Here is a super recipe that my best friend, John, turned me onto! He’s been making it for months and has perfected the recipe. I am still tweaking and trying different flavors. I will always say that his is the best though 🙂

Simple Ingredients

3 batches of bread.....dry ingredients

This is seriously easy to make – but you MUST have a dutch oven. MUST MUST MUST. It will NOT work otherwise. If you dont have one, you can typically find a fabulous Dutch Oven at HomeGoods for $60. The cost is well worth the quality and craftsmanship.

Here is my baby

I made this as part of our Easter Dinner this year and everyone RAVED about it. I knew it was good, but I was stunned and thrilled that others thought it was that good, too. Especially the Lemon Rosemary Gruyere Bread…….holy smokes………AH-MAZING. Like, sinfully amazing. I have the Lemon Rosemary Gruyere bread recipe and pics below!

Wet dough - sitting out to rise

Dough in dutch oven - ready to bake

There are all different flavor combinations and ingredients you can use with this basic recipe. Here are some examples: Pepper jack cheese; Jalapeno and cheddar; Raisin, walnut, cinnamon; Cranberry, Walnut, Orange; Pumpkin, sunflower, poppy seed; Sharp cheddar; Rosemary, Lemon, Gruyere; Lemon, thyme, asiago; Asiago, mixed herb and rosemary; Chives and thyme.

Baked Plain Bread!

Slices of Delight

Under the basic bread recipe, I will give you the recipe for the Lemon Rosemary Gruyere Bread I made as well.

Crusty Baked Bread

• 3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1   3/4 teaspoons salt
• 1/2 teaspoon yeast
• 1  1/2 cups water

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together flour, salt and yeast. Add water and mix until a shaggy mixture forms. Cover bowl with plastic wrap tightly and set aside for 12 – 18 hours. Overnight works great.

Heat oven to 450 degrees. When the oven has reached 450 degrees place a cast iron pot with a lid (dutch oven) in the oven and heat the pot for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, pour dough onto a heavily floured surface and shape into a ball. Cover with plastic wrap and let set while the pot is heating.

Remove hot pot from the oven and drop in the dough. Cover and return to oven for 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes remove the lid and bake an additional 15 minutes.

Remove bread from oven and place on a cooling rack to cool.

Lemon, Rosemary, Gruyere Bread:

I had to double the recipe since I was making 2 loaves of the Lemon, Rosemary, Gruyere, so remember that when looking at this recipe:

In the large bowl put 6 cups flour, 3 1/2 teaspoons salt and 1 teaspoon yeast.

After wisking those ingredients together addthe zest from two lemons, some chopped rosemary (I didn’t measure, sorry) and about 2 1/2 cups shredded Gruyere.

Mix all the ingredients together well and add 3 cups water (remember doubled). Stir until you have a shaggy dough. Cover with plastic wrap and let set 12 – 18 hours. Bake as instructed above.

Ingredients in a bowl - before adding water

Plain on the left..Rosemary Lemon Gruyere on the right

Closeup of inside.....Cheese and Rosemary, oh my!

Here is a recipe for Cranberry, Orange, Almond bread (sorry, no pics):

This recipe is NOT doubled.

In a large bowl put 3 cups flour, 1 and 3/4 teaspoon of salt and 1/2 teaspoon yeast.

Add about 3/4 cup cranberries, orange zest from one orange and about 1/2 cups sliced almonds.

Mix it together well and add 1 1/2 cups water. Stir to form and shaggy dough. Cover with plastic wrap and let set 12 – 18 hours. Bake as instructed above.

Tags: Bread