How do I bake bread in a casserole dish?
Why a lidded pot gives a domestic oven the steam it lacks, the temperatures, and how to get the dough in without burning yourself.
- Difficulty
- intermediate
- Time
- 20 min
- Read
- 3 min
- Safety
- warning
Short answer
Preheat the empty casserole to 230°C, lower the dough in on a sheet of baking paper, bake 20 minutes with the lid on and 20 to 25 with it off. The lid traps the dough's own steam, which is what gives a crisp crust and a big rise.
Professional bread ovens inject steam for the first part of the bake. A domestic oven cannot hold steam at all. A lidded cast iron pot solves this by trapping the moisture the loaf itself gives off.
Safety
Step by step
- Use a heavy lidded pot.Cast iron casserole, enamelled or bare, 24 to 28cm. It needs to be oven-safe to 230°C including the knob — some plastic knobs are not, and can be swapped for a metal one.
- Preheat the pot empty.In the oven at 230°C for at least 30 minutes. The stored heat in the base is what gives the loaf its initial burst of rise.
- Prove the dough on baking paper.Or turn it out onto paper before baking. The paper is the handle — it is how you lower a slack dough into a hot pot without touching either.
- Score it just before it goes in.A 1cm cut with a blade. The loaf expands hard in the first ten minutes and needs a route.
- Lower it in by the paper.Lift the corners of the paper, lower the whole thing into the pot, lid on, back in the oven. Do this deliberately and slowly — this is the moment burns happen.
- Bake 20 minutes with the lid on.The trapped steam keeps the crust soft and elastic so the loaf can expand fully. This is the stage that produces the dramatic oven spring.
- Remove the lid and bake 20 to 25 minutes more.Now the crust dries, browns and crisps. Drop the temperature to 210 to 220°C if it is colouring too fast.
- Check it reaches 93 to 96°C.Probe through the base. Colour alone is unreliable in a pot, where the sides can stay paler.
- Lift it out and cool on a rack.Leaving it in the pot steams the base soft. Straight onto a wire rack for at least an hour.
- Cool the pot slowly.Do not put a very hot enamelled pot into water. Thermal shock crazes the enamel and can crack it.
Tips
- The baking paper is what makes this safe. Never try to drop dough into a 230°C pot by hand.
- The lid replaces a steam-injected oven. That is the entire reason this method exists.
- A pot that is too large lets the dough spread; one snug to the loaf gives a better shape.
Common mistakes
- Putting the dough into a cold pot and preheating together — The stored heat in a preheated base is what drives the initial expansion. Starting cold means the dough warms slowly, sets its crust before it has risen, and comes out squat.
- Leaving the lid on for the whole bake — The crust never dries out, so the loaf comes out pale, soft and slightly leathery. The lid comes off for the second half specifically so the crust can form.
If it doesn't work
Pale, soft crust
Cause: Lid left on too long — Fix: Take the lid off for the last twenty minutes and finish uncovered.
Base burnt
Cause: Pot too hot or oven shelf too low — Fix: Move the shelf up and put a baking tray on the shelf below, or drop to 220°C.
Loaf spread flat in the pot
Cause: Overproved, or pot too wide — Fix: Prove less, shape more tightly, and use a pot closer to the loaf's size.
Poor rise
Cause: Pot not preheated long enough — Fix: Thirty minutes minimum at full temperature before the dough goes in.
Dough stuck
Cause: No paper — Fix: Always lower it in on baking paper — it comes out with the loaf.
Questions people ask
Do I need a special bread pot?
No. Any lidded cast iron casserole rated to 230°C works, and so does a heavy stainless pot with a metal lid. A dedicated bread cloche is nicer to use but makes no meaningful difference to the loaf.
Can I bake bread without a lidded pot?
Yes, though the crust will be less dramatic. Put a metal tray on the oven floor and pour a cup of boiling water into it as the loaf goes in, and close the door quickly.