Bushwalk Australia

I been looking into incorporating Dry-Baking into my overnight bushwalks for some time now. Last night I started to run some experiments.

A few Lightweight purchases from in the past two weeks from the states are beginning to arrive, One such order was a Batchstovez Dry Baking Pot set, which comprises of a 12cm Aluminum anodized pot with handle as shown in the following images, included in the kit is a 10cm dry baking pot that sits inside the 12cm pot.

So far I baked two Blueberry muffins, with success as seen in the following images. First attempt pictures below from last night.

The Packafeather XL stove pictured personally I found is not an ideal stove for dry-baking. This stove has a very strange, in my opinion dangerous habit of flaring or burping, unless you turn the flame to full or turn down to it's lowest setting, somewhere in between those settings the stove would flare/burp, A pop would be heard and a flame follows. I have read similar reports online with this stoves strange habits as I have found. I'm waiting on a stove from the states that should overcome this issue and gives more precise adjustments, I Will report more when it arrives.

There was another problem I had with the Packafeather XL stove, the flame would go out, particularly last night, Today's tests was more successful. For some reason last night I have no idea why, this stove flame would extinguish when the stove popped. My recommendation if you want to try Lightweight Dry-baking is to forget the Packafeather XL Stove and look for another option.

Today's test I managed to cook a muffin in 40 minutes using 1.5 ounces (45ml) of metho.

Following image shows the baking pot inside the 12cm pot.

Looks delicious! I've only ever done 'wet' baking by steaming muffins. Some experimenting might be in order.... Can you share your recipe? Did you adjust it for this type of baking?

I used a packet mix.

Betty Crockers Blueberry Muffins.

The packets instructions says to use one egg and 180ml of water., .

I don't plan on taking eggs with me on my bush-walks, yesterday I noticed the local Woolworths started to sell Farm Pride Powdered Eggs. I purchased a packet to try.

To bake the Muffin shown in the images, I weighed out a quarter of the packets weight, which was 100grams. Added 3 grams of the powdered egg and 50ml of water.

The muffins tasted great. I was pleasantly surprised how well they turned out. But that Packafeather XL stove needs to be babied and monitored closely. I am waiting on a Mini Heat XT stove from the states that has been proven to work well with dry-baking and its half the weight of the Packafeather XL stove.

Sensational looking muffin !!

Something looking, and presumably tasting, as good as that could be a real morale booster on a tough trip.

I must confess that my walking food and cooking gear is selected on the basis of convenience rather that yumminess. That usually means an MSR TI kettle, canister stove, spork, 50 gram mug and nothing else. Food is the usual stuff with BackCountry being the evening staple. BTW I can remember the early days of dehi, so I find the current offerings pretty good.

Some of the offerings on Dehydrated Food are not to bad, I found most taste very bad. I tried a brand, I think it was called Chefsway, not certain on that name, it was not bad.
I tend to dehydrate most of my own meals for Bushwalking. I like to cook, and particularly like to bake when out camping. To be able to incorporate dry-baking into light weight bushwalking is something I'm very keen on, and been looking into different options for some time now. I think this is the kit. Once I sort out a stove it will be perfect for me.

The Packafeather XL stove, You have to baby sit this stove. A friend in Brisbane has the same stove, I asked him yesterday to run some tests for me to see if his stove performed the same as mine with a simmering set somewhere between Low and High and he had the exact experience of flattering, burping and popping as I had on mine. Some research yesterday on backpackinglight.com I found many others mentioning this very same experience.. I thought it might have been our fuel quality, this is not the case as it's a common symptom of these stoves world wide.

The muffin was just as yummy as it looked.

My mate and I have begun experimenting using plastic egg boilers as a means to make muffins, cheap and easy. The theory is that you don't have any risk of burning the dough as the heat convects via boiling water as opposed to the bottom of a ti pot. I'll pop back here in a few weeks to report our results.

I'll be sure to point out your kit too Phil. My mate was a patisserie chef in years gone by, and he's very very keen on on-trail baking. Thanks for the posts.

Great stuff!
Have look at some of the things from Flat Cat Gear - Jon is very innovative and he too sells some neat trail baking options, like the little 4 " and 5" tins that can fit inside a pot. He has some with the rim pre-removed so they fit better.
http://flatcatgear.com/
http://flatcatgear.com/page3.php

Baking is best done in the non non-stick pots from what I have read, as the high dry heats can damage the nonstick layer. I think steamed vs dry baked would be quite different?
I've only had limited experimentation
I enjoyed your pizza baking experiments in the past Phil.

In the past is this what you've used? Or am I confused.
If so, is your new baking set up better?
http://www.backpackeroven.com/
http://www.backpackeroven.com/shop.php

In the pictures you incuded above is that the packafeather stove?

These little loaves look good fun too
QiWiz has got some baking setups too
http://qiwiz.net/StoveAccessories.html

Pongo - where do get those little doovies? The egg boilers?

Onestepmore wrote:Pongo - where do get those little doovies? The egg boilers?

My mate picked his up at the reject shop (cheap hiking gear!). If I see them around elsewhere I'll be sure to pop in and let folk know.

I tried steam baking, I did not like it. I could not get very get results. Not the same as dry-baking.

I was initially going to purchase a FlatCatGear system, problem I found was they recommend to use esbit stove with esbit's, Esbit is to expensive and difficult to come by in Australia. That was not an option for me, I do like using Esbit Tablets. But the cost factor is a problem. I'm not so sure there Metho Stoves would work as well as there esbit stoves for dry baking, You have to be very careful with Titanium when dry baking, It's so easy to warp your expensive titanium pot, and as already mentioned here, the non-stick coating is not advisable.

I have chosen Aluminum Pots for dry-baking and Metho for a fuel source, It's cheaper and more readily available for myself.

Good point about using aluminium pots for dry baking Phil. I'll see what I've got before I play around more

And I found the egg things Pongo

Onestepmore wrote:Good point about using aluminium pots for dry baking Phil. I'll see what I've got before I play around more

And I found the egg things Pongo

The Aluminum Anodized coated pots shown in the images I used for Dry-Baking are lighter than an equivalent sized titanium pot I own. I also purchased a lid for the 10cm baking dish, it can be used as a cup and makes a great solo pot.

Cool - that looks yum. I love yummy food when walking.

Check out this forum post I did for Lots of freshair (Also a forum member)
http://lotsafreshair.com/2013/07/17/backcountry-bakery/

baking fresh bread rolls on a pot whilst walking.

Matt

Onestepmore wrote:Good point about using aluminium pots for dry baking Phil. I'll see what I've got before I play around more

And I found the egg things Pongo

Ooh that was quick. I take it they're only a couple of bucks? Be sure to report back and let all and sundry know how they worked.

UL Phil.....how oes dry baking work? Is a smaller pot suspended within the larger pot, and the air then heats it? Is there are full seal around the top....like a double boiler, or can heat escape.
The muffins looked amazing, BTW, unlike most muffins you see on the streets...

A

andrewa wrote:UL Phil.....how oes dry baking work? Is a smaller pot suspended within the larger pot, and the air then heats it? Is there are full seal around the top....like a double boiler, or can heat escape.
The muffins looked amazing, BTW, unlike most muffins you see on the streets...

A

The 10cm pot sits inside the 12cm pot. Place some stones or a wire rack of some sort to suspend the 10cm baking pot of the bottom. There is air circulating around the baking pot. The lid on the 12cm pot is just a normal lid, not sealed.

I've done some dry baking of bread rolls on a base camp hike. There's nothing like having some fresh bread when you wake up in the morning.
It only works in autumn and spring though. In winter you need to keep rewarming the dough so that it can rise.

I made my own dry baking setup, it's just an extra pot that sits inside my main pot. Both pots have lids and there is an aluminium trivet separating the two.
The extra weight for the oven setup was only about 250g but unfortunately wheat flour only has only 350 kcal. The only solution is to eat it with plenty of butter.

In the future I'm going to try making some flatbread, tortilla-esque. If you fry it with oil you have a nice calorie weight ratio.

-icefest

Thanks UL Phil, I didn't realise that was ow it worked. The muffins look so sensational that I'll fiddle with the set up. Do you just heat it up, and leave it in a cozy?

A

andrewa wrote:Thanks UL Phil, I didn't realise that was ow it worked. The muffins look so sensational that I'll fiddle with the set up. Do you just heat it up, and leave it in a cozy?

A

No, i don't use a cosy. If I get a chance today i will make a video.



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I forgot to mention - Phil, take his kit with you when you hit the overland. Carry enough for about 10 muffins, make ten, break them like the loaves and fishes and hand hot muffins out, do this on day 3 or 4 where people are craving fresh food. You'll be an instant champion. Your hiking buds may petition parks to rename one of the huts after you.

We got freshly baked and sliced bread two days in a row from one of the paid hiking groups. It was absolute luxury, and sharing it around made for many a happy hiker.

The Featherfire stove arrived in the post today, I grabbed it with my kit to visit my sister for lunch and baked another BlueBerry Muffin.

The Featherfire Stove was more reliable than the Packafeather XL stove. At the lowest simmer setting I baked the muffin in less than 45 minutes, used apx 40ml of metho.
There was a large buildup of soot under the pot with the Featherfire stove which I did not receive with the Packafeather XL Stove. The most important thing was the stove was faultless. It did not demonstrate any of that strange behavior I was receiving with the Packafeather XL. the simmer set at the lowest setting on the Featherfire was an ideal temp setting for dry baking, where by with the packafeather I had to turn the simmer up a tad and that's when the stove started to perform those strange habits I mentioned.

Brilliant Phil, that just looks the business to me.

How would it go with a gas burner instead of your stove Phil?


"Experience is a hard teacher because she gives the test first, the lesson afterwards"

Giddy_up wrote:Brilliant Phil, that just looks the business to me.

How would it go with a gas burner instead of your stove Phil?


"Experience is a hard teacher because she gives the test first, the lesson afterwards"

I don't know Giddy_up. Not sure if the gas can go down low enough in heat output. It's easy to melt the pot if you overdo the heat.

I just baked a cake, about to upload some images.

Had a look in the cupboard to see what I have and came by a chocolate cake packet.

Here's the results. The cake cooked a lot quicker than the muffins I baked, Used less than 30ml of metho to bake this cake.

The chocolate cake mixed asks for butter or margarine, for this reason not so certain you could take this mix with you on an overnight hike. The cream is just whipped up thickened cream. Have not tried it, but I have read that some substitute butter for cooking oil.

I will have another go at this cake mix and use oil instead of butter and see if that works, if it does, I see no reason why you could not bake a cake like this on an overnight hike. minus the whipped cream. I don't think you could take whipped cream with you on a hike.

How do you know what your temperature is in the oven, or do you just guess, and your right about gas. It would be far too hot for this sort of thing I think.


"Experience is a hard teacher because she gives the test first, the lesson afterwards"

Giddy_up wrote:How do you know what your temperature is in the oven, or do you just guess, and your right about gas. It would be far too hot for this sort of thing I think.


"Experience is a hard teacher because she gives the test first, the lesson afterwards"

Don't worry about the temp, just use a low flame and you'll be fine. I have no idea what the heat is in the pot.

I good method I've read to get the correct heat output from your heat source. You want a flame that takes 25 minutes to boil 2 cups of water, any quicker than that, your heat is to high. I seen this tip given by FlatCat Stoves.

I tried to edit my last post, but the edit button is gone.

I'm not certain if this was 2 cups or 1 cup to boil in 25 minutes. I seen this tip on a you-tube video from Flat cat gear, I can remember him saying 25 minutes to boil water is the ideal temp for dry baking. Personally, I think you would want a bit lower heat, after seeing some of the hard crusts on the outside of his cakes & muffens on some of his video's. I don't like a hard crust on my cakes. Some do. All depends what you like.

Phil, you are the master of the blueberry muffin and now the chocolate cake.
They look absolutely delicious. Trouble is with a base weight of 15kg (no there isn't a decimal point missing)
how can I include such luxuries I'll just have to work on it.