Liz emailed with a link to this blog post from the people at Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes A Day: Crock Pot Bread Baking! Supposedly, it works great, and turns out a loaf with a crispy bottom crust and a soft top crust. (They suggest placing it under the broiler for a few minutes if you want an all-around crisp crust.)
Sounds like it might be a great way to cook bread in the summer time! Thanks for the tip, Liz.
If you haven’t yet read Artisan Bread In 5 Minutes A Day, you should check it out (literally, if you want – the library has it :). It really is very, very easy and is a great way to get a crusty, artisan-like loaf on the table with little effort! My only issue with it is that at this altitude, I seem to have trouble consistetly getting it done in the middle – anyone have any solutions to that? I’ve tried reducing the yeast and increasing the salt as many people suggested on this post on the official site, and it’s improved, but I haven’t had consistent success.
$1.99 for Pantry Essentials (gallon) at Safeway
Just thought I’d let you know I tried so many different suggestions from the official website and just couldn’t get consistent results with the bread here in CO either. I finally gave up after 9 months of weekly tries. I purchased a Bosch mixer to knead my bread and haven’t had any trouble since. The crust isn’t that hard, crisp texture that I like, but my five kiddos like the Bosch mixed bread better.
The easiest way to address underdone centers is to shape your loaf differently. Try a longer, thinner loaf or a ring shaped loaf. Since artisan bread is usually not a neatly sliced affair anyway you can probably play around with your shape with no real sacrifice. you can also try deeper slashes in the top to promote expansion of the loaf.