How do I make bread with a rice cooker?
Anyone that has owned a rice cooker for a long
period of time knows most of its uses. Obviously the device is one of the
best ways to cook rice, but it can also be used for a variety of other
purposes including:
·
Making Soup.
·
Warming Leftovers.
·
Steaming Vegetables.
·
Cooking Risotto.
·
Warming Couscous.
As well as a number of other meals that can utilize
its single button processing, as well as its natural ability to tell when
the food is complete. Even those that have not tried any of these recipes
know that a rice cooker has a variety of uses beyond the simple cooking of
rice.
However, one use that you may not have known is
that it is actually possible to cook fresh bread with your rice cooker.
While only certain types of rice cookers are able to make bread, several of
the more advanced electric rice cookers (the ones without a glass lid that
are able to fully close) allow you to bake real fresh bread in the appliance
in a few hours.
How to Make Bread
Start with a standard bread recipe. Any type of
tasty bread you enjoy should work, provided it does not have any special
needs that cannot be completed within a rice cooker (such as bread that
needs to be heated or cooled in an unusual way).
Because of the size of the bowl, you
will want to limit the measurements to roughly 300-400 grams of flower, and
about 5 or so grams of yeast. This can vary depending the recipe, but
overdoing it will make it more difficult to cook your bread, especially in
such limited space.
Mix all of the ingredients together and knead the
dough outside of the rice cooker. Be sure and beat out any gasses and allow
your yeast to rise for about an hour, much like you would when you are
making any type of bread recipe.
Once the dough is ready, then you place the dough
inside of the rice cooker, close the lid, and let it run for about an hour.
Most rice cookers “time out” at about 45 minutes or so, in that they will
notify you that your rice is complete, but ignore the beeping and continue
to let the bread bake for a full hour. This is where it is important that
you are using an entirely computerized rice cooker rather than the less
expensive ones that use a glass lid. A glass lid may let out some of the
heat and air that you need to cook the bread correctly.
After the hour is over, open the lid. At this point
the bread should have spread out over the entire bottom of the bowl. Take a
spoon or spatula and flip the bread over, then close the lid and let it run
for another hour. Once that hour is complete, flip it over one more time and
let it run for one final hour. At this point your bread should be complete,
and you can let it cool and enjoy.
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