What's the difference in baking bread in a loaf pan vs. in a Dutch oven?

Question

When I bake bread, I always use my loaf pan (something like this). Recently, I've seen some people who bake bread in a Dutch oven (or something similar). Why is this? What are the differences between the two?

Asked by Mien

Answer

There's two important distinctions:

1. The dutch oven is preheated, so the oven conveys a lot of heat, rather quickly. This causes some steam to be pretty much immediately made.

2. The dutch oven is covered. This traps the steam previously made.

Steam keeps the crust from hardening and promotes better oven spring and crisper crust. The steam basically allows the bread to 'swell' more in the oven. The dutch oven is then uncovered after awhile and the crust hardens.

Answered by rfusca

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