Baking Aboard

M

MOOSE

Member
After a recent excellent meal of home-baked northern pike, potatoes, and onions, we were lamenting our inability to bake aboard the MOOSE. But then I spied one of Myrna's round, aluminum "air bake" pans, which are double-walled and designed to bake evenly. It'll be a while before we get to try it, but I'd be willing to bet it will work great on the Magma. Because of the double-wall design, things tend to take longer to bake or require a hotter temperature. But I figure with our flame tamer in place and yet the terrible amount of heat a Magma can throw out it should be perfect for baking. We'll keep you posted.
Bon Appetit,
Al
 
While I haven't used this onboard (yet), I have had good luck on my camp stove with the outback oven. In brief, it consists of a diffuser plate to help get even heating on the bottom of a pan, and an heat resistant "tent" like device that goes over a non-stick pan. It makes a little oven out of a pan. It works fairly well but of course I've only used it while back packing and one's perception of what's great baking changes a little on the 4th or 5th day out...

Roger on the SeaDNA
 
Roger,
Looks like your set should work well for Baking.
Question about cooking pots and skillets? Since storage is always a important issue what are other people using for a teflon coated set that fits together to take up less space? I need get a set.
Thanks, Jim
 
Jim, Patty Daydream showed us a high quality set of pots and pans she purchased recently that stow very well. I remember choking a bit when she described the cost. But what the heck, it's for the boat. You might try sending her a personal message if she fails to chirp up.
 
I also have the outback oven and have backed a cake onboard. I have been a little cautious about using it on the wallas - afraid the tent cover will build too much heat on the ceramic top and maybe crack it. I have used it on a camp stove in the cockpit.

The oven works well but only browns on the side against the pan. I have even coked a small canned ham in the oven. The air-bake pan sounds like it could also work. I regularly bake cornbread just in a nonstick skillet with a lid on the wallas with low heat. Again only the bottom is browned but it works fine.

Steve
 
Patty here. I'm chirping. These pots are terrific, but pricey. There's a dutch oven and three smaller pans in decending order of size. They come with one lid which is cleverly indented to fit tightly on each of the three saucepans. There is a frypan which fits upsidedown on top of the dutch oven to act as a lid for that. They come with removeable handles so they all nestle together just beautifully. And they are heavy, high quality. You can get them with or without teflon. I got mine at the Armchair Sailor on Westlake in Seattle. Very classy marine store.
 
Patty here. Neither of those previous links took you to our cookware. This link is what we have, only in teflon for a mere $50 more! The handles are completely detached and there is only one lid making storage even easier. I forgot to mention the plastic storage lids that come with the set, too.
 
Thanks Patty,
I have been looking for a set like this for some time. This is what is so great about this site, Ask a question and you will get some good information.
Jim, Work Release
 
This weekend at Cathlamet I baked blueberry muffins on the Wallas on Amy and John’s boat, just for fun. Worked perfectly!

Here’s how:
Get yourself a dutch oven. We’ve had this one for 15 or 20 years and now it’s always on our boat except when we bring it in the house to fry fish:
Combo oven/fryer
http://www.cascadeoutfitters.com/index. ... ramein=yes

Being aluminum it’s light weight and cleans up well. The base fits perfectly on the Wallas stove. The lid would double as a griddle but is slightly too big. The oven is perfect for frying up large batches of fish or doing a stir-fry meal. Its high sides keeps things from flying out.

Then use a baking pan on the inside like this:
NordicWare mini loaf bundt pan (also aluminum)
http://www.housewaresandbeyond.com/home ... f_Pan.html

I discovered this method when our boys were young and they both had birthdays on a three week trip traveling along Vancouver Island on a Bayliner. I made chocolate cakes using the dutch oven and mini loaf pan on an alcohol stove. I baked yeast bread with this system, too.

To discourage burning on the bottom I think it’s helpful to elevate the loaf pan a tad. I used a couple of metal butter knives placed on the bottom under the bundt pan. Make sure there’s enough room left for the bread to rise.

Turn on the Wallas. Mix up your mix. I like to pre-package my own from scratch mixes at home, but store-bought will work. Put the oven with lid on the Wallas and turn to high. Let it warm up a few minutes as you put the bread in the pans. If baking yeast bread, be sure to let it rise before warming the oven. When it’s hot on top, it’s ready. Put the bundt pan inside and cover. I turned the heat down a bit when it started to smell hot.

The only tricky part is knowing when it’s done. I go by smell and timing. It will take longer than in your conventional oven, maybe by a third. Avoid lifting the lid until you really think it’s ready, as it’ll take awhile to bring the oven temperature back up. But if it isn’t quite done, just cover and be patient. Keep in mind it likely won’t get as brown on top. The blueberry muffins came out perfectly, both the batch in the bundt pan and in the one in my AirBake 6-cup muffin pan that I could not find online.

There’s nothing quite like the smell of bread baking when you’re out in the wilderness!

- Rene
 
I used to bake on my sailboat on extended cruises when it wasn't too hot.

I would use an aluminum pressure cooker on a gimballed two burner propane stove (wish I still had the stove). I would place a pie pan upside down on the pressure cooker and place whatever I was going to bake, often beer bread,in another pan on top of the inverted pie pan.

That would do it. I recommend non-stick bakeware and you have to get a feel for the timing, but I had fresh bread. Often, however, I didn't have that much because others would smell the bread and hop into the dinghy in Boot Key Harbor and go visit Nick.

Nick
"Valkyrie"
 
I tried cooking brownies in my pressure cooker today. I used a scratch recipe in this months Sunset. I put the batter in custard dishes and covered them with foil and stacked them in the cooker. They came out fine. I probably over cooked them just a little. You do have to experiment to get the correct timing.

Next time I am out on the boat and want some brownies I am set.

Steve
 
We have a Coleman Camp stove oven, and have made brownies a few times. It works well with the alcohol stove. Not sure how it would work with a Walace. It folds flat for storage and cost about $35.
 
With the wallas I have never got the Coleman past 300 (after plugging all the holes) and it takes forever to get it there. The Coleman really needs a direct heat source (open flame) to work properly.
 
Prepare your dough at home before departure (easier in a bread machine). Keep the dough fresh wrapped in plastic wrap, in the fridge. To fry, just cut up a portion, flatten it out on a board (the one you used to filet the fish... :crook) rather thin. Then fry it on both sides. Hard to beat!
Next time wrap some cheese chunks inside the dough and then fry. Our name for it is “hojaldra.”

Ordered new boat, wont tell though, might be planked of the C-Brats...

John
 
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