Hi. I'm a Canadian expat in Taiwan. Like many here, I'm very new to baking bread. I have one major constraint, though: I don't have an oven. Our apartment is small, and I can't justify the expense for just bread and the odd roast chicken every now and then...yet. It may come one day. So far my first couple of attempts have been in a slow cooker. I found this website because there has been some discussion on here about this. I've also read a few blogs about slow-cooker bread and watched a few YouTube videos.
I've read The New Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day (Jeff Hertzberg and Zoë François) and most of Flour Water Salt Yeast (Ken Forkish). I haven't tried pre-ferments or levains yet, but will move on to that one day.
No oven huh? You need to check out PalwithnoovenP’s posts. He cooks his creations in a clay pot over an open fire! Just amazing really!
My daughter makes a Rosemary Olive Oil Crockpot bread that is absolutely delicious. I can share the recipe if you wish.
I am looking forward to seeing your posts!
Sure, I'd be interested in the Rosemary Olive Oil Crockpot Bread recipe.
You have me curious about a clay pot on a stovetop now (sorry, no open fires around here). I'll have to look into it. Thanks.
Rosemary Olive Oil Crock Pot Bread
Ingredients:
- 3 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 packet dry active yeast (2¼ teaspoons)
- 1 1/4 cups warm water
- 1/4 cup fresh rosemary, chopped, divided
- 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1 teaspoon sea salt or kosher salt, divided
- You will also need:
- Parchment paper
- Paper towels
- Crock Pot
Directions:
In a large bowl, mix together the water, yeast, and sugar. Let sit 10 minutes. The mixture should become bubbly. Stir in half of the salt (1/2 teaspoon), half of the rosemary (2 tablespoons), the 3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil, and all of the flour. Mix until fully combined. Work it together with your hands, if necessary. Lightly grease a large bowl and place the dough in. Cover it with a kitchen towel and leave the dough in a warm, draft-free area. Let it sit and rise for 1 hour. Remove the dough from the bowl and gently roll it into a ball on a floured surface. Let it sit for another 20 minutes. Set the crock pot to high. Line the crock pot with two pieces of parchment paper, leaving at least 2 inches hanging out of each side of the crock pot. Place the dough in the crock pot and sprinkle it with the remaining salt and rosemary. Drape paper towels over the top of the crock pot and then place the lid on. This should capture any moisture that would sit on the lid and prevent it from dripping back onto your bread. Cook the bread for 2 hours, and remove from the crock pot. It will most likely still be a bit pale on the outside. It tastes great this way, but I like to put mine on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and put it under the broiler for a quick 3 - 5 minutes to get a crunchier, darker crust. Let cool before slicing. Serve with extra olive oil drizzled on top.
Notes:
PREP TIME
1 hour 35 mins
COOK TIME
2 hours
TOTAL TIME
3 hours 35 mins
is as copied from whatever website my daughter got it from so those are the original author’s notes, not mine.
As to a clay pot on top of the stove, I don’t know about that. It might totally shatter from thermic shock if you don’t heat it evenly right through. You should ask Pal how he does it.
A gas stove might be similar enough to an open fire if that’s what you have. Otherwise, a very heavy pot like cast iron might do the trick. Heat it up till it is blistering hot, load the bread and drop the heat under the pot is what I would try.
Just another thought, you also could heat up the lid on another element. That would heat things up faster and create an additional source of heat for your bread.
Oh i also just remembered. We had a no oven challenge a while back. Lots of us got very creative so look up that thread!
Thank you very much for the recipe and mentioning the no-oven challenge. Both are very interesting to me. Can I assume this recipe is a focaccia bread?
than focaccia. It was delicious though. The family raved about it when she made it for a family dinner.
I just did a quick Google search on the site using "no oven bread challenge". I came up with a little over half a dozen posts about it from December 2016. Most of them were blog posts. Does that seem about right?
https://www.google.com.tw/search?q=no+oven+bread+challenge+site:thefreshloaf.com
This was two years ago and I thought they were all in one thread but when I looked, it seems that they are all separate posts.
Got it. Thanks.
Hi, I'm also new here, only a few weeks. But I got something to say about no-oven bread: it was how I began, without using the oven (not because I lack one, but because I was afraid of mine ;).
I made a whole bunch of Pitas and Naans. Maybe those are breads that interest you? Flat breads are great for the stove top.
Thank you. That's something I can look into sometime.