Bread in camp oven

As far as i understand it you use flour in the base & then throw the dough in the camp oven.Mmmmmmmmm,Yum.
Cheer's Bob.

Hi Keith,

We take a trivet and cover in 2 layers of alfoil. Spray with oil and place bread on that (for a cob loaf). Bottom will still brown up and become crusty and so will top (keep an eye on the coals though as you may need to move to outside edge to stop burning). Cook for 40 minutes (approx) and you will have a perfect loaf everytime. We add a little extra yeast during cooler months to get it to rise.

Don't place the bread directly on the bottom of campoven as it will burn. You do need heat on bottom of campoven to cook bottom of bread and make crusty.

We don't even bother with damper anymore as we have lots of fun making bead which tastes great.

Regards
David

hmmm went camping with a baker. he spent alot of time kneading the dough because it gets the starch chains alighned properly or something he then placed the dough directly in the oven with a bit of water and stood the oven near the fire turning it often to prove the dough. once the loaf was proved he placed the oven in the camp oven hole and used only the ashes NOT the coals to bake the bread.
I reeeely gota get skills like that because the women went to water when the loaf and then rolls hit the table. Wasted years as a butcher as deconstructing a beast and slicing it up just doesnt cut it with the chix

We use a trivet, then take a shovel full of coals out of the fire and spread them over an area about the size of the base of the oven and put the oven on top. Then add another shovel full of coals on top of the oven.

To stop the bread burning on the underside, I put a 5-10mm layer of coarse river sand in the bottom of the camp oven, then place a trivet on top, then the bread baking tin. This moderates the heat flow, and works a treat.
I put the coals on top only when the bread has fully risen, otherwise heat from the top, applied too soon, hardens the top of the bread before it has fully risen.
I brush the top of the dough with a bit of milk, then sprinkle with sunflower seeds (before baking of course). Nice touch.
And I have found that the bread mix makes a much better bread than just using plain flour/yeast.
Gerry

I used to use a trivet covered with alfoil. I've since changed to placing the dough ball direct on the base of the camp oven. I now prefer it that way. I just wipe the inside with oil and a paper towel.

Apart from kneading well (particularly the first time) and letting it rise well (particularly the second time), the key is not cooking too fast. 10 mins too fast and it will be burnt on the outside and doughy in the middle. 10 mins or more 'too slow' does no damage at all. If in doubt use less heat. It is cooked when it is nice and brown and sounds hollow when you tap it.

Make sure you get at least half (perhaps more) of the heat on top of the oven.

I use the kitchen Collection 500gm premix. Comes in four satchells per pack, so the only thing to measure is the water. They have 3 or 4 varieties. We particularly like their brain bred, but the white is great as well.

Go for it. Nothing like nice warm bread straight out of the camp oven. Yum.

I use a trivet and a round cake tin lightly oiled which works great. Having read the other posts, however, I will try just putting it in the camp oven (always keen to pack less stuff without making camping less enjoyable!).

Cheers
John
Hermannsburg

I just crack the genny up and switch the breadmaker on!

Bilbo

Keith,

For your first effort, I would recommend putting the dough into a rectangular baking tray and placing this on a trivet sitting in the bottom of the oven.

After considerable experimentation, I generally only use heat beads for camp oven cooking now. Must better control of the heat.

As a general rule, use two more heat beats on the top and two less underneath, than the diameter of your oven. e.g. for a 12 inch diameter oven, 14 on top, 10 on the bottom and rotate a little now and again so that any hot spots are not left in the same place.

My "standard setup" now consists of:-
14 inch cast iron skillet and 12 inch trivet (cake stand)
This is the base for the camp oven where the heat beads are placed on the trivet, allowing air to circulate underneath and the ash to collect in the trivet.
(skillet also doubles as a beaut fry pan)
The camp oven sits on top of this base and other heat beads placed on top as per above formula.

I get a consistent result out of this arrangement, all the time, every time.
(also have a gas ring attachment for the hillbilly but generally use this to boil the cooking water for the yabbies or crabs......yum)

One big negative with mixing the dough yourself Keith.
It's very hard to "let go" of the wine glass when you have dough encrusted hands.
Much better to drink beer while performing this operation.

Have a good time matey!

Thank you very much, to all the cooks ('chefs') for their suggestions.
It is greatly appreciated..................Keith

From the Camp Oven Festival, To check if your oven (cast) is the correct tempurature they sprinkle flour in the bottom after its been on the coals for a bit that is and if the flour does not change colour its to cold .......... if it browns its to hot but if the flour "crazes" its spot on, and they then place about 1/4 inch of flour in the bottom of the oven and the dough on that.

They also placed the lid on the fire to heat up while the oven heats up as they indicated if you don't and you place the coals on top it takes all the heat out of the coals and you lose the heat to cook your bread properly.

Me I'd put the dough in a tin on a tivit :).

Brian

Here is our tried and true method:

1. Use the small "Machine Mix" single loaf pack from supermarket (In SA it is Lauckes or Tip Top- wholegrain or white)
2. Mix in a bowl with just a little more water than recommended.
3. Knead and knead and knead- at least 20 minutes non stop by hand on a firm surface. This is the hardest part- some liquid refreshment will be required.
4. Place in Bedourie with a sprinkle of flour on bottom-cover and leave in a warm spot until doubled in bulk. This can be in direct sun or near to the fire with constant turning. Not too close however or you will kill the yeast.
5. Punch down- this means gentle pushing to collapse a bit. Take dough out of oven and sprinkle pan with flour again. Put dough back into bedourie then cover and prove again. It will rise more quickly this time to double bulk. (no trivet required)
6. The above steps will take about two hours so by now your fire has made plenty of coals. Take a small shovel full of coals from the fire and put them on the ground. Position the oven directly on the coals. Add a very small amount of coals to lid (I mean very small perhaps a cup full)
7 Keep an eye on the coals and perhaps put a few extra around the sides after about half an hour.
Bread should be done in about 40 minutes. Test for hollow sound when tapped.

I will post a piccie of our prize winning loaf on my Member Profile.

Kingo