Baking Gluten Free Bread in a Crock Pot
Ingredients
6-quart crock pot/slow cooker
1 recipe Gluten Free English Muffin Bread
1 collapsible steamer basket
1 chopstick (or wooden skewer)
Instructions
Remove the liner from your slow cooker, plug it in, cover it and turn it on HIGH to preheat it. If your slow cooker requires you to set a timer, set it to 30 minutes. Grease well an 8 1/2 by 4 1/2-inch loaf pan, line it with unbleached parchment paper, and set it aside.
While the slow cooker is preheating, make the English Muffin Bread dough, but rather than covering the dough and allowing it a first rise, scrape the dough right into the prepared loaf pan and smooth the top with a wet spatula. Open the collapsible steamer basket and place the loaf pan directly on top of it. Remove the lid from the slow cooker, lower the steamer basket and loaf pan into the slow cooker, placing it directly on the unlined bottom of the slow cooker, and replace the lid. Place the single chopstick or wooden skewer between one side of the slow cooker lid and the slow cooker to prop open the lid slightly. Set the slow cooker timer to cook for 1 hour on HIGH.
As the timer approaches the end of the first hour, remove the lid and rotate the loaf pan on the steamer basket 180°. Replace the lid and increase the timer to 1 hour, propping the lid again with the chopstick or skewer. When the timer has about 15 minutes left, begin checking the loaf for doneness. The edges should have begun to brown, but the center will likely still be soft. The loaf is done when the top of the loaf is firm and the center of the loaf reads about 185°F on an instant read thermometer. To check approaching doneness, insert a toothpick in the center of the loaf. The wetter it comes out, the further away it is from being done. Check every 15 minutes until the loaf is fully cooked. Remove the loaf from the slow cooker and turn it off.
To brown the top of the loaf a bit, place it about 3 inches away from your oven’s broiler until desired brownness is reached (less than 5 minutes, typically). Remove from the oven and place the loaf on a wire rack to cool for 10 minutes before removing the loaf from the loaf pan and placing directly on the rack to cool completely before slicing and serving.