Hi there, Sarah! We might suggest taking the lid off the pot halfway through baking to release any built up steam which does help to create a crispy crust at the beginning of the bake, but too much can make your crust a little soft and more so chewy like you mentioned. Also, if you can pre-heat your Dutch oven empty we'd suggest trying out technique from our article, Bread baking in a Dutch oven. We hope this helps and happy baking! Morgan@KAF

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