Making A Life

Making my own bread was something that I did years ago before having kids, when I had a smidge more time and no one holding onto my legs while I was cooking. Back then I used a bread maker which simplified the process, but now I have discovered crock pot bread which is just as easy.

I don’t enjoy cooking, I do it out of necessity. I like fancy bread but fancy bread is expensive. I need to save money so that I can get my hair done every 6 weeks, so home made bread it is.

This is a no rise, knead in a stand mixer, cook in a crock pot kind of bread. Sounds pretty simple, because it is pretty simple.

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp yeast
• 1 cup warm – not hot water
• 2 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 tbsp white sugar or honey
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• cheese to melt over finished loaf – optional

Other

• parchment paper
• slow cooker/crock pot
• stand mixer – optional

Instructions

1. Mix yeast and warm (not hot) water in a bowl and wait for the yeast to bubble
2. Mix dry ingredients
3. Mix dry ingredients with yeast, water, olive oil, honey (I use the whisk attachment for my stand mixer but you can also mix by hand with a spoon)
4. Knead for 5 minutes, by hand or with a stand mixer (hook attachment)
5. Line the crock pot with parchment paper (so that the bread doesn’t stick)
6. Form dough into a ball and place in the center of the crock pot
7. Cover and cook on high for an hour and then check every 1/2 hour. At 2 hours I flip mine and cook for another hour so that both sides brown, but the timing will depend on your crock pot.
8. Place loaf on a baking pan and brown/melt cheese for 3-5 minutes at 350 degrees