Baking Bread on a Stovetop

Thought this was pretty cool.

I killed my toaster oven this weekend so I have been online looking for other options. It seems to be a great idea for those without access to an oven. Thinking about this more, I wonder if a water bath could be used with her set up to make desserts such as a cheesecake?

Hi, Rion, I am not able to watch a video but wanted to share our experience. I always bake on the stovetop...in lidded, well seasoned iron skillets either on our gas stove or all winter on the wood stove. Since I stopped eatting wheat it is less often but we make a tamale masa cornbread almost every day in a little six inch skillet. Baking this way uses much less gas than the oven and maks a really nicely browned crust. It usually needs to be flipped so small works better. My oven works just fine but hardly gets used. Yeasted bread works well this way as does what we called a biscuit bread...I have even done cakes but the sweet sometimes makes it brown quicker and more difficult to flip. Of course, everything is round. For larger skillet bread on gas I use a flame spreader under the pan and adjust the burner accordingly...my favorite and easiest is on the wood stove top.

Thank you for sharing your experience, Judith. In the video, she places a tuna can at the bottom of a cast iron dutch oven and then puts a round or square baking pan on top. That is when my mind started racing. I am curious if cheesecakes, fruit breads, cookies, cakes, and muffins could be cooked using that process.

Tried this yesterday. It worked but took forever.

Rion Mather wrote:I killed my toaster oven this weekend so I have been online looking for other options. It seems to be a great idea for those without access to an oven. Thinking about this more, I wonder if a water bath could be used with her set up to make desserts such as a cheesecake?

I just completed a little stove top toaster oven that converted to work on my homemade wood stove.

this is the wright up on it from the wood stove form on permies.

I was trying to think of a good way to bake on this heater, I kicked around about a dozen ideas, then decided to take a non functioning toaster oven and stripping put the electrical parts and then putting it back together and sticking it on the top of the stove.
what I wound up doing is after opening up the toaster oven and stripping out the unnecessary parts I added insulation around the oven box and between it and the outside skin, then put it all the way back together.
Initial trial did not heat up to more than about 150 degrees, so I removed the bottom of the oven, which was just a crumb tray/door and put it back on top of the heater.
with a decent fire going I was able to get the temperature up to 375 in about 10 minutes, then I put in a tray of frozen cookie dough snicker doodles! and the temperature gauge.
the temp doped to about 325 degrees and in about 8 minutes was back at 350 where the cookies were supposed to be for cooking so I closed one of the air inlets to keep the fire consistent. I left them in an other 10 minutes and the temp was consistently staying at 350 then I took the cookies out, they were almost perfectly done, I do think I could have left them in for an other couple of minutes and they would have been just a little better.
After the cookies were removed I stuck the temp gauge back in and closed the door, and with in a minute or so it was hanging around 350 degrees.
I still need to cover the holes in the front of the oven where the control knobs were so the insulation is not exposed, I think I will use a piece of tin from the crumb tray and roll the edges to make a cover for them.

Link to the form on this website with pictures
https://permies.com/t/18822/stoves/homemade-wood-stove

That is so wicked, Clifford. You will have to give an update on what marvelous meals you are cooking in that little toaster. Looks like it bakes evenly. I would be going to town with that thing.

I rent so I am unable to make any major changes. My dutch oven has been dusted off and is being put to good use now though.

Rion Mather wrote:That is so wicked, Clifford. You will have to give an update on what marvelous meals you are cooking in that little toaster. Looks like it bakes evenly. I would be going to town with that thing.

I rent so I am unable to make any major changes. My dutch oven has been dusted off and is being put to good use now though.

RIon I bet you could use your toaster oven in the same way as this on top of your stove.
Ger a screw driver and remove the outer skin and then get after removing the electrical part, put it together again.
Put it over a burner on your stove, experiment with different things, you can get a little role of insulation and make it cook evenly by packing it inside the skin of the toaster.

Traveling light also makes a fiberglass/aluminum soft tent for use with backpacking stoves. can be used with most stoves, just not the little coleman tank stoves.

Thanks for the link Rion. I bake bread a lot, and I always feel like I'm wasting so much heat firing up the oven. This is just the ticket.

Let me know how it works out, Sheila. It took me about twice as long as it did for her in the video. A long term goal of mine is to be rid of the traditional stove completely. I am always looking for new options.

My dear wife has cooked cornbread on top of the stove &  in the oven. When camping you need to cook on top of the Dutch oven, like the cherry cobbler.
There are over 200 different recipes for corn bread including using a can of cream corn.

Rion Mather wrote:I killed my toaster oven this weekend so I have been online looking for other options.  It seems to be a great idea for those without access to an oven.  Thinking about this more, I wonder if a water bath could be used with her set up to make desserts such as a cheesecake?  

I wonder what you ended up using and finding to replace that dead toaster! 8 yrs ago!

Rion Mather wrote:Let me know how it works out, Sheila.  It took me about twice as long as it did for her in the video.  A long term goal of mine is to be rid of the traditional stove completely.  I am always looking for new options.

Have you managed to RID yourself of traditional stoves??

Care to share?

To me - the very best cornbread is baked in a sheet no more than 3/4" thick.
It is great as it holds together well when picked up and used with your meal.
Extra good when you can slather those slices with good butter too!

My oven sucks at heating evenly, I may eventually get rid of it entirely.

I recently learned that you can bake yeast bread in a frying pan with no oven at all.

My first try was a pseudo success, but this second round is amazing.

I mixed some nearly expired dry yeast with sugar and warm water and it thankfully still foamed up, so I tossed it into a big mixing bowl with all purpose flour a good amount of sea salt a dose of olive oil, and for an interesting flavor I added some coriander powder and shiitake powder. Kneaded it for about three minutes and added flour to get to a good consistency.

Then I put the dough in an oiled frying pan and sprinkled done sesame seeds on top and covered it for about an hour to rise.

Then I baked it on the cooking range in the frying pan on roughly 160 Celsius until the bottom browned. Flipped it, and continued baking until the other side browned, about 10-15 minutes on each side.

The results are fantastic and look pretty good too.

Please excuse my vague measurements, I cook by feel and sensory cues.

L. Johnson wrote:My oven sucks at heating evenly, I may eventually get rid of it entirely.

I recently learned that you can bake yeast bread in a frying pan with no oven at all.

My first try was a pseudo success, but this second round is amazing.

Thanks for sharing, that bread looks really good.

In case anyone wants a recipe, I found this one on Food Network:

Baking bread doesn't mean the house has to bake too. This recipe lets you bake a loaf on top of the stove instead of in it, keeping your kitchen cool.

https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchen/stovetop-bread-7262856

Judith Browning wrote:Since I stopped eatting wheat it is less often but we make a tamale masa cornbread almost every day in a little six inch skillet.  Baking this way uses much less gas than the oven and maks a really nicely browned crust. It usually needs to be flipped  so small works better.  My oven works just fine but hardly gets used.

Judith or whoever else has done this, can you share recipe?  I am wheat-free and also hate using oven!  Thanks a bunch!

Can you post your bread recipe?

Cris Fellows wrote:

Judith Browning wrote:Since I stopped eatting wheat it is less often but we make a tamale masa cornbread almost every day in a little six inch skillet.  Baking this way uses much less gas than the oven and maks a really nicely browned crust. It usually needs to be flipped  so small works better.  My oven works just fine but hardly gets used.

Judith or whoever else has done this, can you share recipe?  I am wheat-free and also hate using oven!  Thanks a bunch!

Hi cris
I just substitute tamale masa for cornmeal and use buckwheat instead of wheat flour....otherwise all is the same. Eggs, oil/fat, milk or water, leavening (i use rumfords baking powder)Add the batter to a hot skillet with a bit of oil to begin then turn down. flip when it sets up before it burns.  Keep lidded until flipped.

I love buckwheat as a wheat substitute...we made brownies with it recently and everyone loved them.