Cooking leavened bread on top of a stove seems like it should be possible, but after dozens of failed experiments one might be tempted to give up. Here is a tried-and-true method that can serve as a starting point for your own stovetop breads.
EditSteps
- Mix, knead, rise, punch down, and shape your loaves as usual. Here you see an experimental method where all the steps were done in the same bowl, which will now be used for cooking as well. These loaves were formed with butter on the outside to keep them from sticking to each other and the pan, the dough has already risen a second time, and it is ready to be baked.
- Line the base of a porcelain pot with thermal ballast, preferably flat, but smallish round stones would probably work as well; here you see some broken pieces of thick tile from a demolition site.
- Place the Pyrex or equivalent (not ordinary glass) bowl into the pot, on top of the ballast.
- If the pot lid has a steam hole in it, try to find a stainless steel bolt, washer, and nut to fit it. Perhaps it's not necessary, but you want to keep as much heat inside the pot as possible.
- If the pot lid has a steam hole in it, try to find a stainless steel bolt, washer, and nut to fit it. Perhaps it's not necessary, but you want to keep as much heat inside the pot as possible.
- Cover and heat on high for 15 minutes or so. Expect to have a few failed loaves, uncooked in the middle or overcooked, if your equipment is different from that shown, or your stove provides more or less heat than this one, or if you attempt much larger or much smaller loaves. Cooking time may need to be varied accordingly.
- After the stove time is complete, carefully (it's hot!) place the pot in the sun if that's an option, and cover as much as possible with insulating materials as for a haybox, making sure to use a durable natural fabric like cotton underneath the hot pan.
- Leave for an hour or more; several hours gives a better chance of success and cannot hurt it. When time is up, or you just get too hungry to wait, uncover the pot carefully.
- Cut open a loaf and check for doneness. If overdone or underdone, make a note of it and adjust stovetop time accordingly next try. If it's perfect, as shown here, enjoy the rewards. You have saved up to 80% of the fuel necessary to bake the same loaf in the oven.
EditTips
- This could work on any heat source including a campfire, and this setup is much lighter to carry than a dutch oven. Find the ballast stones at the campsite.
EditWarnings
- If using glass, make absolutely sure it's Pyrex or a similar heat-tolerant glass, and be aware that even Pyrex can violently explode if used directly on the stovetop.
- Some stones can contain water if they have cracks or are absorbent, which could cause them to crack apart inside the pot, potentially breaking the inner bowl or glass lid and causing injury. Try to select intact hard, dry stones of dense igneous rock.
- When moving the pot from the stovetop after the cooking time is up, remember that it could be 300 degrees Fahrenheit or more: very hot! Use leather gloves, potholders, or the equivalent, and test first by gripping without lifting.
EditThings You'll Need
- Porcelain-coated steel pot or something with similar thermal properties (insulating, traps heat), with tight-fitting lid.
- Something to use for thermal ballast: broken tiles, stones, perhaps even gravel or sand.
- Pyrex bowl or bread pan that will fit inside the pot without touching the sides. A ceramic bowl may also work; a standard metal bread pan less likely, since it has different thermal characteristics.
- Your favorite bread recipe.
- Insulating materials to hold in the heat after cooking: clothing, a suitcase or travel bag, a laptop bag; see Use a Suitcase As a Haybox
EditRelated wikiHows
- How to Use a Suitcase As a Haybox
- How to Cook on a Woodstove
- How to Make a One Pan Omelet
- How to Make "No Knead" Whole Wheat Bread
EditSources and Citations
- This research was made possible, in part, by a land grant from the City of the Sun Foundation, though the specifics of the research were not coordinated nor endorsed by COSF.