Deep Anodized Aluminum Skillet & Lid?

Maybe you could model your rig after the Outback Oven. I always found it to be good for baking.

–B.G.–

Is this the kind of thing you are looking for?

http://frybake.com/

FryBake:

"Expedition Fry-Bake pan with lid
Measures 10.5 inches in diameter by 2 inches deep.
Pan and lid weigh under 29 ounces.
Price: $73.00"

29 ounces is a little heavy. As is $73.

No lid, though perhaps another lid from MSR would work or be cannibalized from elsewhere.
9" diameter, 2.5" deep, 7oz, removable handle, $24.95

http://cascadedesigns.com/msr/cookware/basecamp-cookware/flex-skillet/product

The MSR one is about the BEST skillet for the backcountry hands down. SLicker than slick and even heating.

Only downside is the handle. You cannot use it in a fire!

If I understand your idea, the anodized pan would be on the bottom, with water in it, and rocks holding up the baking dish inside. If so, I don't think you need anything heavy or anodized, if it just contains water boiling. So the lightest pot you can find that can fit whatever baking dish you are using. A heavy anodized pot, or a skillet, is designed to be cooked in directly, since they hold and distribute heat.

For several years, I did this using the bakepacker + the large aluminum camp pot (around $15 or so) + a cake pan that I got at a baking shop, and was probably intended for the top of a wedding cake. That all worked and backed pretty well. Only this year did I upgrade to the outback oven, which I am using with my bushbuddy, so I have unlimited time for baking.

I don't do any of this while hiking, this is canoe camp cooking.

Brian and Sarah,
Yes, the MSR Flex does look good. Plus a pie-plate lid.

Is the non-stick stuff anodization or ceramic?
(As long as it's not organic/teflon it will work.)

As for the handle – I can just remove it and use a gripper.

Michael ,
I won't always be "steam-baking". Sometime is will be "dry-baking". So I'm a little worried about melting a thin aluminum pan.

Then no on it for you – it is Teflon lined.

phooey.

The search continues.

My mother used to bake on a campfire using either two aluminum pie pans or two cake pans, one inverted over the other, using coals removed from the fire on top and underneath. We rarely had to scrape off any burned spots. She made biscuits, cornbread, even yeast rolls–enough for dinner and the following lunch. She also made either pie or cake every night (the pie was open-face, and the filling was made with either dried fruit or a pudding mix). Obviously, this Dutch-oven style baking with thin pans took a lot of practice before she learned to judge the heat from the coals!

You can also do a lot of skillet baking of quickbread or biscuit mix or cake mix by treating them in a similar fashion to pancakes. In other words, fry them in an open frying pan, turning them over once or twice. Don't make them too thick or you may end up with some raw dough in the middle!

Thanks Mary D.

I think I'm going to try simple, thick, pie pans. The "perfect skillet" may exist, but it is becoming clear that it will be heavy and expensive.

I'm hoping to find something like a 9" which will server as a base, then add some stones, then an 8" bottom, the batter, and cover with an 8" top and a rock to hold it in place.

I think as long as I don't melt the aluminum I'll be ok.

Ever thought of using steel pie pans? They handle heat well and you can abuse them into the ground……

Sarah,
Steel? – Yes.

I think I'll just take my pocket scale over to Wally World and check out the Kitchen aisles.
See what I can learn.
See what might work.

Maybe it will turn out to be the lid to a big popcorn can that I just burn the paint off and call it good. Sometimes I make things to hard.

It sounds dorky but some of the best and lightest kitchen stuff I find in Cash n Carry stores for outfitting commercial kitchens :-)