Grandmother Bread (Crusty) in a Crock Pot

I've been on a crock pot bread kick lately and have been looking for more recipes to try. So far the recipes I've tried are wonderful but I miss a nice crust which this recipe delivers. This bread only gets one rise before adding to crock where it will rise again while cooking. I made this recipe 3 times before getting it right. I've altered the original creator's instructions to reflect my findings. She instructed us to cook the bread with the crock pot set on low. I found that 2 hours of cooking was not nearly enough at this setting but when my crock was set on high the bread turned out beautifully. I hope you give this a try. Prep time is less than the time it would take many of us to jump into the car, drive to the grocery store, find bread, stand in line at the checkout and drive home. The recipe was found on http://chickensintheroad.com and belongs to Suzanne McMinn. Check out her blog if you want. She has some great recipes with amusing write ups. I hope to try this soon and will update the recipe if needed. The cooking time does not include the time for the first rise.

• Ready In: 2 hrs 30 mins
• Yields: 1 loaf

Ingredients

• 1 1⁄2 cups warm water
• 1  teaspoon  yeast
• 1⁄2 teaspoon salt
• 2  tablespoons sugar
• 3 1⁄2 cups flour

Directions

1. In a large bowl, combine water, yeast, sugar, and salt.
2. Let sit five to ten minutes.
3. Stir in the first cup and a half of flour with a heavy spoon.
4. Add the rest of the flour a little at a time as needed, stirring until dough becomes too stiff to continue stirring easily.
5. Next, add a little more flour and begin kneading.
6. Keep adding flour and kneading until the dough is smooth and elastic ( It doesn't need a lot more flour, just enough so that it's not sticking to the pastry board).
7. Let dough rise in a greased bowl covered with a damp, clean kitchen towel until doubled. (Usually, about thirty minutes to an hour.).
8. Uncover bowl, sprinkle in a little more flour and knead again.
9. With floured hands, shape dough into a ball and place in a greased 3 1/2-quart crock pot.
10. Turn the crock pot on High. (The bread will rise as the crock pot heats up.).
11. Keep the lid just barely off the pot to keep steam from building up and making your crusty soggy. (Try using a toothpick to keep the lid open just a bit).
12. Cook it for one hour on the first side.
13. Dump the bread out onto a wire rack.
14. Turn over and put it back in the crock pot and cook for another hour, covered with the lid just barely off.
15. Turn out onto wire rack to cool.