These crockpot rolls use the basic Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day dough, but are ‘baked’ in a crockpot so you don’t have to heat up the house (less of a concern this time of year!) and they remain soft and moist, although you can crisp up the tops a bit under the broiler after they bake. You can also, as I did, add some herbs and/or cheese for added flavor.

Ingredients:

• 3 cups lukewarm water
• 1 1/2 tablespoons yeast (1 1/2 packets)
• 1 1/2 tablespoons kosher salt
• 6 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup herbs, optional (I used roughly 1/4 cup rosemary, 1/4 cup thyme)
• 1/2 cup grated cheese, optional (I used parmesan)

This ingredient list makes enough dough for 3 batches of 8 rolls. You can scale down for fewer rolls, but the dough keeps in the fridge for up to 2 weeks so why not keep it around for rolls for several days?

In a large bowl or plastic container, stir together the water, yeast, and salt. Add the flour, herbs, and cheese, and stir until just evenly combined.

Cover the bowl loosely and let the dough rise in a warm place at least two, and up to five hours. At this point the dough is ready to cook, or be refrigerated.

maybe don’t get lazy about measuring yeast AND let it rise 5 hours… luckily this is an incredibly forgiving dough!

When ready to ‘bake’, grease a piece of parchment paper and place in a crockpot. Take about 1 pound of the dough (1/3 of the total) and divide it into 8 even pieces – the dough will be sticky, especially if it hasn’t been refrigerated, but can be shaped roughly into balls. Place the dough balls on the greased parchment paper, cover the crock pot, and turn on high heat.

Cook the bread for about an hour, until the surface is soft but feels baked – I found that for dough straight out of the fridge, 70 minutes worked well. I also noticed that with cheese in the dough, some of the melted cheese looked misleadingly like ‘uncooked’ dough, so don’t get fooled by that!

Cooked and ready to be eaten!

You can eat the bread straight out of the crockpot, or broil to get a slightly crisper and much darker colored top. Place on a pan (without the parchment paper – learned that the hard way!) and cook under the broiler approximately 8 minutes, rotating halfway through and keeping an eye on things as broiling goes from 0 – ashes so very fast!

Looks-wise, broiled is the clear winner to me, but if you don’t have the extra 8 minutes it’s totally fine.

Eat the bread warm, or cool on a wire rack to keep the bottom from getting soggy.

No Knead Crockpot Rolls

Lightly adapted from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day.

• 3 cups lukewarm water
• 1 1/2 tablespoons yeast (1 1/2 packets)
• 1 1/2 tablespoons kosher salt
• 6 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup herbs, optional
• 1/2 cup grated cheese, optional

In a large bowl or plastic container, stir together the water, yeast, and salt. Add the flour, herbs, and cheese, and stir until just evenly combined. Cover the bowl loosely and let the dough rise in a warm place at least two, and up to five hours. At this point the dough is ready to cook, or be refrigerated.

When ready to ‘bake’, grease a piece of parchment paper and place in a crockpot. Take about 1 pound of the dough (1/3 of the total) and divide it into 8 even pieces – the dough will be sticky, especially if it hasn’t been refrigerated, but can be shaped roughly into balls. Place the dough balls on the greased parchment paper, cover the crock pot, and turn on high heat. Cook the bread for about an hour, until the surface is soft but feels baked, closer to 70 minutes for refrigerated dough.

You can eat the bread straight out of the crockpot, or broil to get a slightly crisper and much darker colored top. Place on a pan and cook under the broiler approximately 8 minutes, rotating halfway through.

Eat the bread warm, or cool on a wire rack to keep the bottom from getting soggy.