Recipe: Bread in the Slow Cooker - yes for real!

A couple of days ago, one of my friends posted some pictures of bread that she made using this no knead dough recipe from the Simply So Good Blog.  I was all set to make it until I read that I need some sort of cast iron pot.   I contemplated the pros and cons of using basically everything I had until I realized that it wasn't going to work.

But, after sleeping on it, I decided to go back to an old favourite:  Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes or less.  I made this bread back in 2008 when I only had 1 child.  When I made it, I didn't have a baker's stone but did my best.  I even made it once in a toaster oven!  Afterwards, life got busy and it was too easy to go to the Italian Bakery down the street.

Then I saw that that the Artisan bread people made Artisan bread in a crockpot.  I didn't believe it so I had to try it myself. 

I halved their original boule recipe:
1 1/2 cups of lukewarm water
1/2 tbsp granulated yeast
1/2 tbsp salt (if you like a saltier bread, I would suggest using 3/4 tbsp)
3 1/4 cup all purpose flour

I used my Kitchen Aid stand mixer to quickly mix it together.  It didn't look at all like the 5 min dough.  Theirs is very watery... Mine looked like dough already!   Here's a pic of it under saran wrap.  I let it sit for about 2.5 hours.

After 2.5 hours, I picked it up, made a ball, and placed it in a slow cooker lined with parchment paper.

I was a little nervous about how it would turn out but after 1.5 hours, I noticed that the bottom was crusty!!!  But the top didn't look appealing at all.  The Artisan authors suggest broiling it after it's done but I decided to just flip my bread upside down.

 3 hours later, my bread was cooling on a rack.

 Crusty!  I can't believe it!

Kids had it toasted for their bedtime snack.  I'm off to eat some too!

Happy Baking!