# Baking on the wood stove?



## Cheryl in SD (Apr 22, 2005)

The power was out last week during a blizzard. I made Elk stew on the wood stove and thought bisquits would be great to go with it. Is there a way to bake in cast iron on top of the wood stove? I have several skillets, two different size dutch ovens and lids to fit. TIA


----------



## booklover (Jan 22, 2007)

I've only ever tried to bake in a dutch oven in an open fire using coals on the lid. I would think it wouldn't bake evenly with heat from only one direction. I do, quite frequently push the ashes aside _inside _the woodburning stove and put in something that can't make a mess or boil over, like baking potatoes wrapped in tin foil.

Maybe you could make Jonnycake type biscuits.

If you try it, let us know how it works.


----------



## Explorer (Dec 2, 2003)

We used to have dumplings with just about any stew. No need for an oven.


----------



## unregistered29228 (Jan 9, 2008)

I have a small camp oven that builds up heat inside and browns nicely, either on a propane camp stove or on a wood stove. It doesn't do as well over a campfire because the bottom gets too hot. It makes a dozen biscuits or a loaf of bread but nothing too large. I've done like booklover and put coals on top of my covered cast iron dutch oven and had good results, but you have to have a fire with coals that have burned down some and are not too hot.


----------



## ailsaek (Feb 7, 2007)

I've been jonesing for one of those Coleman stovetop ovens, but I haven't got it yet or tried using one, so I don't know how well it would work.


----------



## unregistered29228 (Jan 9, 2008)

Ailsaek, that's what I have:










It's about $25, and it's already paid for itself by turning out some nice biscuits.


----------



## ailsaek (Feb 7, 2007)

Mom_of_Four said:


> Ailsaek, that's what I have:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Oooh. I'll point DH at this thread.  I'm really hoping to get one of those for my birthday or Chanukah. My son likes toasting corn tortillas on the stove, he'd _love_ helping to bake cookies on it.

I've been enjoying doing as much of my cooking as possible on the woodstove. Right now I'm seeing as practice. This winter I plan on getting serious about it and keeping something bubbling on there at all times. One problem though - a hot enough stove to keep the room warm is hot enough for a hard boil, not a simmer. I think I'll try putting something to simmer on an iron trivet on the stove and see what happens.


----------



## Explorer (Dec 2, 2003)

Mom_of_Four said:


> I have a small camp oven that builds up heat inside and browns nicely, either on a propane camp stove or on a wood stove. It doesn't do as well over a campfire because the bottom gets too hot. It makes a dozen biscuits or a loaf of bread but nothing too large. I've done like booklover and put coals on top of my covered cast iron dutch oven and had good results, but you have to have a fire with coals that have burned down some and are not too hot.


I had that problem also at first. Try moving some coals to the side of the fire and putting your oven on those.


----------



## Cheryl in SD (Apr 22, 2005)

I like that model! Here's another...

http://www.fourdog.com/page5.html

But I think the one with the door looks better! I could make the one at four dog myself, for about $25 but I thought it needed some modifications that the one here already has.


----------



## Sharon (May 11, 2002)

I've baked a cherry pie on top of the wood stove before. It was a frozen, uncooked cherry pie that thawed during a power outage (lasted 11 days as I recall). Anyway, I put the pie, tin and all, inside a cast iron skillet and put a cast iron lid over it and put it on the stove stop. This was not my wood cook stove either (I didn't have it at the time). It was just my Fisher wood stove. Anyway, it took a good while to cook, but it was really good and it browned on the bottom and top of the crusts. It looked like it had been cooked in the regular oven.


----------



## FourDeuce (Jun 27, 2002)

If you have a large pot(cast iron or other kind), you have what you need to make a simple oven. All an oven does is contain the heat for baking, so you can put a pie plate or dish inside the large pot and bake like that. If your only heat source is coming from beneath the pot, you should use some sort of "spacer" to keep the food you're baking from sitting right on the bottom. I use upside down pie plates, or a small grill with legs I have. I set a spacer on the bottom, then a pie pan full of biscuits, then another upside down pie plate, and last another pan full of biscuits. When you put the lid on the large pot(your oven), it holds the heat in well enough to bake the biscuits. I've baked like that on a campfire and a stove. Just remember that biscuits bake at a fairly hot temperature.
I've refined my "oven" a bit, now with some wire cake racks that fit inside the pot and hold the biscuits off the bottom of the pot, but stacking pie plates works fine, too. 









Shows how I stack the pie plates to bake the biscuits. The big black pot is my "oven".









Shows the newer arrangement with the handy little wire racks.









The wire racks I got from a thrift store to replace the stacking pie plates(even though the pie plates do the job too).


----------



## NJ Rich (Dec 14, 2005)

FourDeuce is correct in using an "air space between the pot and the baking pan or whatever you are using. Many common items will work if you don't have a grill as FourDeuce is using. How about: lug nuts from a car; bottle caps; the bottoms of aluminum cans cut off with heavy duty scissors or tin snips; some steel bar stock pieces or cut off bed frame pieces? 

Stones will work also but don't use them from a creek or stream. They may explode from the steam created and ruin the biscuits or your eyes.

The main thing is to provide an air space between the baking pan with the biscuits or cookies and the bottom of the pot or Dutch Oven. 

I know these items work well. Experience says to make a space about 3/4 to one inch between the pan and Dutch Oven or pot. This is something that varies from fire to fire and oven to oven. Some are hotter than others and a "watchful eye" keeps things from being under done to being burnt. It is kind of a "Boy Scouting outdoor cooking thing". Some of the same rules apply regardless of the heat source.
Best to ya............ NJ Rich


----------



## Cheryl in SD (Apr 22, 2005)

I have just the pot! I need to get a lid, but it will work great! Thanks.


----------



## Wildwood (Jul 2, 2007)

I make cornbread on our wood heating stove with just an iron skillet with a lid on it. After the corn bread is done and nice and brown on the bottom and sides, I carefully flip it over and let it brown on the top. It cooks pretty fast...not quite as fast as in an oven though. 

You can also make corn fritters if your stove is hot enough and some folks make biscuits along those same lines. They just put a little oil in the skillet and put drop biscuits in...not touching, cover them while they are sizzeling and flip them half way through cooking.


----------



## booklover (Jan 22, 2007)

Wildwood said:


> I make cornbread on our wood heating stove with just an iron skillet with a lid on it. After the corn bread is done and nice and brown on the bottom and sides, I carefully flip it over and let it brown on the top. It cooks pretty fast...not quite as fast as in an oven though.
> 
> You can also make corn fritters if your stove is hot enough and some folks make biscuits along those same lines. They just put a little oil in the skillet and put drop biscuits in...not touching, cover them while they are sizzeling and flip them half way through cooking.


My mom call those Jonnycakes. I wonder if that is a regional thing. Very yummy!! And I love the crispiness. I might have to make some of these this weekend.


----------



## PhilJohnson (Dec 24, 2006)

I just replaced my wood stove with a wood furnace. The wood stove was great for cooking but unfortunately not so good for heating the house. I'll have to try some of these ideas with the wood furnace, it isn't a forced air type so I am hoping the top will get hot enough to cook on.


----------



## kitaye (Sep 19, 2005)

I have a dutch oven on legs that works pretty well to bake biscuits. I won't say they are prefect but they are better than not having them at all.


----------



## longshot38 (Dec 19, 2006)

FourDeuce said:


> If you have a large pot(cast iron or other kind), you have what you need to make a simple oven. All an oven does is contain the heat for baking, so you can put a pie plate or dish inside the large pot and bake like that. If your only heat source is coming from beneath the pot, you should use some sort of "spacer" to keep the food you're baking from sitting right on the bottom. I use upside down pie plates, or a small grill with legs I have. I set a spacer on the bottom, then a pie pan full of biscuits, then another upside down pie plate, and last another pan full of biscuits. When you put the lid on the large pot(your oven), it holds the heat in well enough to bake the biscuits. I've baked like that on a campfire and a stove. Just remember that biscuits bake at a fairly hot temperature.
> I've refined my "oven" a bit, now with some wire cake racks that fit inside the pot and hold the biscuits off the bottom of the pot, but stacking pie plates works fine, too.
> 
> 
> ...


so just to clarify my somewhat muddled mind. do you put the pie plates/rack and biscut assembly in the pot with the cover on it or do you put it on the top of the stove and invert the pot over it to bake.


thanks 
dean


----------



## FourDeuce (Jun 27, 2002)

It all goes into the pot. I've been thinking about adding another touch to the pot by drilling a small hole in the lid and putting in a baking thermometer, but it works fine already.:buds:


----------



## NJ Rich (Dec 14, 2005)

FourDuece,

Keep your eyes open for a gas grill put out for trash. I got a BBQ thermometer from one that may work well with the lid idea you have.


----------



## Spinner (Jul 19, 2003)

I bought one of those folding ovens. I'm anxious for it to get cold enough to build a fire so I can try it out. I may get antsy enough to go out in the yard and build a little fire to try it. LOL


----------



## Wildwood (Jul 2, 2007)

booklover said:


> My mom call those Jonnycakes. I wonder if that is a regional thing. Very yummy!! And I love the crispiness. I might have to make some of these this weekend.



I made some this week with a pot of stew and made extra. DH puts them in the pop up toaster to reheat and they are hot crispy just like when they came out of the skillet.

I've heard called them hoe cakes too. Sometimes I add a can of cream style corn to mine in place of some of the liquid.


----------



## Cabin Fever (May 10, 2002)

If you want to bake on a woodstove...and desire whatever you're baking to be browned on top (pie, cake, rolls, bread, etc.)....I really don't think you're gonna be happy with any of the methods suggested. To successfully bake...or should I say brown....you'll need a heat source over whatever it is you are baking...this is why we who cook with Dutch Ovens always but coals on top of the oven. When heat is only at the bottom, the item may bake through, but it will not brown....it will look anemic.

My suggestion is to let the fire in your woodstove burn down to coals, place the item to be baked in a dutch oven, and then place the dutch oven right inside the woodstove and close the door. No need to put any coals on top of the oven like you would if baking outside. 

In other words, the inside of your woodstove IS an oven! Many fancy bakers and pizza makers use brick ovens to bake their bread/pizza. They make a fire inside the oven and bake their items right inside the same oven next to the fire and coals. With a little practice and trial and error, you can accomplish the same thing right inside your own woodburning stove using a Dutch oven!


----------



## Trisha in WA (Sep 28, 2005)

Could you just heat your dutch oven lid in the stove and place it on top once it's hot?


----------



## Cabin Fever (May 10, 2002)

Trisha in WA said:


> Could you just heat your dutch oven lid in the stove and place it on top once it's hot?


I doubt if a hot lid would sufficiently radiate the heat needed for browning. I have thought about heating rocks in the woodstove and placing them on top of the dutch oven lid while the oven itself sat on top of the stove....but have never tried it.


----------



## Trisha in WA (Sep 28, 2005)

Cabin Fever said:


> I doubt if a hot lid would sufficiently radiate the heat needed for browning. I have thought about heating rocks in the woodstove and placing them on top of the dutch oven lid while the oven itself sat on top of the stove....but have never tried it.


Around here I would probably end up with river rock and have it fracture just as I am pulling it out of the fire LOL Interesting thought though...if I could identify the right rocks to use


----------



## Cabin Fever (May 10, 2002)

Trisha in WA said:


> Around here I would probably end up with river rock and have it fracture just as I am pulling it out of the fire LOL Interesting thought though...if I could identify the right rocks to use


I would use smooth, round, rocks about 2 to 3 inches in diameter. Rememeber your earth science classes? Use rocks that are "primary" (ie, igneous) rocks like granite, gabbro, feldspar, quartz, basalt, etc. Don't use sedimentary rocks like sandstone or limestone.

If you are concerned about a rock exploding, throw it in a campfire of a few hours first. If it doesn't explode or crack, it's okay to use. When I was a Scout we heated rocks all the time for our sauna tent.


----------



## FourDeuce (Jun 27, 2002)

Guess I need to take some pictures of my biscuits baked in my "oven". Yes, they brown on top. :icecream:
When you bake food in an oven indoors, you can get it browned on top without having heat coming from above(other than the heat from below which circulates to the top of the oven on its own).
When you bake in a pot, the hotter air rises to the top of the pot, and browns the top of the food the same way.


----------



## Terri (May 10, 2002)

Cabelas has a little oven designed to go over a fire.


----------



## homebody (Jan 24, 2005)

I would love to have one or two of these. I have never seen anything even close. Do you know what they were originally used for?


----------



## unregistered29228 (Jan 9, 2008)

The ones above look like trivets for casserole dishes, for serving on the table without burning the table top. I have several round wire cake-cooling racks, but they aren't as substantial.


----------



## Trisha in WA (Sep 28, 2005)

Cabin Fever said:


> Rememeber your earth science classes?


Nope...I never had an earth science class, but I am never to old to learn. Thanks for your help. I will do some hands on research here myself and see what new things I can learn about all these rocks around here.


----------



## FourDeuce (Jun 27, 2002)

homebody said:


> I would love to have one or two of these. I have never seen anything even close. Do you know what they were originally used for?


One of them might have originally come from one of those table-top convection ovens. 
Another possible arrangement might be to make something like one of those stacking pie-carriers. That way you could just lift the whole thing right out of the pot when the biscuits are done. 
The way I do it with these racks I have now(or with the stacking pie plates) is to just use an oven mitt and take them out one at a time, but if you made a rack with a handle on it, you could just lift the whole thing out with a built-in handle.
When it comes to rocks, different types can react to fire differently. At the place in southern Missouri where I camp, you have to watch out for the "popping" rocks from the campfire. They aren't from a stream or any body of water, but the rock(a type of chert, I think) fragments badly when they get really hot, and will send out very hot little pieces of rock in random directions while the fire is hot. As long as the rocks are covered by dirt they don't pop too much, but if the dirt is disturbed, the fun begins again.:lookout:


----------



## januaries (Sep 12, 2003)

ailsaek said:


> One problem though - a hot enough stove to keep the room warm is hot enough for a hard boil, not a simmer. I think I'll try putting something to simmer on an iron trivet on the stove and see what happens.


I've had this problem, too. Iron trivet sounds like a good idea; has anyone done this?


----------



## Jennifer L. (May 10, 2002)

http://cgi.ebay.com/Primitive-Old-S...ptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?_trksid=p3286.m20.l1116

My grandmother used one something like this one.


----------



## Trisha in WA (Sep 28, 2005)

when I am cooking on my wood stove and need to simmer I have 2 different cast iron trivets. One is a little taller than the other and if I really need to "turn down the temp" I stack them on top of each other. Works better than my electric stove for making rice.


----------



## Cabin Fever (May 10, 2002)

FourDeuce said:


> Guess I need to take some pictures of my biscuits baked in my "oven". Yes, they brown on top. :icecream:
> When you bake food in an oven indoors, you can get it browned on top without having heat coming from above(other than the heat from below which circulates to the top of the oven on its own).
> When you bake in a pot, the hotter air rises to the top of the pot, and browns the top of the food the same way.


Yes, please show some photos. Right now I'm scratching my head wondering why people even need an oven if all then have to do is put the cake, bread, pizza or whatever in a pot on a trivit and heat it in on the range top.


----------



## ailsaek (Feb 7, 2007)

Jennifer L. said:


> http://cgi.ebay.com/Primitive-Old-S...ptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?_trksid=p3286.m20.l1116
> 
> My grandmother used one something like this one.


Oooh. *covet* *covet* My birthday is Tuesday, maybe DH will get me that Coleman stovetop oven.


----------



## FourDeuce (Jun 27, 2002)

I went out in the back yard and baked some biscuits in the pot. 









That's before they went on the fire.









That's on the fire while they're baking.









That's after they're done. That's the top pan.
It's a cheap camera, but I think you can see enough detail to figure out whether they're brown or not. 
Some other points to remember. This isn't an indoor temperature-controlled oven, so baking won't be smooth, even, and by-the-book. It's a skill, and you need to practice to be good at it. Also, there are a LOT more variables outside, the temperature, how hot the fire is, how windy it is(today it was pretty cool and breezy), and how high above the fire you cook.
You have to keep a close eye on the process(especially the first few times you try it), but if you open the pot too much it will take a lot longer to bake them.
Also, more heat will still be coming from below the pot, so you have to decide how brown you want the tops. Remember, the bottom will probably be done before the tops.:cowboy: Also, the bottom pan will probably bake a bit quicker than the top one. You can either rotate them(top-bottom), or just bake one pan at a time. Also, if your fire is not the same temperature all over, you can rotate the pot a bit to spread the heat more evenly.
Also, it helps to have an oven mitt or potholder when doing this.
You can bake over coals or flames. Coals seem to be more even, while flames seem to be hotter.
Just like baking inside, you might want to spray the pans with Pam or grease them to keep the biscuits from sticking.


----------



## fastbackpony (Aug 30, 2006)

This is so interesting ! I've been planning to have my brother weld me a box with a rack in it - and a place for a thermometor - to help gauge the cooking time. (hotter temps - shorter baking time)

The browing on top of the biscuits happen with the heat source on the bottom because of how heat rises and "stacks up" in the top of the pot or oven box. Its great to have some heat on top, but not needed. This is good to note when buying or building an oven for your woodstove. Don't make it too tall, as lots of heat will build up in the top -dead space, and take longer to get down to your food - or the food may not brown. So a flatter more compact oven will be much more efficient.


----------



## Cabin Fever (May 10, 2002)

Nice biscuits, FourDuece! But you're baking over an open flame. Baking on top of a woodstove is a whole 'nuther thang...the temp isn't near as hot.

Now, go take a photo of biscuits baked on top of your woodstove


----------



## Cheryl in SD (Apr 22, 2005)

Could a cast iron dutch oven work on top of the wood stove? I have one with legs, but I don't think it would get hot enough. I mat try the small one later this week. I need to find a lid for my pot like FourDueces. I was given it for a water pot for camping but never had the lid.


----------



## Pouncer (Oct 28, 2006)

This thread was just linked over in Homesteading....and it's an interesting read. Both of my dutch ovens have rounded lids, so putting coals or rocks on them would be difficult. I was wondering if you can use baking pebbles or beans? And put them in a bag? Like a sock or something? And then put those on top of the lid? I am thinking the same thing you use to pre bake a pie, only in a tube sock or something that you could wrap around the lid?

Any thoughts on that one?


----------



## FourDeuce (Jun 27, 2002)

Cabin Fever said:


> Nice biscuits, FourDuece! But you're baking over an open flame. Baking on top of a woodstove is a whole 'nuther thang...the temp isn't near as hot.
> 
> Now, go take a photo of biscuits baked on top of your woodstove


The first time I baked like this(when I figured out how to do it) was on top of an electric stove which had working burners but no working oven. Haven't done it on a woodstove yet, but it would probably work as well as the electric stove did.


----------

