My wife has been making at least one loaf of Sour dough bread a week in a Dutch oven, in the stove oven for over a year. The first Dutch oven she was using is 12 x 5 plus the lid. It is real heavy and has three legs on the bottom. I got her a 10x4 with a flat bottom and she has used it twice so far. Both times the smaller one took ten minutes longer to cook the bread. I have a hard time grasping why with the oven set the same. It is the same bread recipe.

Nice, and a good woman. I got mine busy working three jobs so I have to buy ours.

Maybe less air space?? Warn air might have something to do with how it turns out?

Vinke You should not spoil her. WI Outdoors There would be less air space in the Dutch oven, but more in the stove. I would not think that it would make that much difference, but something is.

I need a bread recipe for my bride if anyone is kind enough to post one she loves homemade bread but ain’t got a recipe she can trust

Nessie might chime in, I think he is the resident bread maker. Eric

with it cooling off a bit this week my youngest made Croissant from scratch , those are dangerously good , hard to just have a bite or two.

Too dang hot ..for baking bread..

See me in October...lol

IDK

But, explain your process. I am assuming the bread goes into the preheated (400-450°F covered dutch oven for half the baking. Then is finished at the same temp, exposed

I'm not overly confident that I can solve it, but your process would give me a better idea.

I showed 43 degrees this morning, some place had frost. You can bake bread at 43 degrees as long as you have some windows open.

T-Rex Pre heat oven and Dutch oven to 450 with the lid on. Put dough in the Dutch oven put lid back on, cook 30+ minutes with the lid on. Remove lid for about 10 minutes to brown the top. The old bigger Dutch oven took 20 with the lid on and 10 to brown the top.

What’s a good bread recipe???? And cooking instructions???

Thermal mass would be my only guess. Bigger pan holding more consistent temperature than the smaller.

The purpose of the initial covered time is to steam the dough. The only variable that I visualize is: the seal of the new dutch oven. Is it possible that it doesn't seal as tightly? My only
Guess, and maybe not too helpful.

Because of the preheating, i wouldn't think thermal mass...but, if there is enough difference, maybe

Im guessing that the smaller dutch is holding more moisture as a % slowing down the cook.

The legs on 12x5 let air circulate around the dutch oven, this lets the oven get warmer all around. Seems strange, but it works. we have 2 also, but the wife likes one with the legs best. she uses the other one for stews and such.

Trappin Ark. Look one up, it will be much faster then me spending ten minutes typing one out. My wife is baking sour dough bread. It takes a starter, which you can grow, but it takes weeks or even a month to grow.
They would both let off steam when pressure builds up. The lids both go down inside the pan and across to the outside of the pot. The shape of the seal on the lids is the same. But the bigger one has a flatter lid, the small one is more domed, but not by a lot.
I don't see how thermal mass would play into it, The temp should be the same since it is in a preheated oven. But maybe that is it.

They are both used setting on a rack. The legs stick through below the rack. I can't see how air would circulate better around a bigger Dutch oven.

Its the inside that matters.

SNIPERBBB The inside how? I would think with 450 temp air around them both and being reheated if it cools it should be pretty much the same being preheated. What burns first what is against the pan or what is against air in a oven? I would think less air space would make it warmer, more constant.

You're trapping more moisture from the bread in the the dutch over in the lids on. That would hold the effective temperature down in the dutch oven.

I really want to try making bread, but you guys make it sound like alchemists turning lead to gold. lol. Eric

you want to be a really good at cooking, you gotta know physics and chemistry or suffer the trial and error of tears.

Good point Sniper he will also have less ability to evaporate off the moisture in the smaller pan.

You'd be surprised how much thermal mass plays a part in this even when preheating. Your ovens heat band will kick on and off while it maintains temp along the heat loss when adding the dough will be more present on the smaller pan at the start of the baking process.

Been in the baking industry for 20 years just not for bread. In my opinion it is those 2 things that made the difference.

There would be more moisture for the air volume inside the Dutch ovens on the smaller one. So that may be it. Not that it really matters, just something I was wondering about. With more open surface the larger heavier Dutch oven may evaporate the moisture faster too. I am not going to say my wife knows physics and chemistry. But she has baked 100's of not 1000's of loves of bread and they two she has done in the smaller Dutch oven turned out fine.

I don't know how to copy links but...

Google ...you tube Billy Parisi French boule Poolish bread recipe

I started with this bread....3 -4 years ago...uses commercial yeast..

So if you can follow directions ..it's makes a tasty bread.

K thanks will close this out and get to googling

Not necessarily faster, it just takes longer in the bigger oven for evaporation to stop. More air can absorb more water. Essentially, the smaller dutch is steaming your bread. Course you could increase the temperature you bake at with the smaller dutch as hotter air can hold more moisture if you were really worried about that extra 10 minutes

The extra time is no problem. It is just something I wondered "way" about. Now it has me wondering if the bread is moister in the small oven. I can't say I noticed it when I was eating some with eggs and bacon for breakfast.

probably the only thing that youd probably notice is that the crust might not be quite as hard. Which can be a good thing. I like to make soda bread and that goes in a cast iron skillet instead of the dutch oven. 2-4 tablespoons of melted butter right after it comes out of the oven helps soften the crust and obviously makes it taste better.

Soda bread equals a giant biscuit pretty much doesn't it? Both my wife and I don't wat the crust as hard as glass. The crust on this was pliable but crunchy.

Its close to it but not quite. It mixes in cake flour(3 parts AP to 1 part Cake), cream of tartar.and not quite as much butter. Your still not kneeding the bread as much to avoid developing the gluten.Basically just mix it well enough to soak up all the dry flour and make a ball with it.