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Monday Morning in the Kitchen: Attempting Crockpot Bread, Part I

I feel guilty when I buy bread at the store.  I know I could make bread for less cost, and I could control the ingredients.  Fresh bread smells wonderful and tastes great.  The major downside to baking bread here in the summer is the heat.  I just don't feel like turning on an oven when it is nearly or already in the triple-digits outside.  Some day I might just invest in a solar oven, but until then, I want to try the next-best thing:  bread in a crock pot!

(Of course, you could always use a bread machine, too.)

The first time I tried to bake bread in the crock pot, the loaf rose up, up, up and cascaded in a waterfall pattern over the side of the bread pan.


Not exactly appetizing.  So, for my second attempt I cut the recipe in half.  The bread stayed nicely in its pan; in fact, it collapsed into itself.



Not exactly the look I was going for. So, now I am on a mission to adapt my tried-and-true recipe so that I can successfully make it in the crockpot. 

What I'm going to attempt next:  Use freshly-ground wheat flour instead of white.  (I almost always use wheat; I was trying to save time today.) Use the vital wheat gluten and dough enhancer the original recipe called for.  (I had left them out in an attempt to not use "unusual" ingredients. What was I thinking by eliminating a "vital" ingredient?!)

Any bakers out there care to comment on other things to try?

I had envisioned this post much differently than it turned out.  Next week I will post "Attempting Crockpot Bread, Part 2", and with any luck, I will have a recipe to accompany the post. 


Thanks for a family heritage of bread-bakers.(And as far as I know, all their loaves were perfect.)

Comments

  1. Dogwood Lane RamblesJune 18, 2012 at 8:01 AM

    Thanks Kristi for showing the not so beautiful results of your first attempts. This stuff happens to me too. I didn't know you could bake bread in the crock pot so I'm really interested to see how this ultimately turns out.

    ReplyDelete
  2. DebbieJune 18, 2012 at 6:25 PM

    This is something I have really been wanting to try because of the heat as well. I will learn through you.... LOL. Actually the bread, even though it fell into itself, looks so yummy! I LOVE homemade bread!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Kathy Felsted UsherJune 18, 2012 at 8:32 PM

    Try this- perfect every time but not a crock pot recipe. You have to read the comments because that is where the recipe is.

    http://movingontothepast.blogspot.com/2011/03/our-snowy-day-bread.html

    ReplyDelete

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