Well, yes. Success! I did it! I baked a loaf of zucchini bread in the crock pot!
I used my 6 qt. oval crock pot, with an 8" glass loaf pan nestled inside.
I made a ring out of aluminum foil to set under the loaf pan for even baking.
I made a gluten free zucchini bread recipe (more on that in a minute...) and set the loaf pan on the foil ring.
Next I laid a layer of about 4 paper towels (to catch condensation) and a bamboo skewer (for ventilation) under the lid.
And I baked the bread, on High, without any peeking for 2 hrs and 15 minutes. I think it might have been done right at two hours though. It looked a little more "damp" in the middle even when it was totally done, so that can be deceiving. Test with a toothpick.
Voila! Isn't that FUN?!
Something about baking this bread in the crock gave it kind of a really nice "crust" on the outside. Everyone liked it a lot.
Here is my only caution: I "pre-heated" my crock by turning it on high while I mixed up my zucchini bread batter, and then I wasn't very careful when putting the loaf into the crock to bake. I burned my finger on the outside of the hot crock pot. So I think next time I will just set it in the cold crock, and turn it on high after I set the pan in. I do not think it will alter the cook time very much. Do be sure to use oven mitts when you remove your loaf from the crock. Treat it like a hot oven, because it can definitely burn you.
I think, truly, any of your favorite quick bread recipes will work with this technique. I used a recipe that I am currently developing. It is not perfected and ready to share yet, but no fear; when it is ready you will be the first to know! It's a GF zucchini bread with buckwheat, hazelnut flour, and sweetened with honey and applesauce; no refined sugar. I will make it dairy free too.
So once again, this begs the question, why would a person want to bake in a crock pot when they have a perfectly good oven? Well...aside from the WAY fun and cool factor, I can think of several reasons and occasions when I will be using this technique. Right now for instance, my oven is broken, and will not be fixed for at least a week. When you have food allergies your choices are typically limited to: 1. make it yourself or 2. do without. I can certainly do without zucchini bread for a week, but, goodie!, now I don't have to. Other reasons: When your oven is occupied with other things (holidays), when you want to bake something but you need to go run an errand or get something else done for a few hours, when you are camping, or oh!! Here's a fun one! At work, or in a church fellowship hall, or a classroom, or somewhere else you might want to bake sans oven. (Remember to keep out of reach of little ones though...those crocks get HOT, people! Not only inside, but the outside gets VERY hot and can definitely cause burns, as I discovered today.)
I know I've mentioned this before, but I read a cute little book this summer by the pool: "Tips for Using Your Slow Cooker", by Phyllis Pellman Good. Oh my goodness what a fun little thing. It was not recipes, but more like a round-table discussion; people's comments on how they use their slow cooker--everything from holiday and party ideas to food they make, to bizarre places they use a slow cooker, like in the car!? And in hotel rooms??! One large family took a very budget-restricted trip to Disneyland and ate all their meals in their hotel room using a slow cooker. Now, for the record, let me say this, I gotta draw the line right there. When I go on vacation, Mama's NOT cookin'. Because if Mama's cookin', it's not a vacation for her! But I do have to say that it did make me think a little more out of the box in terms of how I can utilize my slow cooker. And for some bizarre reason I love books like this little one...luv to hear what people are doing and making; all their stories and experiences with their crock pots, and other pieces of kitchen equipment for that matter. For instance, right now I'm really intreagued by those electric "roasters"...they are like a huge, gigantic rectangular crock pot. People make turkeys in them, and massive amounts of food for huge parties. So if you have one, please, please tell me what you do with it, and if you've ever done a turkey in one, and how it turned out. Call me nosy, but that sort of thing always interests me.
So. If you do any baking in your crock pot you MUST tell me all about it! Better yet, send pictures.
UPDATE: 11/5/13
*Just to update you on the crock pot baking post...I repeated the experiment with pumpkin bread, and it turned out fantastic. Next up, I'm going to try cranberry orange bread and if that works, and if I can get the recipes all adjusted how I want them, I will post them. But I think I comfortably state that baking quick breads in the crock pot is very successful. I'm pretty sure any good recipe you have will work using the crock pot baking technique.
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