stir it together until a loose, shaggy dough forms
• Turn it out onto a floured work surface and knead for 10 minutes until it becomes smooth and elastic
• Coat the ball of dough with a small amount of olive oil and place it in a bowl, loosely covered with a towel
• Let the dough rise in a warm spot until doubled, about 1 hour depending on your environment
• Pour the dough out onto a floured work surface and divide it into 8 roughly equal-sized portions
• Roll and pinch the pieces into small dough balls and let them sit, covered with a towel for about 10 minutes
• Shape the balls into flat pita rounds by either rolling them out with a rolling pin or hand-shaping by pinching and rotating until they are between 1/8 and 1/4-inch thick
• Heat a frying pan over medium heat and cook the pitas individually for 2-3 minutes on each side until lightly browned

Notes

• If your house is cold, turn on the oven for a few minutes and then turn it off again for a warm spot the dough can rise

Get recipes like this straight to your inbox:

The post The Perfect Pillowy-soft Puffy Pita Recipe appeared first on Do You Roux?.

Behold the family tradition recipe that I knew growing up simply as ‘scones’. Until I learned later what most people consider scones – which are kind of crumbly and dry-looking and honestly, I’ve never had one (they’re probably tasty in their own right, but they are not my scones…). But still, I guess I should call them fry bread scones to avoid confusion.

Kind of like an obscure cousin of beignets and donuts, these are fried slabs of perfectly golden-brown dough. Add some sweet toppings and it is a dessert that usually masquerades as a breakfast item. Which I love.

My mom started making these on the mornings of our church’s big conference held twice a year. So it became a tradition and a special treat that we rarely had. And one that we always looked forward to growing up.

Because it was a tradition, my wife lovingly made these for our family when the time came. For the longest time, she would use a photo on her phone of a recipe card that had super shorthand instructions to make this. Similar to the German pancake recipe that I had written on a scrap of paper.

So, it is finally immortalized and a little bit easier to follow.

Making and Frying the Dough

My mom first learned of this from a friend. And it starts out with a simple white bread dough recipe.

Begin by mixing together the dry ingredients while heating the wet ingredients together to just melt the butter. Combine the wet and dry ingredients and thoroughly mix them together.

I recommend using a stand mixer with a dough hook to mix everything together. It is faster and easier to bring the ingredients together into a slightly sticky dough.

From there, turn the dough out onto a floured surface and start kneading it for about 5 minutes until it is smooth and elastic. It should no longer be sticky when you have finished kneading it.

Now comes the patience. Let it rest in a bowl to rise for an hour.

Once it has about doubles in size after rising for an hour, you are good to start rolling out the dough and cutting your scones. You can honestly cut them into whatever shape you want. It might be interesting some time to try out some cookie cutters and see how that goes…

But rectangles are easy.

Toss them in the melted shortening and let them fry. Actually, don’t toss them. Hot Crisco will get everywhere. Gently place them in the pan and wait until they are golden-brown. Make sure you flip them halfway through cooking.

Then drain them on a paper towel-lined plate, let them cool enough to not burn your tongue, and start chowing down. After you top it with more deliciousness, of course.

Topping Fry Bread Scones

Anything that would go well with a simple fried dough will work. Which is basically everything. We seem to keep uncovering new things that pair with the scones.

We always treated these sort of like pancakes or waffles with respect to toppings. My favorite growing up was a Knott’s Boysenberry syrup that no longer seems to be available anywhere. Also, melting a little butter on top first because apparently frying them in Crisco was just not enough.

Try topping or serving with any of the following:

• Berries
• Whipped Cream
• Salted Caramel or Butterscotch Sauce
• Powdered Sugar
• Three-Berry Syrup
• Nutella

Mix and match and set them all out as options for people to top their own however they like.

Fry Bread Scones

Recipe by Marc PetersonCourse: Breakfast, DessertDifficulty: Intermediate

Servings

12

servings

Prep time

25

minutes

Cooking time

20

minutes

Rise Time

1

hour 

15

minutes

Total time

2

hours 

Fry bread scones are fried slabs of perfectly golden-brown dough with sweet toppings for dessert or breakfast like beignets and donuts

Ingredients

• 5 3/4 cups flour

• 3 tablespoons sugar

• 2 teaspoons salt

• 2 1/4 teaspoons yeast (one 1/4 ounce package)

• 1 1/2 cups water

• 1/2 cup milk

• 3 tablespoons butter

• Shortening for frying (like Crisco)

Directions

• Mix the sugar, salt, yeast, and 2 cups of flour in a large bowl or stand mixer bowl
• Heat the water, milk, and butter over low heat until the butter is melted and the mixture is warm to the touch but not yet hot
• Pour the heated wet ingredients over the mixed dry ones in the bowl, add 3/4 cup flour on top, and stir or mix using the stand mixer with a dough hook to combine
• Add remaining flour, mixing in one cup at a time until the flour is absorbed and the dough is just barely sticky
• Take the dough out of the bowl onto a floured surface and knead it for about five minutes until it is smooth and elastic
• Grease a large bowl with Pam or butter and place the ball of dough inside
• Let the dough rise, covered for 1 hour until it doubles in size
• Roll out the dough to 1/4-1/2 inch thick
• Let the rolled out dough rise again for 10 to 15 minutes
• While rising, heat the Crisco in a high-sided frying pan on medium heat so that it comes about 2 inches up the side of the pan
• Cut the dough to about 2-inch by 4-inch rectangles
• Fry the pieces of dough, in batches, until puffed and golden-brown about 3 to 5 minutes
• Drain the cooked scones on paper towels and serve warm

Get recipes like this straight to your inbox:

The post Fry Bread Scones Family Recipe (Beignets) appeared first on Do You Roux?.

I did not really know what the classic dinner rolls looked like for a while. Because we always had these rolls my mom would make that are kind of tied knots of dough. Almost like a combo dinner roll and garlic knot. Minus the garlic. But this is definitely the best dinner rolls recipe.

I reached out to my mom to ask about the rolls, how she came about the recipe, and all of its detailed history.

It all started with a recipe she found in a Better Homes and Gardens cookbook. That original recipe was for orange bowknots and you can find a version of it on the Better Homes and Gardens site. Mom appreciated that they were a sweeter roll, but she often left out the orange and most of the time left out the cardamom – which the recipe I linked to doesn’t even reference.

Comparing the version currently on their site, to my mom’s notes on how she changed and adapted the recipe over the years, to the final recipe that she passed on to me, it is clear that recipes change and adapt all of the time. For one, mom’s version is basically a double-batch of the original. Because we really liked these rolls growing up.

They always disappeared soon after being baked. The rolls were so pillowy-soft and delicious that I would grab one from the counter as I rolled through the kitchen and eat it plain as a snack.

Dinner Rolls Process

So, let’s get into the nitty gritty details on how to actually make these rolls. I have a few photo series showing the different stages and what to expect.

To make the dough, begin by combining all of the wet ingredients with all of the dry ones except flour (photo 1). Then mix in the flour until it comes together in the right consistency (photo 2). Once the dough is together, knead it, form it into a ball, and move it to a greased bowl (photo 3). Loosely cover it so that it can rise. The dough rises for a little over an hour until it has at least doubled (photo 4). Rise time will depend upon how warm your kitchen is.

When the dough has doubled, you are ready to move on to forming the rolls. Roll it out onto a lightly floured surface and then cut it into 1 inch thick strips that are 6 to 7 inches long.

For tying the rolls, think about tying your shoes, just without a bow. Take a strip of dough and hold one edge in each hand about 1/2 inch from the edge (photo 1). Use your right hand to wrap the dough around the strip in your left hand (photos 2 & 3). Push the dough through the hole you’ve created by turning and wrapping (photo 4). Pull the dough the rest of the way through the hole (photo 5). Adjust both ends of the roll until you’re satisfied with its look (photo 6) before placing it on the pan for the second rise.

With the rolls all tied, place them on your baking sheet with a few inches between each one. I usually fit 6 rolls on a 9″ by 13″ sheet. Let them rest 15 to 20 minutes for the second rise. Then they’re ready to bake in the oven until that perfect golden-brown.

Pairs Well With…

These are amazing when eaten plain. But they also complement a lot of other dishes well. I especially love these rolls with soup. They easily soak up any soup, sauce, or dressing. Trust me, you’ll end up with clean plates after any meal you make along with this dinner rolls recipe.

• Ham and Dill Potato Cream Cheese Soup – My personal favorite recommended pairing
• Rodda Family Christmas Lasagna
• Thanksgiving sage-roasted turkey and simple turkey gravy

Mom’s Dinner Rolls

Course: SidesDifficulty: Moderate

Servings

12

servings

Prep time

30

minutes

Cooking time

15

minutes

Rise Time

1

hour 

15

minutes

Total time

2

hours 

The perfect golden-brown roll accompaniment to almost any dinner, makes about 24 rolls

Ingredients

• 1/2 ounce (2 of the 1/4 ounce packets) instant yeast

• 2/3 cup sugar

• 2 teaspoons salt

• 1/2 cup water

• 1 cup oil

• 2 cups evaporated milk

• 8 to 9 cups bread flour (all-purpose can substitute)

• 4 eggs

Directions

• Combine the yeast, sugar, and salt in a large mixing bowl
• Stir together the water, oil, and evaporated milk and then heat it in the microwave 30 seconds at a time until just warm (about 90 seconds)
• Mix the water, oil, and evaporated milk into the bowl with yeast, sugar, and salt
• Stir in two cups of the flour
• Add the eggs one at a time and mix thoroughly
• Mix in remaining flour, 2 cups at a time until it comes together in a slightly sticky dough
• Knead the dough by hand for 5 to 7 minutes and then form it into a ball
• Place the dough ball in a large greased bowl and let it rise until it has just over doubled, 1 to 1.5 hours
• Towards the end of the rise, preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C)
• Place the dough on a lightly floured surface
• Roll out the dough to 1/4 inch thick and then cut into 1 inch by 6 to 7 inch strips
• Tie the strips into knots and place them on a baking sheet
• Let the rolls rise 15 to 20 minutes
• Bake until golden-brown, about 12 to 15 minutes

Notes

• Rise time will depend on how warm your kitchen is

The post Mom’s Dinner Rolls Recipe appeared first on Do You Roux?.