Slow-Cooker Bread
I don't have an oven, so I've been experimenting with using my slow cooker. I combined two recipes from Flour Water Salt Yeast to make this one, Overnight White Bread & Overnight 40% Whole Wheat Bread.
My recipe was (almost 2lb):
300g white flour
200g whole-wheat flour
360g water @33°C
9.85g salt
0.4g instant yeast
I started the autolyse at 6:30pm, added the salt & yeast at 7:00, folded 3 times over the next hour and a half, then left it covered overnight (~21-22°C) until 7:30am. At 7:30, I shaped it into a pathetic boule and let it proof for 1 hour. Then I used cooking paper to lower it into the slow cooker and baked it on high for 2 hours--rotating the ceramic crock pot a quarter turn every 15 min because I have a hot spot at the back--ending at an internal temperature of 96.5°C. The top of the boule is usually quite soft, so I used some long tongs to hold it upside down over the gas burner on our stove to brown it up a bit and try to make the top somewhat crispy (I burnt a pair of oven mitts the first time I attempted this before I bought the tongs).
This boule measured 18cm in diameter and 10cm tall. It also came closer to the sides of the ceramic pot of my slow cooker as it baked, which may have assisted some in helping it rise up, and I think made for a more efficient heat transfer than my previous little 1lb boules which just sat more in the middle.
This is my best attempt yet. The taste and texture are both quite nice. Those bubbles you see in that one picture seem to be only there in that place. The rest of the crumb was better. I'm liking a lower-hydration recipe than some recommend because I don't think as much moisture bakes out in a slow-cooker environment like it would in an oven.