Baking in a Slow Cooker As mentioned before, under some circumstances (when it is cooking stews and casseroles and braising meats, for instance) a slow cooker acts as a Dutch oven. But at other times it can be like a small real oven or a steamer. Because it uses up so few energy-pennies a day, it is economical to use for baking small quantities, Baking in an oven, unless you really need lots of space, heats a large area when a smaller one would do. If things baked in your slow cooker don't come out just right the first time, experiment a little, and eventually you'll turn out surprisingly handsome baked goods. Test one or two recipes here in your baking equipment ~ you may want to halve some of the recipes. To do much baking in a slow cooker, you must have one of the larger units. The low, small units can't handle much. But it is fun to try half recipes in them, and all the other recipes in this section can be halved and cooked in smaller units.

One of the manufacturers - notably Rival - are marketing baking units that fit inside slow cookers. If your slow cooker isn't equipped with a baking utensil, you can easily improvise. Study the commercial baking units offered, and you'll see they are tall so that doughs can rise high. They are lidded to keep the steam, which forms inside the cover of the slow cooker, from falling back into the batter or dough. Below the lid, there are vents in the sides of the container so that steam from the cooking batter can escape into the slow pot. A cover to keep steam from falling into the batter and venting to let steam out of the cooking utensil are the essential elements in baking improvisations. A two-pound coffee can is a good substitute. Muffin tins don't fit slow cookers. However, Pyrex muffin cups do. I make a double-decker layer of them, using Pyrex cups or a plate to cover the bottom layer and a piece of foil to keep steam from the top layer. About 6 Pyrex muffin cups, each 2 1/2 inches across, fit several of the slow- cooker models on the market-making half the average recipe. (If you have mixed up a batch of ingredients and find it doesn't fit the intended baking equipment, cook in a mold. Custards cook beautifully in a souffle dish or casserole. Use a 1 1/2 quart size, topped with a loosely placed foil lid to keep condensing steam from falling into custard. Also use a Pyrex cup as a rack on the floor of the slow-cooker; and crumpled foil pressed over the upended bottom of the Pyrex cup stabilizes the casserole resting on top.) One thing you'll find helpful for baking is a trivet or a metal rack. If your cooker doesn't come equipped with one, measure the cooker's diameter and buy one, or use a Pyrex cup, as explained above. In my experience, breads and cakes are more successful when they sit a little above the floor of the slow cooker than when they sit right on it.

Grosset & Dunlap, Ny, c1975

J.PENROD3 on GEnie