Bread making and Dutch oven

[LadyG]

My oven , a Thetford Caprice 2000 does not get very hot ie pre cooked pizza hardly melts the mozeralla cheese.

I have an old , largish Dutch oven, which I use for flatbreads, on hob, but these are more like ships biscuits than bread. 

What can you suggest. I was thinking a small cast iron lidded item. They cost about £40 and I can't see how I can make bread in them any better than existing cooking on top of hob. I was thinking about sticking it inside the stove when it is hot., a few red embers.

 

[haggis]

10 minutes ago, LadyG said:

My oven , a Thetford Caprice 2000 does not get very hot ie pre cooked pizza hardly melts the mozeralla cheese.

I have an old , largish Dutch oven, which I use for flatbreads, on hob, but these are more like ships biscuits than bread. 

What can you suggest. I was thinking a small cast iron lidded item. They cost about £40 and I can't see how I can make bread in them any better than existing cooking on top of hob. I was thinking about sticking it inside the stove when it is hot., a few red embers.

 

To me it sounds as if there is something wrong with your oven, which I seem to remember is quite new (or I may be losing track of your galley upgrades 🙂 ).  Sorry, I have no ideas for making bread other than a bread maker . 

[LadyG]

No, the cooker is the original 23 year old Thetford Caprice 2000, I replaced the oven door seal, but it made no difference, I think it's a design fault.

I don't think the oven was ever used from new, and the gas seems fairly active on full. 

Edited December 4, 2023 by LadyG

[Tracy D'arth]

Did the oven come off a Dutch barge?

 

Thetford ovens are all on the low temperature size due to a lack of insulation I think. I am going to try adjusting the thermostat setting on mine when I remember.

[Jen-in-Wellies]

43 minutes ago, LadyG said:

My oven , a Thetford Caprice 2000 does not get very hot ie pre cooked pizza hardly melts the mozeralla cheese.

I have an old , largish Dutch oven, which I use for flatbreads, on hob, but these are more like ships biscuits than bread. 

What can you suggest. I was thinking a small cast iron lidded item. They cost about £40 and I can't see how I can make bread in them any better than existing cooking on top of hob. I was thinking about sticking it inside the stove when it is hot., a few red embers.

 

No reason why it couldn't work. The trick would be timing it right, as the temperature won't be closely controlled and you won't have smell available to give a guide on when the bread is done.

[beerbeerbeerbeerbeer]

1 hour ago, LadyG said:

My oven , a Thetford Caprice 2000 does not get very hot ie pre cooked pizza hardly melts the mozeralla cheese.

I guess you’ve tried cooking on top shelf? 🤷‍♀️

 

1 hour ago, LadyG said:

. I was thinking about sticking it inside the stove when it is hot., a few red embers.

I’d love to make bread again,

the smell and the taste of homemade is lovely but the bakeries do it so much better than I ever could/can, 

so I pay my £ to them. 
 

Don’t eat much bread anyway,

A bag of scratchings go better with beer,

or a cob/batch/roll/whatever down the boozer, when I haven’t had to make the bread, churn the butter, grow the onion or do whatever it is you do to make cheese. 

 

[LadyG]

I can make almost any grub, but the cooking facilities here are limited.

One gets fed up with purchased food. Fortunately or possibly unfortunately I was brought up on real food.

Real unprocessed milk from Ayrshire cows delivered by 8.00 from cows milked before 7.00 am.

I made cheese at college., was a cheese grader for a while.

Working a croft on the Isle of Gigha, I was used to fish caught live, we sold the lobsters, that was our income!

When we spent summer holidays sailing of the west coast we bartered quarter bottles of whisky for razor shells, lobster cost £5.00. Scallops in Oban were £1.00 each.

Unfortunately all the food I see on the shelves are not as fresh as I am used to... I was put off by the mackerel fillets which were still wriggling when in the oven!

France still has fresh food markets.

Of course it was not all ideal, living on a farm far from a town, we had spuds, neeps, neeps , spuds, bacon, sausages,  and eggs.

 

 

Edited December 4, 2023 by LadyG

[blackrose]

8 minutes ago, LadyG said:

I was put off by the mackerel fillets which were still wriggling when in the oven!

 

Whoever put them into the oven didn't gut them before cooking them? If you don't gut fish first it ruins the whole thing.

Edited December 4, 2023 by blackrose

[GUMPY]

What about using a Bread maker

[beerbeerbeerbeerbeer]

8 minutes ago, LadyG said:

I can make almost any grub, but the cooking facilities here are limited.

One gets fed up with purchased food. Fortunately or possibly unfortunately I was brought up on real food.

Real unprocessed milk from Ayrshire cows delivered by 8.00 from cows milked before 7.00 am.

I made cheese at college., was a cheese grader for a while.

Working a croft on the Isle of Gigha, I was used to fish caught live, we sold the lobsters, that was our income!

When we spent summer holidays sailing of the west coast we bartered quarter bottles of whisky for razor shells, lobster cost £5.00. Scallops in Oban were £1.00 each.

Unfortunately all the food I see on the shelves are not as fresh as I am used to... I was put off by the mackerel fillets which were still wriggling when in the oven!

France still has fresh food markets.

Of course it was not all ideal, living on a farm far from a town, we had spuds, neeps, neeps , spuds, bacon, sausages,  and eggs.

 

 

Sounds a wonderful life style

 

I tend to cook from scratch more often than not, apart from being much cheaper it does taste better. 

I like cooking with my cast iron pans,

small one for scrambled eggs or a bit of bacon,

large one for fish, meats, curries, stir fries or whatever. Big breakfasts!
 

Trick is avoid washing the pans proper, just give them a wipe out with newspaper or kitchen paper if your posh. Keeps flavours going. 

And me iron pot for stews/soups which sits on the stove while I have a pint. 

Luckily my oven does get up to temp so I often do a roast. 

 

 

7 minutes ago, GUMPY said:

What about using a Bread maker

can you get ‘em 12v ?

[LadyG]

I could manage a bread maker, but most of the time i could buy a sliced loaf. So really it's just fresh bread is the thing.

I used to make oatcakes, soda scones, and things like that, either I am more fussy now, or I have lost the recipe.

One can buy packs of ready mix bread flour, these are good standbyes

Edited December 4, 2023 by LadyG

[GUMPY]

19 minutes ago, beerbeerbeerbeerbeer said:

can you get ‘em 12v ?

Not that I have seen🥱

[beerbeerbeerbeerbeer]

3 minutes ago, GUMPY said:

Not that I have seen🥱

 Keeping you up are we?

 

Just googled I can’t see owt. 

[LadyG]

30 minutes ago, blackrose said:

 

Whoever put them into the oven didn't gut them before cooking them? If you don't gut fish first it ruins the whole thing.

They were gutted, of course, but if you kill them, cut tbe flesh off the bone, and bung them in the oven within two minutes the muscles still move, it's offputting!

[beerbeerbeerbeerbeer]

Just now, LadyG said:

They were gutted, of course, but if you kill them, cut tbe flesh off the bone, and bung them in the oven within two minutes the muscles still move, it's offputting!

Nah,

seeing things,

vivid imagination,

You’d been on the mushroom tea again,

home picked/made of course,

 

😃👍

[IanD]

13 minutes ago, LadyG said:

They were gutted, of course, but if you kill them, cut tbe flesh off the bone, and bung them in the oven within two minutes the muscles still move, it's offputting!

Could be worse. In Japan, with ikizukuri ("prepared alive") the fish isn't even dead when you eat it. Trust me, having an octopus watch you eat its own severed tentacles is not a pleasant experience... 😞

Edited December 4, 2023 by IanD

[beerbeerbeerbeerbeer]

9 minutes ago, IanD said:

Could be worse. In Japan, with ikizukuri ("prepared alive") the fish isn't even dead when you eat it. Trust me, having an octopus watch you eat its own severed tentacles is not a pleasant experience... 😞

for you or the Octopus?

 

 

[IanD]

4 minutes ago, beerbeerbeerbeerbeer said:

for you or the Octopus?

 

Both... 😞

[wakey_wake]

3 hours ago, LadyG said:

No, the cooker is the original 23 year old Thetford Caprice 2000, I replaced the oven door seal, but it made no difference, I think it's a design fault.

I don't think the oven was ever used from new, and the gas seems fairly active on full. 

Sounds like a thermostat problem?

 

My gas oven is like that, it can reach cooking temperature eventually...  but not when it has food inside. I think it's running on the pilot lights and just not switching on the main flow for the burner?

 

It's old and I forgot the brand. Probably not worth fixing.

I call it a cupboard and cook most things in the frying pan. 🤷‍♂️

 

Bread machines are good, I've had several over time but not just now. They'll want 1000 or 2000 watts when they start the cooking phase so 240V only. And you can't cook much else in them, so I think there's not enough space for one in my galley. 😞

[LadyG]

Yes space is the thing, I manage fine most of the time, but if I'm not near a good fish n chip shop with tables inside. I start to yearn for them, it seems the further away, the greater the yearn!

[Francis Herne]

I made a couple of bread rolls on top of the stove last winter as pictured. Metal bowl spaced off the bottom of a big preheated casserole dish, under a couple of layers of tinfoil (not pictured) for insulation.

 

It worked alright but was quite a hassle - in particular, enough heat to bake bread on top was far too hot to keep my cabin at a reasonable temperature without doors and windows open.

 

The dish doesn't fit easily inside my stove. I did try but it was wedged at an awkward angle and the smoke got in.

 

FWIW I also have a Caprice 2000, and while the oven isn't great it's not *that* bad. I can heat pizzas in it and expect it would manage bread if I tried.

Edited December 4, 2023 by Francis Herne

[Jen-in-Wellies]

I use the stove in winter to get enough heat in to the dough so it will rise in a reasonable time. I use a large hole saw to space the bread tin high enough above the stove plate so the temperature is high enough for the dough to rise, but not so high as to kill the yeast. 40C is hot enough to hold continuously, so if I can hold my hand to the bottom of the tin it isn't too hot.

[LadyG]

I don't have a problem getting dough to rise, it's just a matter of waiting. I put the kneaded bread in a poly bag with olive oil, and it soon rises again, 

The thing is using my Dutch oven on stove top, low gas, as a hot oven to bake bread. Should work in theory, but I end up with a burnt base.

I'll try foil to keep base off the bottom of my Dutch oven.

Edited December 5, 2023 by LadyG

[Francis Herne]

Should work in theory, but I end up with a burnt base. I'll try foil to keep base off the bottom of my Dutch oven.

7 hours ago, LadyG said:

Should work in theory, but I end up with a burnt base.

I'll try foil to keep base off the bottom of my Dutch oven.

Foil might work if you scrunch it up. My inner bowl was sitting on two metal teaspoons if I recall correctly. Foil over the top of the lid to keep more heat in the Dutch oven rather than the room.

[bizzard]

If you like a crusty top with an oriental flavour, egg wash the top and sprinkle Punch Puran seeds on it from an Indian deli shop before baking.

On 05/12/2023 at 09:40, LadyG said:

I don't have a problem getting dough to rise, it's just a matter of waiting. I put the kneaded bread in a poly bag with olive oil, and it soon rises again, 

The thing is using my Dutch oven on stove top, low gas, as a hot oven to bake bread. Should work in theory, but I end up with a burnt base.

I'll try foil to keep base off the bottom of my Dutch oven.

You need a trivet under it. Easy to make with Meccano.  A bit of wire netting might do.