Monday, August 13, 2012

Artisan Bread in the Crockpot


This actually took place in an earlier heat wave, but I wanted to report on my experiment with making bread in the crockpot.

I used recipes and techniques that I found online (links on my pinterest board here).  Overall, it worked.
 

The bread was a bit flat and more like steamed bread, such as Boston brown bread, than artisanal bread.  I thought I was going to get European boules with no effort or skill.  Sigh. But really, as I should know, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

Any bread is excellent with Nutella, iced cafe au lait, and peaches. 


This Nutella is not homemade. 

I have other kitchen projects I want to spend my limited time on, so my family just ate a jar of tasty chemicals.  There wasn't really a savings of money, although I could use local cream when I made Nutella.  I am glad to know how to make nut butter in my food processor with the hazelnuts (although I found out that almonds don't work the same way). 

I guess I am trying to tell you that I am not a slave to thrift.  It's usually fun and satisfying for me to make things, but it's not my god.

I'm getting unpacked from a fun weekend and scrabbling around with school supplies.  Stay tuned!

8 comments:

Dianna said...

That's funny, the loaf I tried in the slow cooker came out pretty well. Possibly because I used far too much dough in my round 4-quart, so the sides forced it to rise more, or perhaps because I used white dough instead of whole-grain? I also finished it off under the broiler because the pasty appearance was not appetizing.

But yours looks good anyway. It's hard to go wrong with artisan bread dough.

Sew Blessed Maw [Judy] said...

The bread looks yummy, and when you don't have to turn that oven on ,in this heat..yea,yea!!
Who can go wrong with nutella.. I buy it too. Delicious. My grandkids love it.
And adding the peaches.. what a wonderful breakfast..

simplicityinthemaking said...

Never tried this. Last time I made mine in the cast iron dutch over. It turned out okay, but not airy.

Rebecca said...

I"m tellin' ya....Tartine Bread.

Ps. There is the small matter of the 500 degree oven. Sounds like dirty talk in this weather. Perhaps an outdoor bake oven would be a nice little to-do for Mr. Thrift.

Polly said...

Oh man, Nutella is my dietary kryptonite. I could eat it with a spoon.

There is a 'natural' nutella--Justin's? Jason's? I can't remember. It's at our grocery store and health food store. But it is pretty $$. I don't think it tastes exactly the same, though it has been a long time since I've had real nutella. I think the real deal is smoother, and a bit more chocolatey. But the Justin's or whatever is still pretty doggone good.

Yum.

Katy said...

You might have better results if you prop the lid open with a chopstick. I have baked gluten free bread this way with great success (and GF bread is a tricky, tricky thing to bake!)

Margo said...

Mrs. Mordecai, I did put it under the broiler, but maybe I should have done it longer.

Katy, thanks for the tip!

Sarah Barry said...

So I have wondered if it really worked. This answers my question.

I like your comment about not being a slave to thrift.