You would have seen somewhere in your life that most of the edible products were baked. So for baking purposes, most of the time oven is required. But how to bake without oven? To answer this question, this post provides helpful content on different ways to bake without an oven.
The oven is the most important piece of equipment when it comes to baking. But in this post, we show you the exact steps to follow if you want some food to be cooked without the help of an oven. If you follow the steps given in this post, you will become an expert in baking this way.
Before the inception of the oven, everyone used simple methods of baking such as keeping the food to be baked near a fire or any hot object. In eastern parts of Russia, most people living in colder climates have a broad chimney that can be used to ward off cold and also for baking bread as well.
In northern India, farmers living in desert areas, prepare the bread dough and make them as large lumps. Then they heat a stone to a very high temperature and cover the dough over the heated stone and the dough bakes into a fluffy loaf of bread.
The answer is that you can very much enjoy your favourite baked dishes such as pizza as well. How? The article describes some techniques on how to bake without an oven.
As I said earlier, there are a whole lot of ways to bake our food in case we do not have access to an oven. Those techniques will be shared with you soon below.
I have personally seen many households struggling to make a cake since they think the oven is an absolute necessity to bake bread or cake. As a result, they shy away from making bakery-related products such as bread, biscuit or cookies. Some of these techniques are described under:
Techniques on baking other than using oven:
1.Baking using Clay Oven:
Baking using a clay oven has a long history. Those days have a large chimney made using clay. Clay was used because it can retain heat for a very long time and also keep the insides very warm. When people were living in small communities, they had a large clay oven that can cater the items to the entire community.
I will share with you the exact steps to build a small clay oven in your backyard which will assist you in preparing bread or pizza during family gatherings. Also, the bread made from this clay oven would be very soft and tasty as well. This is a clay oven and this is our first method on how to bake without oven.
Start with the following items I am going to list below:
- Dig some mud or fresh clay from your nearby pond.
- Take some dried grass or buy some hay from your nearby farm,since when its mixed with clay becomes strong when dried.
- Now take some bricks and line them evenly on the interior of your clay oven.
- Now place some bricks or slabs depending on your liking for the base of the clay oven.
Now that the clay oven is ready, we can bake some delicious bread!!
2.Baking using a wood-fired oven:
Next, In our second method we will see how to bake without oven using a wood-fired brick oven. The wood-fired oven is another classical way to bake bread and it’s similar to the clay oven. The only difference here is the usage of wood to bake and also the size of the oven which is way smaller when compared to the clay oven which is used to feed large communities.
Certain things must be followed while building a wood-fired oven made of bricks.
The height, width of the oven must be calculated properly.
The chimney must be placed at the right spot for proper airflow.
You can see that these materials that can easily withstand the high temperature of 1300oC.
Placing a cast-iron skillet over the stove.
The next method shows how to bake using a cast-iron skillet. You can use a cast-iron skillet. It’s a must-have item for the kitchen. You can use it for many purposes. They age with time. They can also be used for baking purposes. Some people may it the Dutch oven technique. It is one of the most adaptive cooking techniques to use.
Heavy cast iron is used in the process. By using the proper instructions next, you can have the properly controlled temperature that is required for and is perfect for cooking. It is best to use a cast iron while camping outdoors.
It is not compulsory to use an open fire for baking in the Dutch oven. The use of charcoal briquettes is another option that is used. You can also use wood. All of these keep the fire low and controlled.
Maintaining the temperature is an important task during this process. Because in an oven or microwave, there is an inbuilt thermostat that keeps the temperature maintained throughout the whole process. Each charcoal briquette stands for 10 degrees. Removing the wood or charcoal during the process can also cool down the cooking process.
While baking, you have to keep in mind that you have covered the pot with a perfectly fitting lid. This helps in keeping the temperature-controlled and even. Secondly, you must pre-heat your pot that is made of a cast-iron skillet. You must heat it for about 5 minutes.
Step by Step Instructions on how to bake the best bread:
Mix the ingredients: Start with a large bowl and fill it with one and a half cups of flour. Add half a teaspoon of salt. Mix the flour and salt by making a well in the center and keep adding warm water. You can add up to two tablespoons of water. Prepare a mixture of half a teaspoon of yeast and one tablespoon of sugar. Prepare them in the water and add up to the rest of the ingredients. Mix all the ingredients.
Preparation of dough: For preparing the dough, gradually add water to the mixture. Mix the ingredients by using your hands. Keep mixing till a smooth dough is made. You can add 1 tablespoon of butter or oil while mixing the dough.
Rising the dough: Grease a bowl with butter and add the prepared dough into the bowl. Take a clean cloth and cover the bowl with it. Keep the dough for about 2 and a half hours. After the given time, you will notice that the dough became double in size by rising.
Preparing the materials: Grease the cast iron skillet with melted butter. Place the dough in the pot. Cover the pot again for about 25 minutes. Place the lid off on the pot after covering it with a cloth. This will stop the moisture.
Placing the bread on the stovetop: Make a cross on the top of the prepared dough with a knife. By keeping the flame low, cover the top of the pot with the lid. Flip the dough after 10 minutes to the opposite side and cook the other side for about 5 minutes. Take out the dough and place it in a rack for cooling. Your bread is baked and ready to serve.
One of the most common questions that viewers have in mind is can they bake using an induction stove? These stoves work on the basic principles of electromagnetism. They directly heat the cookware. So they can help you by reducing the cooking time by the controlled temperature.
And you can also touch the stove itself during the process as they only heat the cookware. However, these stoves only work with cast iron or stainless steel cookware. So to use induction stoves for baking purposes, make sure that you are equipped with such cookware.
There are many small homes with a kitchenette that are equipped with an induction stove. They don’t have an oven at hand and cannot bake and always have to order a baked cake or cookies from the restaurants or a bakery. As you can see that these homes have traditional methods of baking biscuits, cookies and cakes without using an oven.
There are certain risks involved in using an induction stove for baking purposes:
- As the induction stove only cooks the base of the pot excluding its sides; there is a certain risk of overcooking the base of the case.
- The cookware you will be using can capture extreme heat; so it is better to use protection on hands while handling or moving the pot.
- To reduce the risk of steaming your cake rather than baking, get rid of the moisture. Or else you will end up making your cake soggy.
As discussed earlier, a Dutch oven is one of the most adaptive cooking techniques to use. Heavy cast iron is used in this method. By using the proper instructions, you can have the properly controlled temperature that is required for and is perfect for cooking or baking. It is very easy to make in a Dutch oven.
Since baking is an integral part of the pizza, you must know in-depth about the baking process.
Will you try our techniques for how to bake without an oven? Be sure to tell us in the comments.
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