I am trying to hone my baking-over-the-charcoal-fire skills.
I am getting better over time. Please feel free to share any ideas with my that
you might have about baking without a traditional oven. I am eager to collect
new methods and tips.
I have been experimenting with making good banana bread, and
I think I’ve finally figured out a good method.I get my coals hot on my charcoal cooker. Then I put a tall stock pot like this over the coals with about an inch or two of water in the bottom of the pan.
I pour the banana bread batter into two of these big cans, and set each of the bread cans in the water on two of these little cans, in order to keep the bread “pans” from touching the bottom of the pot (the little cans need to have both top and bottom cut out so that they will not float on the water).
After covering the pot, I just check every once in a while
to see if the bread looks done. Once it looks close to done, I pour the
water out of the stock pot (the “oven”) so that the bread can finish baking and
get a little browned around the edges (the steaming cooks the bread well, but
it needs to cook a little while without steam to get a good crust).
The bread comes out of the cans very easily, and then I cut
the whole loaf in half lengthwise so it doesn’t roll right off the plate!
Then,
people like this help eat the bread:
Hey Ruth!
ReplyDeleteI remember when I was with Henny and David in Cameroon Henny would sometimes try and teach women to cook chocolate cake in the village. She mentioned something about the method being a large pot with Sand in the bottom which evenly distributes the heat more like an oven while keeping the actual cooking pan off the direct heat.
It's a thought :)
I love hearing your updates!
This is soooo awesome! I really loved reading this step-by-step method, and if I move to Africa someday (maybe someday not-so-far-away!), I would love to link back to here to get ideas. Totally fun!!!!
ReplyDeleteKeep writing. I love following along!
How fun! Brings me back to my Girl Scout days and doing box ovens (a xerox box double lined with tin foil, a "rack" made out of wire hangers and coals in the bottom) with my mom who was the scout leader, we made cinnamon rolls, cheesecake and all sorts of fun things! Good luck perfecting your baking skills. Blessings. <3
ReplyDeleteYes, Ruth, this was fun to read! And the bread looks like it turned out great! Good job!
ReplyDeleteMom
I love the ending!
ReplyDelete