Baking bread in an UL pot?

[Christoph Blank]

Hey,

I couldn't find anything related – so I'll ask in a new thread.

I came across some blog posts about baking bread in a small pot (I mean UL pots around 600-900ml) with the usual equipment (alcohol stove, etc) but I cannot remember the page.

Has anyone ever tried this? Maybe with some additional helpers instead of a carrying a large pot? This is the only thing I cannot imagine with those light and small pots – but is there a technique eventually? Or how do UL backpackers get their bread?

If this has already been discussed here, please post a link – couldn't find anything related

[Sarah Kirkconnell]

You'd have to scan through all the baking threads here – there are a number and in them baking versus steam baking does come up.
Tinny of Mini Bull has done it as well. You might go through his videos on YouTube or check his website out.

As for bread? Baking is more a luxury than a necessity. While tasty it is a fuel hog no matter what method you choose for baking.

Most folks carry things like tortillas and bagels that have long shelf lives….

[j lan]

Here's a great thread to get you started:
http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/forums/thread_display.html?forum_thread_id=24251

All i would add is that i think I would prefer a small woodstove or campfire to cooking over an alcohol stove though, although some of those simmer designs out there can run like 25 minutes on a little over an ounce of fuel.

Personally if I have a fire I just wait for the fire to die down and bury my pot dutch oven style in the coals. Had the most amazing bacon cheese onion bannick thing this way a couple months ago.

[JR Redding]

Hello Christoph. Being from Austria I know you can appreciate good bread ;) Some of the best breads I ever had were in Munich from this local baker that was near the location where Oktoberfest takes place.

Although I cannot find the pictures or recipe I used to do this, last winter we successfully "baked" bread in a 700 ml pot 6-7 times by making a dough based on quick rise yeast, then coating the entire thing in Olive oil before placing it in the pot.

We used a regular canister stove, a full windscreen, and a foil cover top for the pot. The stove was set pretty low on the flame and the windscreen pretty tight to the pot (not the canister though). It took us about 10-12 minutes for the loaf and came out really well. A tad crusty and thicker texture, but it works.

Bread is a great thing to have on the trail. Experimenting on your own is part of the fun and you're lucky you don't have access to many of the convenience foods like tortillas and things that we do. It makes for better tasting food!

[Christoph Blank]

Hi, thanks for the hints

I'm asking because I'm about to receive a caldera cone with inferno insert for burning wood – since fuel isn't a problem then, baking could be an option.

A normal fire and the above mentioned technique is of course better though. I just wondered if anyone actually does this. Since carrying a ready-to-use mix and only adding water sounds quite nice ..

Joe, thanks for your insight! Good to hear that someone already did this successfully in such a small pot!

Regarding the bread I totally agree. It would be an option to take things like that with me – but I do prefer "real" bread :)

I cannot wait to receive the pot and stove and get started with some baking experiments :) Just thought someone might have suggestions how to do it best – as you wrote above

[JR Redding]

Yeah I think the two major keys to this are the quick rise yeast and coating it with olive oil. Otherwise using just the pot method it wont work very well and be one heck of a mess to get out of your pot!

I think your only issue will be learning to keep the heat lower, especially when using wood. But then again, experimenting is half the fun!

[Robert Blean]

1) Keep the heat very low on the bottom of the pot

2) A heat deflector / flame spreader below your pot would help quite a bit.

3) If top is not getting browned fast enough, build a small fire of twigs on the lid.

— MV

[Christoph Blank]

Thanks for the hints guys! I will give it a try as soon as I have the stove

[Michael Skwarczek]

Hey Chris, I'd like to hear more of your baking conquests. I've been baking yeasted breads a lot lately, but haven't tried it in my Dutch Oven yet. What bread recipe did you have in mind? You could do all sorts of stuff on the trail, same as the kitchen. Including a starter, and biga or sponge. You could even sprout grains. Now, that might elevate you to trail baking godhead.

A word of warning, take note of the low heat, or simmer size flames everyone is mentioning. I've heard the Inferno only burns hot and hotter. You might have trouble with a low heat option using the Inferno attachment cone. But I don't own one myself. I have baked muffins with my MYOG gassifier, and directly over coals in the fire ring. Came out great. True, yeasted bread would be even better!

Keep us posted.

good luck
-Michael

[Rod Lawlor]

I'm not sure how you guys are going with baking your bread in the pot in contact with the fire/flame. Sounds like a recipe for a CRUSTY loaf to me. I spent five weeks travelling with a friend a few years back, with one resupply over the 35 days. He baked bread about a half dozen times. He used a Trangia pot inside a stainless MSR pot, over an open fire. Three stones to separate the two pots. Part of the process was to get a good fire going, with maybe inch and a half sized logs, well burnt. Pull these out of the fire, break them up, and bake over the coals, not over a flame. You probably only need five or six coals.

Doing this LW, you could put the dough in a foil 'cup', inside a Ti pot. Don't use and Ali pot as the 'oven' since you'll be getting close to melting point.

[Christoph Blank]

Hi there,

unfortunately I did not have the opportunity/time to try it yet.
the problem, as you mention, seems to be the "low flame" with my gear (caldera) as well as how to place it inside the pot.

I'd like to use esbit – but it seems almost impossible for this test. A self-made candle or so, alcohol based, should be better..

[Greg Mihalik]

Christoph –
Is using the alcohol burner an option?….
…Or are you committed to "Inferno Only" mode?

Are you locked into "dry baking" or is "steam baking" OK?

And take a look at this site to see what can be done.

We "steam bake" a fair bit, on a Caldera Cone burner with a "muffin tin" simmer/snuffer cap – basically an aluminum muffin tin shaped tight, with a small hole in the top – to get 15 to 20 minute simmers, after a getting a low boil.

[Christoph Blank]

Hi,

Of course the alcohol burner is an option – I just prefer carrying esbit with me.

Thanks for the page, that looks pretty cool!
I like the idea… is this your page or is there also a description of your steam based approach?

Thanks,
Christoph

[Greg Mihalik]

Christoph,
Esbit or Alcohol in a Cone is pretty much the same. I didn't know how tightly bound you were to the Inferno. The alcohol burner with a muffin tin as a 'simmer top' allows you to get by with very little fuel.

Nope, not my page.

This will get you going on Steam Baking. If you use the 'Advanced Search' above and to the right, and select 'all words', you will find more.

I use a 1" x 18" coil of thin aluminum sheet in the bottom of a pan to keep my baggie full of mix out of the water, give it 15 minutes and call it good.

Aside from not having a brown crust, it does pretty well.

[Christoph Blank]

Thanks a lot for the link Greg! Looks quite promising.

Regarding the fuel – yeah it's similar if cooking normally, but how do you "regulate" esbit, as you regulate the alcohol stove with a simmer top ?

[Greg Mihalik]

"but how do you "regulate" esbit, as you regulate the alcohol stove with a simmer top ?"

Sorry, I wasn't clear.

You can only regulate the alcohol burner, AFAIK.
The esbit will be full on.

[Christoph Blank]

ah, alright thats what I thought.

anyway, I'll read through the steam baking posts and give it a try :) thanks for your help!

[Ike Mouser]

sarah kirkonell, can you pm me your email address, i need some info on fbc, i think you sent me some last year but i accidentially deleted it. I am looking into buying a dehydrator and whatnot, and was hoping you could give me advice. thanks!

[JR Redding]

Steam baking is easy with a few extra items but at the end of the day, nothing is crusty, just soft and fluffy. Breads don't taste like "bread" or have the texture. For muffins or a cake it can be an easy solution.

[Bob Gross]

You can "dry bake" your bread and get some crust, or you can "steam bake" your bread and get zero crust. When using a Bakepacker for steaming, I found that the normal bread recipes would yield bread that was too soft and doughy, so I reduced the liquid in the batter by about a third, and that gets better results.

Or, you can wrap the dough around a hot rock and throw it back into the fire. When it has about 3/1000th of an inch of charcol on the outside, it is done.
–B.G.–

[Bob Shaver]

I've been experimenting with using my Caldera stove and windscreen with the Outback Oven. I finally got it figured out. A report with pictures is here:

http://backpackingtechnology.com/

[Ankar Sheng]

It's all about the bannock man! I use a little pan, cook the bottom of the bread over the fire, then prop the pan up on the edge to let the radiant heat brown up the top. Turns out great every time.
http://i254.photobucket.com/albums/hh92/Mr_id/CIMG2920.jpg
http://i254.photobucket.com/albums/hh92/Mr_id/CIMG2922.jpg

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