When it comes to trail cooking, baking might not seem like the easiest option. However, with the right equipment and techniques, you can enjoy delicious baked meals on the trail. Two popular methods for baking in the backcountry are steaming and dry baking. Each method has its advantages, and understanding them will help you decide which is best for your outdoor cooking style.
In this post, we’ll break down the differences between steaming and dry baking, helping you choose the ideal method for your backpacking meals.
What is steaming?
Steaming is a gentle cooking method where food is cooked by the steam rising from boiling water, instead of using direct heat. It’s great for baking moist dishes, like cakes, muffins, or some breads.
Advantages of Steaming on the Trail:
- Moisture Retention: Steaming keeps your food moist and tender, which is perfect for baking breads, muffins, and desserts on the trail.
- No Need for an Oven: All you need is a pot or a steamer, and you can use a camp stove to create steam.
- Easy Cleanup: Steaming usually results in less mess compared to dry baking, as there’s no flour or batter to spill.
How to Steam on the Trail
Use a pot with a lid and a steamer basket, or a makeshift rack inside the pot. The key is ensuring the food is suspended above the water so it’s cooked by steam. This could be aluminum foil ring or just three flat stones placed in the bottom of the pot.
Pour water into the pot, ensuring it doesn’t touch the food. The water should only create steam.
Bring the water to a boil, cover the pot, and let your dish steam for the recommended cooking time.
Use toothpicks to test readiness – if a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake will come out clean, the cake is ready to be taken out.
Pros:
– It works with all types of stoves;
– Suitable for lightweight and solo backpacking;
– No chance of your food getting burnt.
Cons:
– Long cooking time (20-40 minutes);
– You will never get that perfectly browned crust.
What is dry baking?
Dry baking uses direct heat to cook food, similar to baking in a traditional oven. It’s perfect for making crispy, golden-brown dishes like cookies, bread, and even pizza! This method is best describes on Outback Oven Ultralight.
Sold by Backpacker’s Pantry, Outback Oven Ultralight is designed to work with your own lightweight cook set (pan plus lid) which can be of 10” in diameter or less.
The kit consists of an 10” pot parka (convection dome), riser bar, scorch buster, reflector collar and a thermometer. When placed on a stove, it becomes a convection oven.
How To Bake
Pour the batter into a pan greased or lined with parchment paper. Silicone muffin cups is a good solution for trail baking too. They are lightweight and very easy to clean.
Turn the stove on.
Place the ribbed heat diffuser plate on the stove’s burner.
Set the pan on a riser bar and cover with lid. Adjust Oven thermometer on the pan lid.
Put Pot Parka over the pan to hold rising heat from the stove. The thermometer should be seen through an opening in the top of Pot Parka. It has only 3 points: “Warm Up”, “Bake” and “Burn”.
Once the Oven is heated, set the stove flame to minimum and maintain temperature in the “Bake” range until food is ready.
Turn heat off. Let stand 5 minutes.
Pros:
– Requires little time to setup and bake (12-15 minutes);
– Less fuel needed to prepare food in Outback Oven;
– A wide range of food items can be prepared in such oven (pies, cakes, lasagna, fish etc.)
– It can produce a perfect browned crust.
Cons:
– Requires stoves with simmer function (ability to maintain a low flame);
– Flame should be regulated very carefully. If the flame is too high, food will burn on the bottom; if too low food will be undercooked.
Cautions:
– Not for use with stoves that have burners mounted directly above their fuel source, oven heat may cause the fuel tank to over pressurize and rupture.
– Do not use an Outback Oven with a windscreen that encloses fuel tank and stove together.
Conclusion
Whether you choose to steam or dry bake, both methods will allow you to enjoy satisfying, delicious baked goods on the trail. Steaming is perfect for keeping things moist and tender, while dry baking gives you that golden, crispy texture. By understanding the benefits of each method, you can choose the one that works best for your specific needs. With a little practice, you’ll soon be enjoying fresh, homemade baked goods on your backpacking adventures.
