This Is The Only Cast Iron You'll Ever Need For Baking Bread

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If you use a Dutch oven for baking homemade bread, you're certainly not alone. Many home chefs, without access to professional kitchens and steam-on-demand ovens, utilize this go-to pot for a wide range of bread creations. But what if there were a much better alternative — one that rises to the top of strenuous bread-pan testing lists from professional bakers? Apparently, there is.

To get that intel, we turned to expert Nathan Myhrvold, founder of Modernist Cuisine and co-author of "Modernist Bread at Home." Before delving into the specifics of his team's bread-pot testing, Myhrvold noted that enameled cast-iron pots (which differ from traditional cast iron pots), such as Dutch ovens, aren't the best option for baking bread. In fact, he states, "Enameled cast-iron pots were one of the worst performers in our tests." Fortunately, after extensive experimentation by the Modernist Cuisine team, Myfrvold reveals the only cast iron you'll ever need for baking bread: a cast-iron combination cooker.

To reach this conclusion, the team deep-dived into every imaginable pot, including standard Dutch ovens, Moroccan tagines, unglazed ceramic pots designed specifically for baking bread at home, and more. "While many of them didn't perform all that well in our tests," says Myhrvold, "We found that baking free-form loaves in a 3.2 qt cast-iron combination cooker delivered amazing results. A combination cooker is affordable and just the right size for an 800 g–1 kg / 1.75–2.2 lb loaf of bread. It's our favorite pot by far." You can grab a pot that meets these specifications from Lodge on Amazon.

So what exactly is a combination cooker?  It's essentially a skillet and a pot made to fit together, though the pieces can also be used separately. In this case, both pieces make the bread magic happen. "Made from unenameled, seasoned cast iron, it absorbs heat well and retains and radiates it even better," explains Myhrvold. "The black color helps, too, when it comes to absorbing and conducting radiant heat."

He further notes how this helps avoid one of the worst drawbacks of home ovens: escaping hot air and temperature drops when opening the oven door. With combo cookers, any quick door opening and closing is unlikely to compromise the cast-iron temperature. Another perk of this bread-baking choice: "The cast-iron combination cooker doesn't have to be positioned in the middle of the oven since it is basically a self-contained mini oven," says Myhrvold. You can, therefore, bake multiple loaves of bread at once.

Choosing the right kind of combo-cooker is essential. "The combination cooker we recommend consists of two separate pieces: a skillet and a pot that are made to lock in place when joined, creating a humid environment within," states Myhrvold. "The skillet component is key because it's shallow enough that you can gently turn your proofed boule onto it without degassing the dough." That shallow depth also makes it easier to turn the proofed dough onto the preheated skillet without burning your skin, as is the danger with the scorching-hot sides of a Dutch oven. The multi-use nature of a combination cooker also enhances the investment value.

Regarding Dutch ovens for home bread-making, Myhrvold calls them problematic for several reasons. "Because of its depth, you need to take care not to drop the dough into the pot when transferring it, so as not to de-gas it," he explained. This refers to the bread needing its first rise before releasing carbon dioxide through "de-gassing" or punching down the dough. It helps avoid over-proofing, leading to better bread structure. "While they can be used in a pinch, we don't recommend them."

The bread crust is a second reason for avoiding enameled cast-iron pots such as Dutch ovens. "They usually have a white or cream-colored interior, which inhibits browning of the crust. However, if you do stick with a standard Dutch oven, Myhrvold offers some tips for that.

"We came up with a great hack that makes the Dutch oven safer to use, if that's what you have or prefer," he reveals. "Instead of baking the dough in the pot, bake it on the preheated lid (so long as the lid is stable and the handle fits between the slats of your oven rack). While it's tricky to gently place dough in the deep base of a Dutch oven when it's blazing hot, these pots work well if you're planning on proofing and baking in the same vessel." According to Myhrvold, types of bread that work best in Dutch ovens include boule-shaped country-style or farmers breads, French lean breads, and sourdoughs.