OLD IRON POTS RECIPES

Steps:

• In large mixing bowl whisk together flour, salt, and yeast. Add room temperature or lukewarm water and mix until a shaggy mixture forms. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and set aside for 12 to 18 hours. Overnight works good.
• Heat oven to 450 degrees. When oven reaches 450 place a cast iron pot with lid in the oven and heat pot for 30 minutes.
• Meanwhile pour dough onto heavily floured surface and shape into ball. Cover with plastic wrap and let sit while pot is heating.
• Remove pot from oven and place dough inside pot. Cover and return to oven and bake for 30 minutes. Remove lid and bake additional 15 minutes. Remove bread from oven and place bread on cooling rack.

Steps:

• Rinse beans and pick them over. Put beans in a large plastic container with three times as much water as beans. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
• Drain beans. Combine beans and chopped onion in a large saucepan. Add water to cover them and heat to boiling. Cover and let simmer about 30 minutes. Drain liquid into a small bowl to reserve for sauce and for cooking.
• Measure 1/2 cup of the bean liquid into a bowl. Add the orange juice, molasses, maple syrup, ketchup, and prepared mustard. Then add the brown sugar, stirring to dissolve. Lastly, add the dry mustard and salt and combine.
• In a 2-quart bean crock or covered baking dish layer half the salt pork and all of the beans, making sure to bury the peeled, whole onion in the bottom. Pour the sauce mixture over beans and add just enough reserved bean liquid to cover them. Top with remaining salt pork.
• Bake, covered, at 300 degrees for 4 hours, checking on the hour. If beans seem too dry, add a little of the remaining bean liquid. Uncover and then bake for one hour more.