I made some wholemeal jalapeno cheese bread this afternoon. It's been a while, but it was nice to get my hands into some dough and to smell the aroma of baking bread. I had some whey from a recent batch of ricotta I made, so I used that, heated until warm, as the liquid--it works really well for bread. I dumped everything into my food processor with the dough blade, whizzed it up until it was nicely mixed, turned the dough out onto a floured surface, and kneaded for a few minutes.
Then into the slow cooker, which had a piece of parchment paper in it, large enough to use to lift out the bread when it was time to turn the loaf. After a little more than 2 hours on high, I turned it over and let it bake for another hour or so, still on high. Then out it came and the impatient wait for it to cool down enough to slice began. I love the end piece, still hot from the slow cooker, with some butter.
I'd never thought about using my slow cooker to bake bread until my bread machine conked out. I'd gotten it 4 or 5 years previously for €5 at a charity shop, so I definitely got my money's worth from it. I didn't really want to get a new one and as it was during the pandemic, we weren't going to any charity shops. The ovens I've had in this country are all crap and other than muffins or flatbreads, I wouldn't try to bake bread in one, because I know the loaves would be burnt on the outside and uncooked on the inside. Besides, they are very energy inefficient. So I was looking for an alternative to bread makers and my oven. The slow cooker works perfectly and I am no longer looking for a bread machine. Even if I saw another one for €5 in a charity shop, I wouldn't buy it. When Bill got me my food processor, the whole process was made even easier and the combination of both appliances works better and is easier than using a bread machine, so in the end, I'm not sorry mine conked out.
