Backcountry Baking

[FarmerChef]

So my current luxury is to take my smaller 2 quart pot inside my 4 quart pot on our family section hikes. We use to use the 2 quart pot but it just wouldn't make enough food as the kids got bigger. But when we updated to the 4 quart I got to thinking: if I put in an aluminum foil spacer and set the 2 quart pot inside the 4 quart with both lids on both pots I could make an oven. Ok. So that's not a novel idea at all and the weight probably seems like overkill. But after baking a 2 layer chocolate cake :banana, cornbread and a few giant blueberry muffins the second pot is a necessity now.

Having said all that, I don't really think I need something as substantial as a pot inside the other pot. In reality, I need a really big, cleanable muffin cup. I'm curious if anyone out there has any experience with this and what your setup is plus if you have any ideas on how I can repurpose or make a thinner substitute to my open country 2 quart pot. All ideas welcome!

[Wise Old Owl]

well you do need a pot within another pot with a separation of air to defray the heat to warm instead of cook - The Faux Baker was just that - So I have seen Tinny do it with three pebbles and a piece of tin with holes and foil cup and that works too... see this link for ideas and scroll for pictures below
http://www.trailcooking.com/thefauxbaker

[Rasty]

Silicon is your friend. I picked tall narrow molds with a open center like a bundt cake pan to cook faster.

http://www.bakedeco.com/a/flexible-silicone-ba-11873.htm

http://www.bakedeco.com/a/silicone-tube-mold-5-25444.htm

[lukabrazi]

Somebody that always amazes me with their trail baking ability is the guy from Flat Cat Gear. Maybe he has something.

[lukabrazi]

I use a Wilton Silly Feet silicon cup. The feet keep it off the bottom of the pot so it doesn't burn. I put some water in the bottom of the pot as well. It is steam baked so it is not quite the same texture as dry baking when it is all done.

18246

[Rocket Jones]

I've used those Silly Feet cups too. I found that I don't like the texture of steam baked foods.

[Bati]

One of the luxuries I took on part of my hike was a bakepacker (http://www.bakepacker.com/). If you don't mind cooking in a ziplock bag, they work very well. When the bread or pancakes were ready, I'd use the water to make tea.

[mattack]

Thirded on the Silly Feet cups! As a bonus, you get to spend the rest of the night meticulously scraping every last bit of food out of the ridges with your spork :)

[FarmerChef]

For grins and giggles here's the cake I baked with my 2 quart pot inside the 4 quart pot.18264 No lie. It was a tester at home to prove the concept and I was thrilled with the results.

I like the silicone ideas those sound good though I need something big enough to make one big muffin or tall enough to let me stack 6 muffin cups somehow. Cooking for 5 means that it takes awhile to do 3 cups in the bottom of my pot then reload for another 3 (I need seconds :D). Has anyone found a disposable type aluminum baker that can be fashioned into the desired shape? I've experimented with pie pans but no luck.

[lukabrazi]

Just saw these in the store today. Could be useful.
http://www.bettycrocker.com/products/shake-n-pour

[Mountain Mike]

Just saw these in the store today. Could be useful.
http://www.bettycrocker.com/products/shake-n-pour

Convienent but a large freezer bag you can do the same with less weight &trash to haul out.

[zelph]

I've had good luck baking in a Jello Mold. Here are 2 of many videos made for a cooking forum on bplite.com There is just too much info there to paste it here. If you have time stop on by and read the entire thread. These 2 vidoes show a large muffin and a meatloaf ring made with an alcohol stove.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v228/obijiwa/sub%20one/th_CAKEBAKINGWITHFANCYFEEST003.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v228/obijiwa/sub%20one/?action=view&current=CAKEBAKINGWITHFANCYFEEST003.m p4)
]
Meat loaf


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v228/obijiwa/sub%20one/th_jellomoldmeatloaf.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v228/obijiwa/sub%20one/?action=view&current=jellomoldmeatloaf.mp4)


http://www.bplite.com/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=523
Pan Bread and Muffins

[zelph]

Oops, forgot how to post those from photobucket

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v228/obijiwa/sub%20one/th_CAKEBAKINGWITHFANCYFEEST003.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v228/obijiwa/sub%20one/?action=view&current=CAKEBAKINGWITHFANCYFEEST003.mp4)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v228/obijiwa/sub%20one/th_jellomoldmeatloaf.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v228/obijiwa/sub%20one/?action=view&current=jellomoldmeatloaf.mp4)

[lukabrazi]

It's not the container that makes them neat. It's that they are all just add water mixes.


Convienent but a large freezer bag you can do the same with less weight &trash to haul out.

[Hikes in Rain]

I do occasionally backcountry bake in a small skillet (bannock breads). I've also wound dough around a stick or just a small ball at the end of one, and baked it over a fire. You can also bake bread in the ashes, which is what I do when the dough falls off the stick. Bring along an orange, slice it about a quarter down from one of the "poles", and scoop the pulp out. Fill the shell about 2/3 full of instant cake mix, put the "lid" back on, wrap in foil, and bake in a fire. The juice from the pulp you left on the cap drips down and flavors the cake.

[FarmerChef]

Oops, forgot how to post those from photobucket

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v228/obijiwa/sub%20one/th_CAKEBAKINGWITHFANCYFEEST003.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v228/obijiwa/sub%20one/?action=view&current=CAKEBAKINGWITHFANCYFEEST003.mp4)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v228/obijiwa/sub%20one/th_jellomoldmeatloaf.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v228/obijiwa/sub%20one/?action=view&current=jellomoldmeatloaf.mp4)

mmmm meatloaf :D

[zelph]

mmmm meatloaf :D

Farmer, you can learn a lot if you read this thread over at bplite:

http://www.bplite.com/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=523 (http://www.bplite.com/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=523)
Pan Bread and Muffins

Have you tried the Non-Stick aluminum foil? Great stuff.

[FarmerChef]

Wow 21 pages of stuff and a great read. Now I much better understand the bundt pan and mess kit approaches. This got me to thinking again...:-?

Loved the many muffin/cake/brownie rings. The logic in the hole-in-the-center bundt pan makes perfect sense. In my case, I really need the inner baking container to be able to do double duty (like, say, make mashed potatoes). Of course, I could do that in the bundt pan but that seems a bit messy. Hmmm. I could heat water in the bundt pan and bring an extra UL heat-resistant plastic container for rehydrating....I know all you FB folks are thinking, "Just use a bag!!" :P Seriously, though, I hadn't considered that before. Still the holy grail is a thin inner pot to complement the behemoth 4 quart pot I'm stuck carrying.

Since my goals are as follows:

1. Have a container that is lighter than my 2 quart aluminum pot
2. Have said container strong enough to stand up on it's own while full of liquid
3. Have said container thick enough to not melt under high heat (i.e. backing at 400)
4. Have said container be big enough to hold at least 1.5 quarts but no more than 2

What about a thin-walled aluminum "pot" similar in thickness to a soda can resting inside a wire mesh framework for extra support? I'm thinking chicken wire would do it or you could go heavier/sturdier with hardware cloth, both of which I have. The real problem is the thin-walled aluminum pot. I need something found since I don't have the right tools to draw or push metal into the form of a pot. BTW, I'm thinking of the outer support due to the size of the pot. It would be too wobbly to pick up and possibly prone to tear once the inner goodness has finished its backing cycle.

Zelph - how did you weld the hardware cloth to itself. That was pretty clean work and I've been thinking of getting a welder for my farm. My paduan jedi MYOG skillz would go up exponentially with that kind of tool.

[lukabrazi]

Here is a blog post with a good example of dry baking.

http://www.briangreen.net/2012/09/baking-on-ultralight-esbit-stove.html?m=1

[FarmerChef]

Here is a blog post with a good example of dry baking.

http://www.briangreen.net/2012/09/baking-on-ultralight-esbit-stove.html?m=1

Enjoyed that, thanks!

His set up is very similar to what I use except that mine is scaled up bigger.

[FarmerChef]

I do occasionally backcountry bake in a small skillet (bannock breads). I've also wound dough around a stick or just a small ball at the end of one, and baked it over a fire. You can also bake bread in the ashes, which is what I do when the dough falls off the stick. Bring along an orange, slice it about a quarter down from one of the "poles", and scoop the pulp out. Fill the shell about 2/3 full of instant cake mix, put the "lid" back on, wrap in foil, and bake in a fire. The juice from the pulp you left on the cap drips down and flavors the cake.

Yup. Done both of those. I fondly remember the dough around a stick method around a Boy Scout campfire when I was a young tenderfoot. The rest of the boys were eating (chiseling is a better word for it) their foil pouch dinners while the smell of savory, warm bread wafted over the campfire. Ahh the memories :D

I've heard of but never tried the hollowed out orange idea. Sounds interesting.