Liz emailed with a link to this blog post from the people at Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes A Day: Crock Pot Bread Baking! Supposedly, it works great, and turns out a loaf with a crispy bottom crust and a soft top crust. (They suggest placing it under the broiler for a few minutes if you want an all-around crisp crust.)
Sounds like it might be a great way to cook bread in the summer time! Thanks for the tip, Liz.
If you haven’t yet read Artisan Bread In 5 Minutes A Day, you should check it out (literally, if you want – the library has it :). It really is very, very easy and is a great way to get a crusty, artisan-like loaf on the table with little effort! My only issue with it is that at this altitude, I seem to have trouble consistetly getting it done in the middle – anyone have any solutions to that? I’ve tried reducing the yeast and increasing the salt as many people suggested on this post on the official site, and it’s improved, but I haven’t had consistent success.
$1.99 for Pantry Essentials (gallon) at Safeway
I did this last night, and indeed it does work! I followed a bread machine recipe for 4 cups of flour, and put it in the Crock Pot we received as a wedding gift 26 years ago. I let it go 1-1/2 hours, and in that time it was cooked solidly. The range of crust “doneness” varies from crisp at the bottom to done but not hard at the top.
I slashed the dough before placing it the Cooker, but that was unnecessary. I also put a tea towel underneath the lid to absorb moisture, and don’t think that was necessary either. I was very surprised that the bread was indeed cooked through, and that this recipe used produced a loaf that nearly came to the top of the cooker. I absolutely loath a hot kitchen in the summer, but I can see running an extension cord out on the back patio so the house doesn’t heat up! Fresh bread, anyone?
Depending on your slow cooker (and the temperature that it cooks at) you may need to cook it longer. I find that a lot of the stuff I would normally cook in my slow cooker is done after 4-6 hours on low, that I would cook at my moms for 8-10, but that could possibly be an altitude thing too. I don’t have too many problems baking bread up here, but everything else pretty much. I’m not much of a baker anyway.
I just shove a meat thermometer into the loaf, to make sure it is the right temp in the middle.
Have you tried upping the cooking temp 20 degrees? I read that somewhere for high altituted baking and it has helped.
I put in a heaping 1/4 cup of vital wheat gluten instead of a level 1/4 cup, then let it sit out and rise longer before cooking. This has helped get rid of the doughy dense center.