You'll Love these Cast Iron Skillet Bread Recipes (#4 will make you drool!) (2024)

FAQs

Is cast-iron good for baking bread? ›

But the real magic comes from the cast-iron Dutch oven, the perfect vessel for baking bread. It acts like an oven-within-the-oven, maintaining a high and steady heat that transforms this sticky dough into a gorgeous round loaf with a crisp crust and excellent crumb structure.

Ready to bake

Apply a gentle coating of vegetable oil-based non-stick spray and sprinkle in some semolina flour or cornmeal. (Be careful during this step — the pot may smoke slightly when prepared.) Slide your hand under the towel or piece of parchment paper and turn the dough over into the pot, seam side down.

To every pan, there should be season

Wash the pan well, scrubbing away rust with fine steel wool. Dry thoroughly, either over low heat on the stove, or in a 300°F oven. To season your pan, rub it all over with peanut oil or vegetable shortening, until it's completely coated.

The quality of absorbing heat and holding onto it makes cast iron ideal for any recipe that starts on the stove and ends in the oven. From searing a thick steak or spatchco*cked chicken that finishes in the oven to caramelizing apples for a tarte tatin, cast iron is the best possible choice for this kind of cooking.

You need to rinse and thoroughly dry the skillet after each use. Fortunately, cast iron happens to have a nonstick coating that prevents food from burning. Cast iron skillets have been designed to perform a lot of cooking and that's why it is safe to use them in an oven.

Grab a skillet and heat it on a medium or medium-high setting. Drizzle olive oil or spread butter all over the pan. Add your bread to the skillet once it has heated, then let it cook for one minute. Check on the bottom of your toast with a metal spatula to see how much it is browning.

Yes, I periodically season the Dutch oven I use to bake my bread—it is cast iron after all. I simply apply a thin layer of vegetable oil all over the pot.

Wash your cast iron cookware by hand. You can use a small amount of soap. If needed, use a pan scraper for stuck on food. For stubborn, stuck-on food, simmer a little water for 3-5 minutes, then use the scraper after the pan has cooled.

If the bottom of your Dutch oven isn't enamel-coated, it's best to use the parchment paper. Mine is enamel-coated, but I find it easier to keep the round shape of the dough if I just place it in the Dutch oven with the parchment paper. Whatever works fer ya!

Spraying water when putting the the dough in the. oven helps keep the crust soft to allow maximum. oven spring.

Should you put oil on top of bread before baking? ›

Butter or Olive Oil Brush: Brush softened butter or olive oil atop the loaf before baking to add flavor and color. Milk Bath: Brushing a loaf with milk before baking gives the baked bread a tender, golden crust. For a sweet bread recipe, sprinkle with sugar if desired.

And what better way to bake this bread than in a cast iron pan? Cast iron pans are an excellent choice for baking bread as they are durable, retain heat well, and provide even heat distribution. Plus, the cast iron surface will create a crispy, golden crust that is hard to achieve with other types of bakeware.

Why does food stick to cast iron? Two words: heat & oil. The most common reason food sticks to cast iron is because the pan is simply too hot.

Remove the bread from the loaf pan or baking pan as soon as you've removed it from the oven. This is important because bread left in the pan outside of the oven will become moist, soggy, and sponge-like very quickly as the moisture in the pan condenses onto the bread. Turn the bread out onto a wire cooling rack.

Bread baked in stoneware will be crustier in the area covered by the pan than bread baked in metal. This is a more compelling advantage with quickbreads. In my opinion sandwich bread doesn't need to be crusty. Metal bread pans are cheaper, lighter, and less fragile.

Glass: Glass loaf pans allow for you to be able to monitor the browning on the bottom and sides of each loaf pan. They also are often dishwasher-safe and may be microwave-safe or freezer-safe. Aluminum/stainless steel: Loaf pans made out of this material tend to be lightweight and on the affordable side.

A great loaf pan bakes evenly browned, neatly shaped loaves. It should be made from aluminized steel for optimized browning and have a nonstick coating that releases loaves immediately when turned over and is easy to clean.

It absolutely will stick to an unseasoned cast iron pan or a pan that was not properly greased for the type of bread you are baking.