I have read somewhere some time ago, that it was possible to bake bread in a Dutch Cast-Iron pan or cast-iron frying pan. Can anyone help me and confirm this one way or the other. If this is possible, where can I get the recipie(s)?

Many Thanks, Con Van Dyk

-- Con Van Dyk (chinq@ellijay.com), June 18, 1999

Answers

Dear Con, No doubt you have already found an answer to your query about baking in a fry pan, but I would suggest a bannock or anadama recipe out of any good bread book. You do need to grease the pan very well. If you are going to try baking in a dutch oven, try a recipe out of the books "Roughing It" and "Roughing It II". They give pretty explicit instructions (and pictures!) of the process in various circumstances. Good luck and let me know how it turns out. How long have you subscribed to "Countryside"? I have seen it off on on over the years, but never subscribed. Our local grocery store decided to carry it, but their supplier only brings every other issue. I really enjoy the articles on cooking, canning and the letters are a scream. Hope that you not nervous over Y2K, but its nice to have that "back-up", isn't it? Here's to the future! G.

-- Ginger Morgan (vermort@spacenet.com), June 26, 1999.

Backwoods Home has a page on their website about Dutch Ovens which includes baking bread, etc. The address is http://www.backwoodshome.com/articles/beattie47.html I hope this is what you are looking for.

-- Vaughn Brooks (vtb@juno.com), June 28, 1999.

Con if you don't find a recipie, E mail me and I will find one for you. I jknow I have one somewhere.

-- Marci Shaffer (ajourend@libby.org), July 13, 1999.

I use my regular white bread recipe and either make it into rolls or sometimes just one large round loaf then bake it in the Dutch oven. You have to make sure that you don't have too many coals under the oven. I put about twice as many on the lid and rotate the oven about a quarter turn every 10 minutes or so to ensure even browning on the bottom.

-- Judy Bowman (bowman61@altavista.com), March 19, 2000.

If you preheat the oven with coals under it and on top, you'll hardly need any underneath when you start baking. My experience is that it is really easy to overheat the things -- it will take some experimenting. (We've got four of them, by the way -- have been collecting them ever since we were married twenty-four years ago.)

-- Kathleen Sanderson (stonycft@worldpath.net), April 13, 2000.