Cast Iron Collection & Fire Cooking

[Lily&Me]

This is the recipe I saw being made a few days ago. White bread, basically, but then that is the best biscuit, in my opinion.

There is a photo of it baked on a round, casti-iron griddle, but I couldn't get it to copy.


Skillet Biscuit Bread, As described by Jacques Pépin on More Fast Food My Way

- 1 1/2 cup flour
- 1 cup water
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt

Mix the dry ingredients, then add water and mix. Heat a 9-inch non-stick skillet over medium heat. Butter all surfaces of pan then pour in the batter, spreading evenly in the pan. Cook until the bread is browned (he did it with a lid), then flip and cook until that side is browned, 8-10 minutes per side. Cut in wedges to serve.

Maggie

[Lily&Me]

I baked in my little cast iron panini pan the last of the wheat bread dough I mixed up 4 days ago, and it was as delicious as the first piece.

I lost a bit of dough early on, failing to oil it before I wrapped it in waxed paper , so had three nice-sized bread portions.....but the half-recipe could do four portions, depending on what you were doing.

Liking whole grain toast, especially, for breakfast, this has been breakfast food for me.

I split the cooked bread this am, like an English Muffin, put a bit of butter and marmalade in the center. Delicious.

This will be my go-to for bread on the road when it is very cold or raining outside, and firing up the little DO is just not feasible. So much better than what is commercially available....in quality and in price.


Maggie

[rmkrum]

Good stuff!


Sent from my pocket Internet using Airstream Forums

[bugsbunny]

Hi Maggie,

How big in diameter would you say the piece of bread is? What size skillet were you using? Is that a 10 inch Lodge panini skillet?

Thanks,
Bugs

[Lily&Me]

This is not a Lodge item, but a NorPro one I got from Amazon, I think.

It is pre-seasoned, heavy, and good quality, 6" square I think.

The piece of bread is about 5", I would guess. A single serving, really.

You could use any heavy skillet, or a larger griddle, like the Lodge one I have at home. Could do several pieces at a time, or one large bread.

Mine has cooked up fine, uncovered, but Jacques Pepin covered his pan bread that I gave the recipe for a couple of days ago.

I mixed a new batch, with 1 cup unbleached white flour, 1/2 cup of 7 grain bread mix and 1/2 cup of Photobum's corn flour as an addition.

Baked 1/4 of this yesterday am for breakfast, and it was delicious.

Because of the nature of this dough, it still seems best when allowed to cool to at least just-warm before eating.


Maggie

[Lily&Me]

Pan bread update.....

As with most things, experience is the best teacher.

Warming your skillet for a few seconds, adding a bit of butter to melt, coating your cold, flattened piece of dough in it, covering and letting set an hour or so before low heat beneath to pan bake produces a nicely risen, and beautifully browned, bread.

The warmth of the skillet helps the dough rise, you don't otherwise need a surface for rising to which dough may stick when moved to the skillet, and a light butter coating rather than flour produces a more attractive exterior. No bits of flour to easily burn.

You could coat your dough lightly with an oil, but this way your bread is already buttered. Once cooled, put some jam and marmalade inside, and breakfast is served.

My little cast iron panini pan is working beautifully for a single-serve pan bread, as it holds and conducts heat nicely. A small cast iron skillet would produce the same results.


Maggie

[Lily&Me]

The new method, a bit of butter melted in a skillet to coat and let rise, is working beautifully.....rises better, much more attractive end result.

The dough in this picture is unbleached white flour with steel cut oats in it,

I baked a double piece in my covered skillet the other day, on the electric hot plate which provides a more even heat, and it turned out great. Evenly browned, nice crust. Yum.

Ate some for breakfast, split the rest later and made a sandwich for dinner.

Fresh, healthy, wholegrain bread.....one of life's little pleasures.

Maggie

[GCinSC2]

Maggie,

Looks great, maybe some honey or real apple butter and a napkin. Done.

Gary

[Lily&Me]

Or.....a little nectarine-raspberry freezer jam.

Breakfast is served.


Maggie

[Airtandem]

Seeing the Cast Iron got me thinking. Wife is heating it up with a bunch of sausage patties to have on homemade bread. Sorry Maggie, it is not your pan bread. I have tried it twice and it ended up as bird food. You will have to give me pointers at Moraine View.

[Lily&Me]

Hmmm....I will be glad to do that.

You do have to let cold dough warm up and rise, lest it be a nice-smelling hockey puck.

Using a slightly warmed skillet/panini pan makes the whole process easier, and faster. An hour or so, out of the frig to baked and cooling.



Maggie

[Caj]

Good Morning, Kathy,

My first time posting a question as we are new AS owners. In your signature it say the Dutchoven rally at GA Mtn. Fairgrounds is April 10-12, 2015 but I can't find any information on it and it's not on the GMF website under events. Can you let me know how we can sign up? Do I have the dates right? Thanks so much! Caj

[bugsbunny]

Hi Everyone,

I am just venturing into dutch oven cooking and I have a learning curve and also some tight space constraints.

I need a new grill as the Baby Weber will not fit in the space available.

I am thinking of buying the volcano grill and a dutch oven to use with it as it looks like it will fit in the compartment available in my Interstate.

I have been debating between the 10 inch and 12 inch and standard versus deep.

Will a standard depth DO work with the volcano grill? Will the bottom get close enough to the coals or propane to heat properly or do i need the deep oven?

There are just two of us so also debating the 10 versus 12 inch.

I want to cook bread as well as stews, roasts, etc.

Has anyone used a DO without the legs but a trivet - does it work? I saw on the Lodge web site that they have a DO top only for sale so thought that might work with my legless DO and a trivet. (I would love to carry both but I have minimum storage) Has anyone used the Camp Oven on the top of the burner in the Interstate (My burners have the pop up glass door).

I love to cook (and am looking at this as a challenge for myself) having recently downsized to an Interstate from a 345 Classic. I am working on getting all my new cooking methods and sizes worked out for the smaller storage space that I have. Thanks in advance for for sharing your thoughts and experiences.

Bugs

[Lily&Me]

I don't have a volcano, but others here do and I have heard good things about them.

I think you would have a difficult time finding a trivet high enough to give adequate space underneath for coals, but I could be wrong.

I don't have a deep, and do bread just fine in a 12" regular, but would get a deep if I were to do it over. Less monkeying to prevent top burning on breads, cobblers, monkey bread, etc., with the deep.

I would recommend a 12"", deep, with the legs and inverted lid. Easier to transition it to the oven, via a cookie sheet, than the other way around.

Good luck, and let us know how it goes.


Maggie

[GCinSC2]

Folks,

I was YouTubing this AM actually looking for Coffee Percolator videos, really bad selection and I stumbled on Jeffery Rogers video channel. You can see his cast iron collection in a video too.

He is cast iron crazy! Collecting and then fully utilizing cast iron in his videos. I haven't found any campfire demonstrations but his presentation is very good and inspiring.

Take a look.

http://https://www.youtube.com/chann...pjAjdpqA5x6K6Q

This video's preview pic is his presentation of the dish, not the big DO he cooked it in.

[Lily&Me]

I always wanted to get to one of Jim Rogers' DO rallies.

I believe I heard he no longer works at the Lodge store in TN, and don't think I have seen him on here in quite awhile.



Maggie

[Gearheart]

Lodge makes a folding stand that is intended to be a place to park the lid and keep it clean. It can also be re purposed as a trivet to keep an oven over the coals. The Volcano has a rack to put the steaks and burgs on and a legless DO will fit there nicely. The lid with a lip is essential because when baking and roasting you need top heat as well as bottom heat. I would go with a 10 inch deep DO. Better to have extra head space than to need it.

[Lily&Me]

Came across this in Sunday's Chicago Tribune.

Meat roasting fire at Hampton Court Palace....built by King Henry VIII....

[OTRA15]

Now there's a fire!

Thanks for reviving this thread. We love our cast iron cookware, including muffin and popover "tins" I guess one would still call them . . .

Ditto for the cast iron baking flats for cornbread mini "ears of corn," as well as those for the small French Bread dinner rolls with the crunchy crust like small baguettes. [in theory, haven't used these yet]

eBay has lots of antique cast iron baking items, although some require a pretty thorough cleaning up.

With the recent purchase of our "less is more" FC20, most of the cast iron will probably have to say at home. To replace it we have started to try the Lodge seasoned carbon steel line. Most of the benefits of cast iron with about half the weight. For instance this 12" skillet only weights 4 lbs. (shipping weight).

Amazon.com: Lodge CRS12 Carbon Steel Skillet, Seasoned and Ready to Use, 12-inch: Lodge Steel Pan: Kitchen & Dining

It will still be hard to leave the real dutch oven behind. Thanks again for the revived thread.

Peter

[Lily&Me]

A lot of us carry a Dutch oven or two.....just have to have them.

I carry a 12" and an 8".



Maggie