This looks a lot like my bread. (I forgot to take a pic!)
Our oven blew out two weeks ago – nobody was hurt – and so I’ve been relying on my favorite crock pot recipes of late. My little one has been asking to make bread, so I decided on a whim to Google “how to make bread in a crock pot.” I was shocked that A LOT of people do this. Long story short, bread made in a crock pot is totally delicious and I highly recommend it!
Read on for crock pot recipes to make bread
Grab your parchment paper, flour, yeast, salt, and some warm water and you’re good to go! This recipe does not require kneading!!! It also doubles well. If you are looking for more easy bread recipes, I like this book.
1.5 cups warm water
1.5 teaspoons yeast (pretty much any kind will do!)
1 tablespoon salt (you may want to increase or decrease this, depending on your family’s sensitivity to salt)
3 1/4 c flour, plus extra for handling
Plug in your slow cooker and set it to HIGH.
Tear off a generous sheet of parchment paper and use it to line the inside of your crock pot (slow cooker).
Pour the warm water, yeast, salt, and flour into a mixer. Using a dough hook (preferably), mix for approximately two minutes. If there is still flour on the bottom of the mixing bowl, give it another minute. If the dough is super sticky and wet, add another 1/2 c of flour and mix another minute.
When the dough is smooth and a matte color, and when all the flour from the bottom of the mixing bowl and been incorporated into the dough, wet your hands then gently pull all the dough out of the mixer.
You don’t need to knead a second!
Plop your ball of dough into your warming crock pot so the dough is nestled into the parchment paper. The dough should not touch the crock pot, only the parchment paper. You may also use refrigerated dough.
Place the lid on the crock pot and set your timer for one hour. You may need to cook it a bit longer, but when your one hour timer goes off, visually check your bread. Has it turned slightly brown? If so, remove the lid, taking care to not steam burn yourself! My crock pot release a LOT of steam both times I checked my bread.
Tap the top of the loaf lightly. If it gives way, put it back for another 15 minutes. If the top is firm, however, flip it over and look for a golden brown, solid bottom crust. If you see this, your bread is done! If not, set the timer for another 15 minutes.
If you doubled the recipe, set your initial timer for 1.5 hours.
Set on a cooling rack and let cool completely before cutting. Enjoy your fresh homemade bread from a crock pot with butter or as a sandwich! We ate ours with salad for dinner. Yum yum!
SAFETY NOTE: Make sure that your crock pot manufacturer’s instructions say it is ok to cook without liquid in the pot. Some require liquid to maintain durability and safety.
Have you made bread in a crock pot?
Welcome to Bargain Babe! I’m Mara, and I’m so glad you’re here. I am an obsessive bargain hunter and penny pincher, and I am determined to live a full life without EVER paying full price.
Do you cook it on warm only?
No, you need to cook it on HIGH.
I want to try make this. I don’t have an electric mixer though. Can this still be done by hand?
Yes, absolutely. You’ll just need to knead by hand for a few minutes until it’s smooth and matte.
Hi! 🙂 beautiful bread!
But how to make all crusty?
Can you cook frozen bread in a crockpot? Thaw it first, I imagine?
Do you mean frozen dough? Yes, I would thaw it first, but otherwise I think it would work fine.
Hi. Having only a little faith in my cheapo slow cooker (a small ten quid own brand one from Wilko in the UK) and its ability to pull this off, I was amazed at the result.. a nice, neat-looking browned loaf! Two things are wrong with it though..both my fault.. I didn’t put enough salt in, so it’s a bit insipid,
AND I think there was too much dough for my pot. I didn’t stop to think about that when I started mixing..and I was amazed at just how much quickly the dough started to rise and how muchit came over the top of the pot! Also, perhaps because it was too much for my pot, it took over two hours to cook. But despite my first experience with this, I would certainly recommend this recipe. But any chance of some kind of guideline with respect to quantity and pot size?
Thank you!
Glad it worked (mostly) for you! Most bread doughs at least double in size so I would eyeball it. You can easily freeze any leftover dough and cook it later.
Thanks!! In any case, I’ve bought a bigger crock pot. Can’t wait to make bread again!
Hi,
I dont know if you will see this, but I want to make this as a mealprep item. So my question is how long before it goes bad? I want to keep it outside the fridge.
Thanks!
I think that depends on a lot of things – temperature, humidity, etc . . . I personally freeze bread if I’m not confident I will finish it within a few days.
First time bread maker & I think I just made a huge blunder. I set my timer for 2 minutes and got distracted; ending up mixing for almost 5 minutes. My dough was to say the least, quite wet. In an effort to recover, I added 1/2 Cup of flour and after another minute, my dough formed a ball. In my moment of “stress”, I forgot to wet hands before handling, but that’s a whole other story! My dough ball has been transferred to the crockpot and I now await the outcome.
Two lessons learned:
1. Keep distractions to a minimum
2. Wet hands before handling dough
Bread making has a learning curve for sure. How did it turn out?
Can you use whole wheat flour?
Yes, although the texture will be different, of course. You might want to start with half whole wheat, half white. If you use all whole wheat, you probably will want to add extra water for a better rise.
I followed all instructions and am using an instapot on the “more” setting for high to slow cook and my dough is still raw after one hour. Not sure what is wrong?
I think you might just need to give it more time? The Instant Pot is notoriously underpowered as a slow cooker. If you have a regular slow cooker, I would try that. Otherwise, try adding more cooking time.
Tried to make this just now and the kitchen smells great but the dough didn’t rise or change in any way. Used everything as is written. I’m so dissapointed and not a newb baker/cook either. Was planning to have it for lunch with leek and potato soup. Anything g you can think of that would make this happen?
Hmm, how old is your yeast? Have you proofed it recently? Is your slow cooker working for other recipes? I’m sorry it didn’t work out for you. I bake a lot of bread and once in a while I get a bum loaf and I can never figure out what happened. But hopefully your second try will be more successful!
Brand new and stored in fridge. I may try again but honestly, as hard as it is to come by flour where I am just now I’m nervous. Would it help if I let warm water and ywast sit first then add everything else do you think?
That’s tough. Under other circumstances I would say give it another shot. But I know how precious flour is right now so I would be inclined to stick with a tried and true recipe. Are you trying to avoid using your oven? Wondering if we can come up with another solution for you.
I’ve been looking all morning for an easy bread recipe, as I’ve never attempted to make my own bread. I’ve noticed most recipes call for either all purpose or self rising flour, while a few just say “flour”. Your recipe appeals to me because it seems quite easy and quick ;). Also, your recipe doesn’t specify what type of flour to use, so does it matter? I have self rising and one bag that doesn’t specify what it is.
Thank you
Just regular all-purpose flour (probably what your second bag is). I’m not sure how self rising would work.
What a waste of precious yeast. This was too easy to actually work.
I followed directions exactly. And, I’ve made a lot of Dutch oven bread (which is great).
Sorry it didn’t work for you!
Can u add variations to this, such as shredded zuchinni, or shredded cheese, or cinnamon, or…?
I haven’t tried so I can’t say for sure. I think something like zucchini would add too much moisture.
What does 1.5 yeast mean and I.5 warm water.
It should read 1.5 tsp yeast and 1.5 cup warm water.