Around 30 minutes before the loaf is proofed (knowing a good proof is an art you learn with practice, but see notes for tips) preheat your dutch oven at 300-350C/572-662F. Note that some dutch ovens can only go to 300C/572F, so make sure you know which sort yours is. Dough is properly proofed when you poke it and the indent bounces back partially, but not all the way.
When the oven and loaf are both ready, take a rectangular piece of sturdy baking paper and lay it on a damp bench. It needs to be long enough that you can lower the loaf into the Dutch oven without burning your arms. In my experience, dropping the loaf into the Dutch oven results in a flat and gummy loaf.
Invert the loaf onto the centre of the baking paper, leaving the edges for lowering handles. Use a lame (sharp scoring blade) or a sharp knife to make a reasonably deep incision in the loaf. Google ‘bread scoring’ for some pattern ideas, or just keep it simple.
Get all your oven gear ready to work quickly for this next step. Carefully and quickly remove the super hot Dutch oven from the oven. Shut the oven door while you work. Take the lid off and quickly lower in the bread, before quickly replacing the loaf to trap steam.
For a blonder crust, drop the heat back to 220C/428F and bake for an hour. For a darker crust, keep the oven at 300C/572F for 30 minutes, before lowering to 220C/428F for the next 30 minutes.
Once the time is up, remove the lid and continue to bake your loaf for another 20 or so minutes, or until the crust sounds hollow when you knock on it. For a blonder crust, drop the heat back to 180C or 356F.
Once cooked, remove the loaf from the oven and baking paper, placing it on a cooling rack. Allow to cool completely (3-4 hours, ideally overnight) before slicing into it, as you can compress all the air in the loaf and end up with extremely gummy bread.
You can store the loaf in a bag or freeze it in slices.