Monday, November 17, 2014
Slow Cooker Bread...Not My Biggest Kitchen Success
I now know how hockey pucks are made. I saw a post
this week by another food blogger about how to make homemade bread in the slow
cooker and it peaked my interest. How could it not, right? I had visions of
coming home to the smell of freshly baked bread like the bread my Mom made when
I was a kid. I had visions of crusty fresh warm bread and melted butter dancing
through my head. And I was thrilled by the thought of all of this without hours
of slaving in the kitchen, without the patience required to watch bread rise
and without the agony of defeat. I, however, tend to be a tad bit of an
optimist and this just so happened to be one of those times.
Don't get me wrong, the recipe was easy enough.
What could be easier than throwing 5 ingredients in a bowl and stirring, right?
1/2 cup warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
1 teaspoon white sugar
1 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons olive oil
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
 |
| Yes, I know this looks like a bad science experiment |
So I was pretty successful with this portion of the
recipe.
Now for the crock pot portion of the recipe:
Directions
Shape your loaf of bread: Shape your loaf into a
round or a loaf depending on the size of your slow cooker and/or what kind of
loaf you'd like to make. Set the shaped dough on a square of parchment paper.
(If you're baking the bread in a pan, there's no need to use parchment.) I was
pretty excited by the fact that I cut the parchment paper to match the size of
my crock pot, especially since as many of you know I hate parchment paper and
it is one of my kitchen enemies.
Lift it into the slow cooker: Lift the loaf by the
parchment and set it in the middle of the slow cooker. Try to arrange flatten
the parchment as much as possible against the sides of the slow cooker to
prevent it from getting caught in the bread as it rises. Cover the slow cooker
with its lid. →
Pre-Baking Rise?You do not need to let your bread rise before baking. However,
if your bread dough has been in the refrigerator, letting it warm a bit on the
counter can reduce the overall cooking time.
Set the slow cooker to HIGH: Turn on your slow
cooker to the highest heat setting (or quickest time setting). This step also
went pretty well and I was thrilled by the fact that I didn't have to watch my
bread rise and do other stuff to it in between.
Bake for 1 to 2 1/2 hours: Baking time will vary
depending on your slow cooker. If this is your first time baking bread in your
slow cooker, begin checking the loaf after 1 hour, then every 30 minutes, and
then more frequently as it nears finishing. Record this baking time for future
reference.
Checking the internal temperature of the loaf is
the best way to tell when it is done baking; a finished loaf will have an
internal temperature of 190°F to 200°F. The top will also feel soft but no
longer spongy, and the bottom will be hard and slightly golden. I also did
a good job of watching it cook in the crockpot or should I say watching reality
TV as it cooked.
Brown the loaf under the broiler: If a
darker-colored, crustier loaf is desired, set the loaf on a rack positioned in
the middle of the oven and turn on the broiler for 3 to 5 minutes. Check
frequently to avoid burning the loaf. And yes I even browned the top of bread
in the broiler because it was a little lackluster in color when I took it out
of the crockpot.
Cool and slice: Let the loaf cool completely on a
wire rack before slicing.
It was this step that I felt the wind come out of
my sales. My bread had grown slightly in size, but it was still flat. It had a
nice brown coloring to it, but dang it was dense. And the flavor was ok, but it
did kind of remind me a little bit of sucking on play dough as a kid, just a
little too salty and for once I didn't add extra salt and a slightly strange
consistency.
At the end of the day I just have to say it was a
cool idea, but it didn't give me the thrill of homemade bread or fresh
baguettes from Sicily or even the smell of bread coming out of the oven at
Albertsons. But if you are short on cash and you need some easy and cheap
hockey pucks, well, just fire up the slow cooker and this recipe is a winner,
as for bread, this was kind of an epic fail.
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