Baking Bread Without an Oven

December 17, 2015

Most of us have tried baking bread at one time or another.  Now baking bread is not particularly hard, especially when you have a modern oven or bread machine.  But how do you cook your bread when you don’t have an oven.  Try baking bread in an iron saucepan or pressure cooker.

This will work with any heavy cooking saucepan and lid.  A pressure cooker or a Dutch oven will work well.  I would recommend that it be at least a four-quart saucepan.  This method can be done on a range top, Coleman stove or over an open fire.

First, get your ingredients together

  • One tablespoon active dry yeast

  • 1-1/2 cups of warm water

  • One tablespoon of sugar

  • One teaspoon of salt

  • One and a half cup whole wheat flour

  • 2-1/2 cups white or unbleached flour

Start by greasing the inside of your pan and then lightly dust with flour, a four quart pan works great for the above quantities of ingredients.   Set your pan aside in an area where it will be warmed.

In a separate dish, sprinkle your yeast over ½ cup of warm water.  Add your sugar and stir it in.  Now let the mixture sit until it gets foamy.  Add the remaining ingredients and beat well.  This should make stiff dough; add extra flour, if needed.

Now place the mixture on a flat board and knead for five minutes or until smooth and pliable.  Add extra flour if needed to prevent sticking.  Form in a large ball and place in your pre-warmed saucepan, pressure cooker or Dutch oven.  Put the lid on and let it rise in a warm area for one hour.  If you lack a warm area, wrap it in towels or place it in a Wonder oven for a couple of hours.

When the bread has risen, place it over the heat and cook at medium or about 325 degrees for about 20 minutes.  If you are using a pressure cooker, be sure and leave the steam valve open to allow steam to escape.  Reduce the heat and cook at 275 for another 15 minutes.

Remove the bread from the heat and invert the pan onto your kneading board and let the bread fall out of the pan.  Put the bread back into the pan bottom up.  Now continue to bake for another 30 minutes or until the bread is done.  As you can see there is a bit of a learning curve to baking bread by this method.  After you do it several times you will find that it is easier than it sounds.

Howard

Reply

or to participate.