Six Tools for Bread Making You Didn't Know You Needed

As part of an occasional Bread 101 series, I am sharing some of my favorite tools for baking bread. While you can live without them, all of these tools will make your bread baking so much easier.

Three Bread Baking Hacks - Bread 101

Have you ever wondered if your dough has actually doubled? Is your kitchen too cold for your dough to rise? Don't have a Dutch oven for baking artisan bread?

These hacks have worked great for me.

How To Transfer Bread Dough to a Hot Cast Iron Dutch Oven - Bread 101

Baking bread in a cast iron or clay pot is a great way to recreate the hot, moist environment of a professional oven. The super hot pot traps the steam that is naturally generated from the dough, and also encourages the dough to rise rapidly in the oven. This is called "oven spring." 

The bread in the photo above was baked in a cast iron pan that was preheated in a 500 degree (F) oven. I've posted lots of bread recipes that use this method so I finally decided to take some photos demonstrating how I do it.