Which is best?
I have only ever used a cold dutch oven once, and I popped that into a preheated oven. I have always been a bit sceptical of how effective a cold dutch oven would be. However, a few people have told me that the method of baking our loaf in a cold dutch oven and only putting the oven on as you out your loaf in works well for them. So I thought it was about time I tried it and compared it with using a preheated dutch oven to see if there was a noticeable difference in the loaves.
You can take a look at the results in this video.
So my advice is that try both and see which you like best. The cold dutch oven may save some energy as the oven will be on for less time. A cold dutch oven is definitely easier to handle when loading your loaf than a hot one. Don’t forget your heavy duty oven gloves for handling the hot dutch oven at the end of the bake though.
Which method do you use and why? Let me know in the comments below.
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