[Sca-cooks] how to make bread

[Terry Decker]

With a propane stove, Coleman oven, some medium size bowls and a fair size 
skillet you should be able to make most types of bread.  What you really 
need to know are the limits of your equipment and your ability to use it. 
Since you state you "are looking for ways to make bread," I am assuming a 
limited knowledge of bread and baking and, most likely, inexperience with 
your field kitchen.

If you are not normally a baker, get a good book on breadmaking.  I like 
Nick Malgieri's "How To Bake," but there are any number of good, basic 
books, often available inexpensively at a used book store.  This will give 
you techniques for preparation and basic recipes to test.

Get a good oven thermometer that will not get in the way of loading the 
oven.  The thermometer on the front of Coleman ovens is nearly worthless. 
If you can't get the oven to recipe temperature, you will need instructions 
on how to modify the baking time.  If you bake at 3000 feet above sea level 
or higher, you will need instructions on how to modify the recipe and the 
baking time for high altitude baking.

To learn the process and your equipment, start in the backyard by baking 
quickbreads:  biscuits, scones, muffins, cookies.  Then move on to yeast 
breads.  It also helps to bake at home regularly to increase your experience 
with the baking process.

If you do yeast breads in the field with any regularity, you will want to 
add baker's cloths to your kit for kneading and covering the bowls (I tend 
to use 2 to 3 foot squares of unbleached muslin with the edges hemmed).

The various responses to your initial question, should raise a few more 
questions of your own, so ask away.

Bear

>
> I am new to the list and fairly new to the SCA.  I was looking for ways to
> make bread at camp.  Can anybody help me? I have a propane stove and a
> Colman type oven.
> Thanks
> Daniel in the northern west lands