Fresh bread

Usually when we get an enquiry, I try to answer straight way - just goes to show how well brought up I am and how good my manners are ;-).   After all, there is something very frustrating about writing to an anonymous e-mail address and never really knowing whether or not someone will read it, let alone respond.

We do pride ourselves not only on the quality of our product range, but also on our customer service and the lovely comments we get are very gratifying indeed.  What's more, it is generally very rewarding to speak with our customers and we have had some great ideas passed on to us and a lot of support for what we are doing.

Back to the point.....  recently I received an enquiry to which I didn't feel I could respond instantly - it needed some research, and as that involved cooking I couldn't wait to get started.

Can you, asked our enquirer, make bread in the Netherton Foundry slow cooker?  Have to admit -  I had absolutely no idea, but as this was something I'd always fancied trying, I now had the incentive to get on with it.

I make all my own bread, so I decided to use my "go to" standard recipe as the basic experiment and I had no preconceptions about what the outcome would be.
So, giving nothing away yet, here's what I did.

450g (1lb) strong white bread flour, preferably unbleached.
I often use Wessex Mill, which I buy locally at Broomfields Farm Shop



1½tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
300ml (11 fl oz) tepid water
1 tsp dried yeast or 20g (1 oz) fresh yeast
2 tblsp rapeseed oil

Either chuck everything into a food processor and mix for around 30 seconds or combine the sugar, water and yeast and mix well.  Stir into the dry ingredients and add the oil.  Knead well until elastic.
Cover with a damp tea towel or oiled clingfilm and leave for around an hour in a warm place.

Grease a large piece of greaseproof paper with butter and line the slow cooker bowl.
Split the dough into 7 equal pieces.  Put 6 round the outside of the bowl and one in the middle

Place the bowl on the slow cooker heater base and cover with the lid.

Cook on HIGH for an hour.  Then carefully lift out the paper and flip the bread over into the bowl, so that the base is now uppermost.

Cook for another 10 minutes and then turn out onto a rack.

......................And here's the result......ta daaaaa!

So the answer to my enquirer was a resounding "YES, you most certainly can make bread in the slow cooker and it's delicious!"

I then went on to experiment with some pumpkin seed rolls, which we ate with home made cherry jam - they didn't last long!

So, if any of you have got any more questions, be sure to get in touch!

Netherton Foundry Shropshire 2013 ©

www.netherton-foundry.co.uk