Nice! I'm amazed you got that kind of rise out of 1/4 tsp of yeast. If you would, please give us the recipe.
Here's the dutch oven version I use to bake no-knead bread. The closed dutch oven provides the humidity required during the first half of baking.
http://www.motherearthnews.com/Easy-No-Knead-Bread-Video.aspx
P.S. Recipe and method are contained in the video.
The closed dutch oven succeeds because it's essential to have steam during the beginning of baking a loaf of bread. Yeast activity accelerates as soon as the bread enters the hot oven. If you put the dough into a dry oven, the crust sets immediately, preventing the yeast from expanding the bread.
By using a closed dutch oven with this type of wet dough, the all-important steam is trapped inside, surrounding the loaf. This keeps the crust soft and cool longer, allowing the yeast to go to work and the loaf to grow. Enzymes in the dough are also active at this time, particularly on the warmer surface, busily working to convert starches into dextrins and other simple sugars. These sugar compounds ultimately contribute to your final crust coloration and flavor towards the end of the baking time.
The heat of a dutch oven remains much more constant than the heat in a conventional oven. It also traps much more steam inside than can be achieved by putting a pan of water into a regular oven. Regular ovens vent, so it is difficult to keep enough steam inside. Combined with a wet dough, the superhot dutch oven traps plenty of humidity inside. Plus, the higher the internal temperature of the loaf, the more webbing and sheen will be created in the crumb.
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