Baking Bread in a Crockpot

It's no secret I love Five Minute Bread. I first baked it over two years ago and it's now one of the very few recipes I have memorized.

It's that good.

And that easy.

The thing is, I also live in an area where summer temperatures soar into triple digits and the idea of turning on the oven for an hour is pretty much, well, laughable. I've baked this bread on the BBQ, but it was fraught with tension and stress.

Shut up.

It was.

Totally fraught.

So when someone on my moms forum posted about baking it in a crockpot, I was intrigued. Very, very intrigued.

On Sunday morning, I pulled out my crockpot and lined it with wax paper while praying it was the same thing as parchment paper. I sprinkled cornmeal along the paper, formed a ball of dough and plopped it in. I put a double thick layer of paper towel between the lid and the bread, turned the crockpot on high, and walked away.
 

Doesn't it look happy in its crockpot home?

Two hours later, I had bread. I let it bake a bit longer than what had been mentioned in the original blog post, but some of the comments had said a longer baking time resulted in a firmer crust for those of us with tiny broilers.

Excuse me while I wipe away the drool.

The verdict? It had a soft crust - more reminiscent of French bread - and a chewy interior. It was delicious. So delicious, the kids ate the entire loaf without a drop of butter or jam. I'm going to experiment with forming sandwich loaves and setting up a timer for after work bread. I've also thought about bringing the dough to work to store in the fridge there and baking it before I go home. Maybe, just maybe, I might have a carbolicious summer.

Who am I kidding? Of course it's going to be a carbolicious summer.

And so you don't falsely assume the recipe is complicated, though you should really check out the Bread in Five website, the original recipe is 3 cups of lukewarm water, 1.5 T yeast, 1.5 T salt, 6.5 cups flour. Mix and let rise for two hours with a lid over it. (Not sealed, mind, just covered.) Pop in the fridge and use within a week.

Now. Get baking!