Slow Cooker Jalapeno Cheese Bread

 A few months ago, my bread maker decided it was done. I'd gotten it in a charity shop for €5 and used it regularly for 4 years, so I can't complain. I had to decide whether to replace it. I looked into various options. The problem was in the baking. Decades ago, I used to make all our bread and I quite enjoyed the mixing and kneading by hand. And I always had to manipulate the dough with bread machines, too, since flour will absorb different amounts of liquid and weather conditions play a role. So I always got my hands goopy anyway. But I am not a big fan of the fan ovens I've had in Ireland for baking bread. Muffins and rolls are OK, because they're smaller and bake faster. But a loaf of bread takes longer and with the fan on, the crust gets hard, even if I place a pan of water in the oven, too. If I don't use the fan, it takes forever. I really did not want to buy another machine, because I didn't want to have another bulky appliance. Bill joked with me that I was holding out for another charity shop bargain, but I replied that I wouldn't even buy one in a charity shop at this point. So I pondered various options and came across people baking bread in their slow cookers. This seemed worth trying!

The first experiment was semi-successful. All the recipes were pretty much the same, but I chose one from a site in the UK, because the slow cooker I have here has always seemed to me to not get as hot as the ones I had in the US. Also, the only slow cooker we could find 7 years ago when we first got here was a 3.5 litre one. This suits our needs just fine, but I think most of the blog posts I read about slow cooker bread involved a 6-quart--some people place loaf pans inside the crock, which isn't something I can do in mine. 

I made the dough, kneaded it, shaped it into a ball as directed in the recipe, placed it on parchment paper in the crock, set it on high and went back after the 2 1/2 hour baking time. It wasn't close to being done, so I flipped it and left it in, checking a few times. In the end, I stuck a thermometer in the centre as suggested in the recipe. It was close to, but not quite, at the 90C temperature it should have been at. By this time, it had been in there for 4 1/2 hours, so I just took it out and when I turned on the oven, stuck it in there for 15 minutes. It was mostly done--we could eat the ends, but the very centre was not quite as done as I wanted. I gave it some thought and came up with some tweaks that might make things work. Success! 

I tried a loaf of rye next. Instead of shaping the dough into a ball, I made it more of a log and then flattened it a wee bit when I put it in the crock. Then I tented a piece of foil over the top--just enough to cover the dough. This served two purposes--it radiated heat back down over the top, and it kept the condensation from dripping off the lid onto the dough (some people wrap their lids in paper towels or tea towels). I still needed more time than the 2 or 2 1/2 hours that most recipes call for, but that's OK. I flipped the loaf after 2 1/2 hours and then let it cook for another 1 1/2--so 4 hours altogether. This is not that much longer than the bread maker, which took 3 hours 40 minutes for a loaf of wholemeal bread, which is the only kind I make. So this takes me a few minutes to mix the ingredients, 10 minutes to knead, and 20 minutes more to cook. I'm cool with that, especially since the finished loaf is better than what I used to get from the machine or the oven. Yay!

Today, I made jalapeno cheese bread. It is delicious! here's the recipe:

In a mixing bowl, stir together

4 cups strong wholemeal flour (bread flour in the US)

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon sugar

granulated garlic

oregano

dried jalapenos or chopped jalapenos from a can or jar (I used dry)

3/4 to 1 cup of cheddar or cheese of your choice

1 packet fast-acting dry yeast

In a measuring cup, add 1 1/2 cup warm water and 1 tablespoon olive or vegetable oil

Add liquids to dry ingredients and stir together. Turn out on lightly floured surface and knead for 10 minutes, kneading in more flour if dough is too wet. 

Shape into a log

Place on a piece of parchment paper so you can use it to lift the bread out of the crock later. Lift the dough into the crock of your slow cooker.

Tent a piece of foil over the dough, turn the slow cooker on high, and let it cook for between 2 and 2 1/2 hours, then check. Flip loaf if necessary. After 2 1/2 hours, the top of the bread was still soft, so I flipped it. Then I let it cook for another 1 1/2 hours. This smooshed the top a bit, but who cares!

I let it cool on the rack for 15 minutes and then sliced off the end--I should probably have left it longer, but I cannot resist the end piece of a freshly baked loaf of bread!

It is so good! I'm thrilled that this method works so well. I can use my oven for flatbreads and rolls and the slow cooker for bread, thus avoiding the acquisition of another bulky kitchen item that I will have to move one day. An added benefit is that I can make bread while not turning on the oven in the summer, thus avoiding having extra heat pumped into the room when I least want it. In winter, I leave the oven door open after I turn it off and the heat is useful, but in summer, the oven almost never goes on. It makes a noticeable difference, so I am happy to skip it. Now we are considering whether or not to get a larger slow cooker and donate the one we have. For now, I think I'll stick with what I have, but if it seems to be a good idea one day, we should be able to get one. They've become more readily available these past couple years than they were when we first got here.

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