Sweet Potato - Pumpkin Bread: Oven or Crockpot?

 

We got a nice big 6-quart Crockpot as a wedding gift, so I’ve been trying to use it at every opportunity I can.  Since both my husband & I work, it’s really nice to be able to do a bit of prep the night before, throw things together in the removable crock, put it in the fridge, and then the next morning, finish assembly and start it cooking on low.  By them time we get home, dinner’s done!  Coming from someone who has an hour roundtrip commute and 9 hour work days, not having to cook when I come home is fanTASTic.

So when I saw a recipe last year for Slow Cooker Pumpkin Bread on 52 Kitchen Adventures, I HAD to try it.  This is one of those recipes that’s been sitting in my stockpile for a while.

We had some canned pumpkin on hand, but not enough to make this recipe.  But I did have some sweet potatoes in the crisper, so I simply peeled & boiled one, then pureed that to make up the difference.

Ingredients: (makes one 9x5x3 loaf)

• 1.5 cups sugar
• 1/2 cup applesauce
• 1 large egg
• 8 ounces of pumpkin and/or sweet potato puree 
• 1.5 cups all purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder

Directions:

Combine sugar and oil in a large bowl, beating to blend. Mix in eggs and pumpkin.

In a separate large bowl, combine flour, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, salt and baking powder. Add to the wet ingredients in 2 batches.

Now, the original recipe says there are two ways to make bread from this point.  You can be all traditional, and heat your oven to 350F, and bake the bread in a greased 9x5x3 loaf pan for 1 hour (or until a toothpick comes out clean)

OR…

You can be a rebel…with a Crockpot.

In a slow cooker large enough to fit a 9x5x3-inch loaf pan (we have a 6 quart), place a ball of aluminum foil to hold up the pan.

Pour the batter into a greased loaf pan, and place into the Crock on top of the aluminum foil.

Cover, and set the CrockPot to High and cook for 2-8 hours.  Yes, you read that right—apparently it can be really variable, depending on the size of your slow cooker, the brand you use, maybe the stars and the weather too.  For us, it took about 3 hours.

We set it to cook for 2 hours, then I started checking it with a toothpick every 20-30 minutes after that.

The end result was really moist and a little dense, but delicious.  The wait was a little agonizing though, because it smelled sooooooo good.  I think I definitely want to try this recipe again in the oven to see what it turns out like.