This is the third in a series of guest posts by fellow food bloggers. This post is written by Lucy who is pretty famous for making some awesome slow cooker recipes. I love my slow cooker so I will certainly be trying this amazing looking bread. You can find Lucy over at Baking Queen 74 And also on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. Over to Lucy:

Making bread can be quite labour intensive I find, especially if you’re busy, with lots of things to be doing and a never-ending to-do list. Oddly, this is when I like to use my slow cooker to make bread even more SLOWLY!

Even though it takes longer, I find making bread in the slow cooker great because it doesn’t require as much attention and won’t burn quickly. Then you can get on with other things on your list, proud in the knowledge you have baked your own bread! Perfect if you have little people around demanding attention, emails to attend to or household jobs to be getting on with.

This tasty bread is great for lunch, served with some salad and cheese, or would also be a lovely side for a slow cooked stew. It didn’t last long at all in my house, even though it makes a large loaf.

Note that I made this loaf in a large slow cooker (5.7 litre). If you only have a 3.5 litre slow cooker I would either halve the quantities or split the dough in half and bake two smaller loaves one after the other. The second batch could prove in the fridge while the first batch cooks, so you would only need to bake the second one on high.

Recipe:

• 480 g strong white bread flour
• 1 sachet dried yeast
• 1 tsp salt
• 280 ml tepid water
• 7-8 sundried tomatoes, chopped
• 10-12 green pitted olives, quartered
• 3 sprigs of rosemary, leaves stripped
• A little olive oil to drizzle on top
• Coarse sea salt to scatter on top
• 2 more sprigs of rosemary, leaves stripped, to scatter on top

Method:

1. Place the flour in a large bowl. Add the salt on one side and the yeast on the other.
2. Add the olives, sundried tomatoes and rosemary then slowly add the water and mix to form a sticky dough.

3.Remove from the bowl and knead for ten minutes on a floured surface until elastic and smooth.
4. Place the dough on oiled baking paper in the slow cooker pot.
5. Make indentations in the dough with your fingers, then drizzle over the oil, sprinkle on the salt and extra sprigs of rosemary.

6 Place the lid on the slow cooker, with a tea towel under the lid to stop water dripping onto the bread.
7 Turn on low for an hour to prove until doubled in size.

8 Switch to high for 1-2 hours until baked and sounds hollow when tapped. If necessary you can turn the bread over half way through so that top and bottom are equally brown and crusty.