Break baking in cookset

“Do you guys have any good recipes for breads and cakes to cook in backpacking cooksets, using coals? I cooked up a cornbread mix where you just add water, and it came out so good I'd like to try a cobbler or crisp. I figure if you take dried apples or peaches, rehydrate them at camp, mix up flour and stuff, you could make a cobbler.

On my corn bread experiment, I put a few small pebbles in the outer pot, put in about 1/4 inch of water, then put in the inner pot with corn bread mix. The pebbles were to give room for the water under the inner pot. It took a lot of peeking at it, and some addition of coals below the pot, but finally it came out perfect, with no burning on the pot. All the boys got a piece.

Anybody got any cobbler recipes?
last edited: 6/21/07 11:54:32 AM”

“I cook a cobbler at home using canned pie filling, cake mix and butter.

I am wondering if it will work if I use some type of preserves (raided from fast food joints in the small packs); cake mix and butter buds.

I saw windygirl cook muffin mix in her cook pot at LBL and it turned out really well. I think she got the idea from StoveStomper.”

“Have you tried the Bakepacker?  They've been around for years.

I've had good results with it... bread, brownies, cornbread... even a chocolate birthday cake in the middle of nowhere that looked like a pablo picasso nightmare (tasty, though).

Check that link... At the very least you might be able to adapt some of their recipes.”

“I don't want to carry another piece of gear, but the backpacker recipes might be useful. We always used to cook breads using coals and our steel cooksets, but I just fell out of the habit of it with the advent of stoves instead of fires in many areas.”

“Birch and Sass do a cherry cobbler that is so good ya wanna rub it in yer hair.”

“A bunch of us did cakes in our cookpots using the Betty Crocker Warm Delights this March in the Sipsey.

http://www.bettycrocker.com/products/warm-delights/warm-delights

Just float the bowl in a lidded cookpot of heating water for about ten minutes. The steam will cook the cake.
last edited: 6/21/07 4:14:45 PM”

“those look great! when you say "float the bowl" do you mean the inner pot? Sounds like a winner.”

“The cakes come with a plastic bowl that goes into a microwave. Since we don't usually have microwaves on backpacking trips, just trim the outer edge of the bowl for small cookpots like the Evernew 0.9 L and put about 1/2 to 3/4 inches of water into your cookpot. Float the prepaired cake mix in the trimed bowl (or not if an untrimed will fit) on top of the water in your cookpot. Close lid and heat for about ten min.
last edited: 6/21/07 4:37:50 PM”

“http://www.trailquest.net/baking.html

Baking with an alky stove. I've never tried it but I am sure other have”

“the goat has a recipe for "the bread" that he steam bakes. great stuff. good luck getting the recipe but the techique of steam baking works well.

the betty crocker warm delights thing is awesome... a real treat. i took 4 with me to the grand canyon this year and man was i livin' high!”

“get the really small baking bags like the ones you cook turkeys in and put your batter in that (for corn bread). Then seal it and float it on water with the lid on the pot. no peeking necessary. for cobler the best way is to get the dehydrated fruit and bring it to a boil simmer it with the cobler mix right on top of the fruit with the lid on your pot. It'll bake right up.”

“I remember making bread in a small fry pan. Bash in the lid a little and build a small fire of twigs on the lid to apply heat from both sides.”

“i used to make bannocks for breakfast... if you are doing the scout thing they are still fun to make. i have not made them in ages. also, prosecutor has a recipe for scones i have been wanting to try that looks good.”

“I experimented with baking an apple crisp in a titanium pot, on an alcohol stove, and it came out great! At the same time we cooked a Mountain House apple cobbler on a snow peak stove, and it burned the apples. I think the alcohol stove spreads the flame across the whole bottom of the pot, and part way up the sides, so there is no one hot spot.

I got a handful of dried apples, enough to fill the pot about an inch deep in dried apples. I added maybe two cups of water, and heated the apples for maybe 15 minutes as the water came to boiling. I had fashioned an aluminum foil cap for the alcohol stove, which covered about half the holes, so it was basically on simmer.

I added the crust mix, which was oatmeal, brown sugar, flour, butter and cinnamon, and let it cook for another 10 minutes on low. My wife had mixed it up and put it in a baggie at home. Then we ate it and the apples were fully rehydrated and cooked, and the crust added great flavor and texture to the mix.

It was wonderful, and I'm thinking this is an area where alcohol stoves can do better than other stoves. it would have worked with coals also, but the pot would have been blackened, and moving the coals with a stick is a hassle.”

“Use granola and it would make a great hot breakfast too.”

“hmmmm ---------”

“Tilt, I finally got around to checking out the "bakepacker." That is a great idea, and their recipes sound good too. I just need to get an alcohol stove that simmers, and I'm in the baking business. THANKS! That might be perfect for alcohol stoves,and solves the problem of cooking fish without a fry pan and high heat, and something for breakfast besides oatmeal (eggs and bacon).
last edited: 7/02/07 4:35:09 PM”

“Yep, I need to take mine out and dust it off. The small one is good for a volume up to a 2-person freeze-dried entree or thereabouts... or cornbread or brownies for four. You might need the next size up depending on the fish  ;-)  It's also handy for keeping food hot in cold conditions.  I think there might have been a frittata in their recipe book.

Bread and things don't develop any sort of a crust from that steam heat, but the cleanup is about zero --- just more trash in the form of the Reynolds oven bag. The alcohol stove does sound perfect for that (it gets a little tricky in combination with a whisperlight, LOL).

One thing I've never done is let the pot boil dry and wind up with a mass of melted plastic. They include profuse warnings about that.

I did find out the hard way that if they suffer some intense trauma (like being smashed nearly flat), they *can* be bent back into shape with your bare hands, VBG.”

“If you haven't seen my wanker version of the baker, check it out...

http://www.freezerbagcooking.com/myblog.htm?blogentryid=1529580

and part #2:
http://www.freezerbagcooking.com/myblog.htm?blogentryid=1565893

I call it the Wanekr Fauxbaker!”

“How do ya spell that?”

“My husband made me something simular to the one shown on the site sarbar1 listed. It works great. He has made one for each of my pots. I found that my 3 1/2 inch pot doesn't do as well as the 5 inch pot. That's just because of the room for the bag. It's great to have muffins in the morning.”

“Wind,
I have learned over the past month that I do have to watch my portion size when I use the Fauxbaker in my MSR Ti kettle. I can do about 2 biscuits worth of Bisquick and that is it-if I want it cooked all the way :-)”

“My problem with my smaller pot was that the bags would melt to the side of the pot, even when using the small bags. I don't have that problem with my 5 inch pot. You are correct in that you have to watch how much you try to cook at one time or you will be eating some dough. BTW, I love your web page and recommend it to others all the time. I need to get your cookbook!”

“Sarbar, I recently bought your book, and it looks great. (see sale to Bob Shaver) You need to add the Wanker fauxbaker to it. I was designing a lot of supports out of wire to make my own wanker baker, but your design is better, being nice and simple. Way to go. I ordered an alcohol stove on ebay that purports to do to full simmer, and I'm going to be testing a bunch of baking recipes. Bisquits sound great, as does more apple crisps. I want to try steaming fish, and if that can be perfected I can leave a fry pan at home, and still be able to cook fish. I'm excited that my pack is getting lighter!”

“Bob, I had book #2 done for basic writing, then I went off on a tangent....and now have put 2 manuscripts together, and yes...the UL baking may become part of it :-)

While not everyone may feel comfortable doing it, I use sandwich bags in the MSR Ti Titan kettle. They fit perfectly. I also keep my stove on very low, after it comes to a boil. The Betty Crocker Warm Delights that come in a bowl at the store, they are the perfect size for a recipe in the Fauxbaker. Btw though, if one does use sandwich bags, use name brand!!!!”

“So for all the breads and cakes, you use the "just add water" type?”

“I do mostly :-) Makes it very easy! Though you could do ones where you add dry milk and dry eggs. Just more thinking.

But I'll say this: Bisquick never tasted so good until your on the trail ;-)”

“I have used the Martha White muffin mixes. It says to add milk, so I add powdered milk at home, repackage for the right amount out on the trail, then just add water.
I just ordered sarbar1's cookbook. I'm tired of hearing Chili go on about it and not sharing, lol.
last edited: 7/05/07 8:19:03 PM”

“I just got a new alcohol stove, and it has the feature of simmer control. I can't wait to try some baking type things, like using dried apples for apple crisp, plus dumplings, bisquits, etc. The cable is the simmer control and it moves the clip with holes in it to cut off air flow. Its very nicely made. They well on ebay for $30, and the labor that goes into it is worth way more than that. It also has a cap, so when you are done cooking, you put on the cap, and the fire is out, and you can pour unused fuel back into your bottle. Nice.



The web site where these are sold is http://www.packafeather.com/stove.html”

“i looked at this. the brasslite is a similar stove... open top for laminar flow and control of the flame through side vents. it should work well for you, bob, with one exception... these style stoves put most of the heat at one spot on the bottom of the pot. so things like cobbler/etc may scorch or burn. i expect you will get pretty good flame control since i get this with the brasslite stove.”

“I believe that, because when its on simmer the flame is pretty small, so it would be on the bottom of the pot only, and maybe just a small portion of the bottom of the pot. That would be fine when using the Wanker fauxbaker.”