Breadmaker or Oven?

[tudorsailor]

I like the idea of making bread on board. I do have a proper Force 10 oven. At home I have a breadmaker doing nothing.

What are others experience of baking bread, but not using pressure cookers etc? How much power does the bread maker use? Can I only use it when on shore power - which rather defeats to object. However, does cooking in the oven use so much gas as to be wasteful?

Thanks

TS

 

[maby]

We use a breadmaker on the boat - but only on shorepower. I haven't checked the power consumption, but I cannot believe that it averages less than several hundred watts - and it is running for upwards of an hour while it is baking. 500 watts from a good inverter is going to draw 50 amps - probably more - that's a hell of a swipe at your batteries.

 

[Neeves]

The breadmaker does not use much power other than when baking, sorry cannot define 'much'. So the mixing, proving, kneading part can be completed as long as you have a decent battery bank. If we are at anchor we would mix and knead by hand - its therapeutic (or something) to bake bread on board.

We try to time use so that when we know we will be motoring, say going up an estuary, or if we have a long against wind run though a bay to an anchorage, we run the bake cycle or if this is not feasible we bake in the galley oven. We do the same with our desalinator - run it when ever the engine is running.

Jonathan

 

[prv]

Apart from the power issue, surely the other problem with bread makers is that they're bleedin' massive. That's a lot of stowage space to devote to a single-purpose item whose job can be done almost as easily manually.

I'll admit I've never baked a loaf from scratch on board, but we did do pizza dough last month. All the kneading and knocking-back was done in our big plastic mixing bowl rather than the traditional floured worktop, so no mess in the galley. It rose very nicely sat in its bowl on the ledge behind the hot stove while we cooked the tomato sauce.

Pete

 

[maby]

Apart from the power issue, surely the other problem with bread makers is that they're bleedin' massive. That's a lot of stowage space to devote to a single-purpose item whose job can be done almost as easily manually.

I'll admit I've never baked a loaf from scratch on board, but we did do pizza dough last month. All the kneading and knocking-back was done in our big plastic mixing bowl rather than the traditional floured worktop, so no mess in the galley. It rose very nicely sat in its bowl on the ledge behind the hot stove while we cooked the tomato sauce.

Pete

A lot depends on your eating habits and destination. Yes, a breadmaker is relatively large - but not a lot larger than one full size loaf of bread. However, bags of flour are small in comparison with the volume of bread that they produce - if you have access to the power and you are going to a location where fresh bread is not readily available, then a breadmaker can make a lot of sense.

Last year we spent a couple of weeks on a pontoon that was a long way from any decent shop, but did offer shorepower. We had fresh bread every day with a total space requirement that was not much more than two large loafs. If we are not on shorepower, we run it on the dough making program which doesn't actually bake, then transfer the dough to the gas oven for cooking. That doesn't hurt the batteries through the invertor.

 

[NornaBiron]

I bake all our bread on board. Mixing and kneading is done for 3 minutes using an electric hand whisk via the inverter (250watt), and I then bake it in my old pressure cooker, using it as an oven (without the gasket and weight, so any heavy pan would work) on the stove top, mainly to reduce the heat produced by the oven. I get better results this way as the oven has hot spots so doesn't bake evenly.

 

[paul.norton]

Never done it but look at The Thermal Cook

http://www.mrdsrecipes.co.uk/recipe64?utm_source=Thermal+Cook+Newsletter&utm_campaign=a61cf158a6-Weekly_Recipe_00352_28_2013&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_3771c80fc0-a61cf158a6-273498633

Have fun.

Paul

 

[jdc]

We bake all our bread when we are away cruising in remote places or on extended passage. We don't use a bread maker (and yes they are huge beasts) as we don't have 230V mains except when the generator is running (the always on inverter is 110V and only 500W anyway).

I can't say if it's inefficient on gas as we tend to combine things so that when the oven is on for one thing we take advantage of that and roast or bake others. Generally when cruising (while eating all meals aboard) we use about 0.2kg of gas per day. If more than 25% of this were used for bread making I'd be surprised; that's an absolute maximum of about 20p per day for the bread, which doesn't seem that big an expense.

A greater problem imho is raising the dough. It needs to be kept somewhere warm for a couple of hours, securely held so it doesn't go flying when baking while at sea. The best place we've found is the oilies wet locker because there is an Eberspacher outlet there, ie it's the equivalent of our airing cupboard. Again, we try to be ecconomical with the scheduling so when we need it to be on for drying oilies we make dough...

Make two loaves each time as clearly this halves the effective use of gas (2 loaves every 2 - 3 days when we're sailing two-up). I find that 700g of flour is the right amount. Flour comes in 1.5kg bags so it conveniently divides up so one bag does two bakings exactly, and the dough from 350g of flour is perfect for a small bread tin of the size two of which which fit in the oven of our Force 10.

Bread is an important ingredient of getting enough calories for us; if cruising for an extended time anywhere cold-ish you don't have to worry about getting fat, the problem is emaciation!

 

[TSB240]

We have a cast iron Dutch oven.

It has spent most of this season very low down in the boat giving us extra ballast.

However I can vouch for the fact that it can produce fantastic bread, or stews, casseroles, or for small roasts etc.....

Put it either on top of the gas hob on a low heat or best at the centre of a beach barbie with coals all around it.

Always clean off wash and dry and then give a light oiling all over to prevent rusting.

 

[NornaBiron]

A greater problem imho is raising the dough. It needs to be kept somewhere warm for a couple of hours, securely held so it doesn't go flying when baking while at sea. The best place we've found is the oilies wet locker because there is an Eberspacher outlet there, ie it's the equivalent of our airing cupboard. Again, we try to be ecconomical with the scheduling so when we need it to be on for drying oilies we make dough...

View attachment 36198

I used to struggle with this until I started sitting the rising dough on a warm hot water bottle - rises perfectly every time now.

 

[prv]

A lot depends on your eating habits and destination. Yes, a breadmaker is relatively large - but not a lot larger than one full size loaf of bread.

Hmm, maybe breadmakers vary in size. The one we used to have (belonged to a lodger who has moved on) was a lot larger than a standard supermarket sliced loaf. Certainly at least four loaves, maybe six. It occupied a whole section of the worktop in the kitchen, albeit that also included most of the ingredients and various accoutrements. We had a set of six metal cannisters (sold for storing teabags/sugar/etc) and used to do all the weighing and measuring once a week, preparing six "cartridges" each ready to be dumped into the machine and the wet ingredients added. Made it more likely that we'd actually bother on a busy weekday . But anyway, I wouldn't have that monster of a machine on a boat, but perhaps other models are more acceptable

Pete

 

[tudorsailor]

A greater problem imho is raising the dough. It needs to be kept somewhere warm for a couple of hours, securely held so it doesn't go flying when baking while at sea. The best place we've found is the oilies wet locker because there is an Eberspacher outlet there, ie it's the equivalent of our airing cupboard. Again, we try to be ecconomical with the scheduling so when we need it to be on for drying oilies we make dough...


View attachment 36198

All great replies. Why not put the dough in the engine room to rise - or will the bread taste of engine room???

TudorSailor

 

[pcatterall]

I use a bread maker all the time at home. I guess we could take it on the boat. If you keep the flour and other bits inside then it doesn't waste too much space. Kneading for therapy, rising on a hot water botty and backing in a pan suggest, however that we can leave it at home!!

 

[Graham_Wright]

Never done it but look at The Thermal Cook

http://www.mrdsrecipes.co.uk/recipe64?utm_source=Thermal+Cook+Newsletter&utm_campaign=a61cf158a6-Weekly_Recipe_00352_28_2013&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_3771c80fc0-a61cf158a6-273498633

Have fun.

Paul

We tasted some of Mr D's bread at the SBS. Have to say it tasted …………like bread!
His thermal cooker seems a great idea for all sorts of energy saving cooking.

Shame it's so expensive but it is probably good value for money to be honest.

 

[sailorgirl]

Never done it but look at The Thermal Cook

http://www.mrdsrecipes.co.uk/recipe64?utm_source=Thermal+Cook+Newsletter&utm_campaign=a61cf158a6-Weekly_Recipe_00352_28_2013&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_3771c80fc0-a61cf158a6-273498633

Have fun.

Paul

This is what we use... and it works surprisingly well - make in the evening then cook overnight so its fresh for brekkie

S

 

[NornaBiron]

Never done it but look at The Thermal Cook

http://www.mrdsrecipes.co.uk/recipe64?utm_source=Thermal+Cook+Newsletter&utm_campaign=a61cf158a6-Weekly_Recipe_00352_28_2013&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_3771c80fc0-a61cf158a6-273498633

Have fun.

Paul

Recipe looks good but offers no saving of time or gas when compared to my stove top oven method, and expensive to get set up too!

 

[William_H]

We have had a Panasonic bread maker for many years. It uses only a little power at 240v for the timer and Kneading but does operate the heating element to bring the cavity up to about 40 degrees for proving. Then of course for actual baking it uses a lot of power.
We use the mixing function a lot for piza and buns both baked in an ordinary oven.
I would think a breadmaker would be worth having on a bigish boat if you were on holidays. If shore power is not available I would try running it on a small inverter. Open up the bottom and disconnect the heating element. Make sure you warm the water before adding to the mix. Then remove the dough for cooking in a gas oven.
They have a brilliant mixing kneadinag action which would be hard to duplicate by hand. good luck olewill

 

[NornaBiron]

We have had a Panasonic bread maker for many years. It uses only a little power at 240v for the timer and Kneading but does operate the heating element to bring the cavity up to about 40 degrees for proving. Then of course for actual baking it uses a lot of power.
We use the mixing function a lot for piza and buns both baked in an ordinary oven.
I would think a breadmaker would be worth having on a bigish boat if you were on holidays. If shore power is not available I would try running it on a small inverter. Open up the bottom and disconnect the heating element. Make sure you warm the water before adding to the mix. Then remove the dough for cooking in a gas oven.
They have a brilliant mixing kneadinag action which would be hard to duplicate by hand. good luck olewill

that's a lot of bother and space for something that will knead when a food processor or electric whisk will do the same job (and many others) for less space and power.

But we all have our own way of baking bread and once you start to get good results changing your method is very difficult.

 

[Graham_Wright]

……… but offers no saving of time or gas when compared to my stove top oven method, ……

Mr D's claim is that his thermal cooker prevents the escape of heat thus requiring no more than the original "injection".

 

[sailorgirl]

Recipe looks good but offers no saving of time or gas when compared to my stove top oven method, and expensive to get set up too!

It may not offer too much of a saving when comparing stove top bread recipes but the savings come when cooking casseroles etc and the poached chicken is divine! I use mine three of four times a week.

S