Friday, June 15, 2012

Let them eat cake-like bread.

I tried the Chickens in the Road grandma's bread in a crock pot using 2% milk for the liquid and making a sponge before kneading.  I following the Artisan Bread in 5 minutes crock pot instructions using parchment and the high heat setting. I flipped the loaf to finish the top. The result was very much like cake. The flavor is similar to Sally Lunn but somewhat denser. Fairly moist, dense and relatively sweet. It took over an hour and a half on one side and at least a half hour after flipping it to get to 190-200 degrees F.

From what I remember:

1.5 cups warm milk
3.5+ cups flour
1 teaspoon yeast
2 Tablespoons sugar
0.5 teaspoons table salt.

Mix milk, yeast sugar and salt and let foam. Mix with half the flour and let rise till foamy and doubled. Knead in remaining flour. let rise for 30 minutes or roughly half the normal doubling time. Shape and place on parchment paper. Lower parchment paper into crock pot. Place double layer of paper towel over top, close cover and turn to high. Check after 1 hour. When bottom starts to brown (about 1.75 hours for me I think), flip using cooling rack and place back in pot. Check temperature after .5 hours. Let cool before cutting.

I used a 4 quart Crockpot.
Notes:
I remade this with 1% milk. It's still good, but not the same as with 2%.

Sunday, June 3, 2012