Frypan “baking” on an induction hotplate (or Refleks diesel heater top or stove top)

[Seaworthy Lass]

Originally Posted by Hardhead

This might be slightly OT, but I recall seeing a video of a Eric Forsyth, on the boat Fiona, regularly baking bread on a stove-top with something I believe he called a "Swedish oven." It looked a lot like an angel food cake pan, and was roughly donut shaped, with a pipe, or hole, coming up through the middle of the pan. I think the effect was heat rose through the hole (or pipe, however it is termed) and cooked the bread more evenly. There was no water, or steam involved. The bread came out donut shaped. I've checked around, but can't seem to find anything else about it. Is anyone else familiar with the technique?

I think he was probably using a Swedish Omnia pan:
https://omniasweden.com/en/home/

The feedback from cruisers is that it works well on any stove top. Unfortunately it is too large to fit on our Refleks.

[Hardhead]

Actually - this might be it: https://www.amazon.com/Omnia-Oven-st.../dp/B000YLJQ5U




--whoops, sorry, Thanks & you are right. I was late on the post...

[Seaworthy Lass]

Originally Posted by Hardhead

Actually - this might be it: https://www.amazon.com/Omnia-Oven-st.../dp/B000YLJQ5U




--whoops, sorry, you are right. I was late on the post...

CF member Don C L uses one - or more precisely he has trained his young kids to bake with one of these. It may explain why he is so enthusiastic about the appliance .

I think Janet Groene has also tested one and given it her stamp of approval.

Edited to add: Sorry, it was Carolyn Shearlock, not Janet:
https://theboatgalley.com/?s=Omnia

[Seaworthy Lass]

Originally Posted by LostBiker

Hey Seaworthy! With the 5 piece pan set the frying pan isnt deep enough, but the 14, 16, 18, and 20cm covered pans fit inside the fiddle, so that part is taken care of. Now Im trying to get the temperature setting right. So far its always too hot even on the low setting. I need to let the temp stabilize a little longer I believe. Its fine for cooking in the pots Im sure - soups, stews, even a small pork roast I bet, but too hot for bread yet. This is a lot of fun actually, so thanks again for posting !


We use a 6qt Instant Pot for "baking" quick bread and it comes out pretty good, but thats electric. We'll go find a regular small pressure cooker and give that a try on the Refleks and see what happens.



So for now we believe we can cook just fine without using the induction stove or convection/microwave oven. The only thing that uses gas is the small grill we have outside. We've gone full electric for cooking and dont miss the gas at all inside.


We'll be glad to move to a bigger boat in a few months and we'll be getting another Refleks 60M set up. Not just for heating anymore! .



John

Hi John
Yes, it is fun playing .

We have a 2000K Refleks, which has about 2/3 the heating capacity of your 60K model, so this is probably why you are finding even your lowest setting too hot for baking.

When I was experimenting last year using the pressure cooker, I found raising the pot by placing three small strips of 5 mm thick aluminium on the hotplate reduced the temperature enough to at least not to have a severely burnt black bottom. Doing this may be enough to make your Refleks usable for bread if you felt like experimenting.

I do think the small quantity is the key to success though. The top has then cooked before the bottom can even think about burning.

SWL

[Hardhead]

Originally Posted by Seaworthy Lass

CF member Don C L uses one - or more precisely he has trained his young kids to bake with one of these. It may explain why he is so enthusiastic about the appliance .

I think Janet Groene has also tested one and given it her stamp of approval.

Edited to add: Sorry, it was Carolyn Shearlock, not Janet:
https://theboatgalley.com/?s=Omnia

Great link & article - Thanks

[a64pilot]

Silly question as I know nothing of a refleks heater, but what about a Dutch Oven? It seems that’s what your creating and they come in many sizes.
They are great over a cook fire.
The cast iron is much better, I believe it’s mass distributes heat well and holds heat better and evens out temp swings better.

[Seaworthy Lass]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

Silly question as I know nothing of a refleks heater, but what about a Dutch Oven? It seems that’s what your creating and they come in many sizes.
They are great over a cook fire.
The cast iron is much better, I believe it’s mass distributes heat well and holds heat better and evens out temp swings better.

It may work. I don’t have a large cast iron pot on board so I can’t easily try this out. My pressure cooker failures put me off experimenting further with any large pots using conventional quantities of mixture.

I have tried bread baked in the oven at home in a La Creuset pot and that was excellent.

SWL

[a64pilot]

Again, I am the farthest thing from a cook, I grill if you can call that cooking, but I thought the purpose of a Dutch oven was to be a stove top oven.
They can be as small as 5” and I believe many have the stand offs built in so they don’t actually touch the stove top
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Camp-Chef...gaAhN-EALw_wcB

[Seaworthy Lass]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

Again, I am the farthest thing from a cook, I grill if you can call that cooking, but I thought the purpose of a Dutch oven was to be a stove top oven.
They can be as small as 5” and I believe many have the stand offs built in so they don’t actually touch the stove top
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Camp-Chef...gaAhN-EALw_wcB

Thanks for the suggestion. Yes, it may work. It would be very useful if someone with a Refleks and a small cast iron pot could report what they are able to bake successfully with it. It would be good to know if more conventional quantities can be baked on the Refleks.

The drawback with the frypan method I use is that it only works with small amounts (each batch is only 2-4 serves) so if you have a hungry horde to feed someone needs to draw straws and wait 15 minutes for the next pan load to be cooked.

The drawback becomes an advantage though if there are only two people on board, as you get to indulge in warm, fragrant, freshly baked, perfectly cooked goodies each day with a minimum of fuss or waiting time. The gas saving and lack of moisture induced with not having a gas oven running suddenly becomes a nice bonus rather than the prime reason for baking this way.

I am surprised that after living with a Refleks for nearly a couple of years, I have only just hit on this superior yet super easy way of cooking. Old timers who have lived for decades with pot belly heaters may be familiar with the method, and think it is just too obvious to mention, but for me it was a revelation .

SWL

[Chotu]

Interesting!! I have been doing the same on a propane cooktop to sip propane and avoid the extra cabin heat of turning on an oven.

I've successfully made chocolate chip cookies and brownies, perfectly toast bagels and bread. Covering a pan is just like a mini oven if you can get the temperature low enough.

It's absolutely luxurious to make fresh bread or cookies on demand. Been loving it.

My girlfriend prefers the cookies to be a little crispier on top, so I flip them like a pancake.

[Seaworthy Lass]

Originally Posted by Chotu

Interesting!! I have been doing the same on a propane cooktop to sip propane and avoid the extra cabin heat of turning on an oven.

I've successfully made chocolate chip cookies and brownies, perfectly toast bagels and bread. Covering a pan is just like a mini oven if you can get the temperature low enough.

I haven’t tried cookies yet. Great to hear they work well too.

I have used a frypan on the propane cooktop for making toasted bread for over a decade now, but hadn’t explored actually baking from scratch this way .

Originally Posted by Chotu

It's absolutely luxurious to make fresh bread or cookies on demand. Been loving it.

YES! Exactly! This has been the biggest bonus . Eating warm, freshly baked goods is such a treat.

I have been making up the bread mix in my normal batch size (500g flour), letting it rise and refrigerating it just in a plastic bag, then using 1/6 for each frypan batch of bread or pizza. Five days has been the max time stored and it still rises beautifully and produces a great result.

For cakes I have been mixing up half my usual quantity, dividing that in two keeping the dry and wet components apart (wet is refrigerated in an ex jam jar). I use one lot, the the next day it takes literally a minute to mix the two components together, and 15 minutes later we are again enjoying freshly baked cake with a cuppa .

The only problem is that I can see the pounds creeping on .

SWL

[JPA Cate]

I've never used a dutch oven the way the sheepherders did, down in a pit, with the embers from the fire for the heat source to bake the bread. But, I've used one a lot, mostly for stews, but occasionally for Sheepherder's Bread. Dutch ovens have been around for a long, time. Wish I had one now. Gave mine away because I thought it would rust on a sailboat, but it turns out, they do fine. Heavy as all get out, though. Agree with A64, only cast iron will do.

Yes, they work fine, over a campfire (don't burn the bottom), or on a propane stove.

Ann

[LostBiker]

Originally Posted by Seaworthy Lass

Hi John
Yes, it is fun playing .

We have a 2000K Refleks, which has about 2/3 the heating capacity of your 60K model, so this is probably why you are finding even your lowest setting too hot for baking.

When I was experimenting last year using the pressure cooker, I found raising the pot by placing three small strips of 5 mm thick aluminium on the hotplate reduced the temperature enough to at least not to have a severely burnt black bottom. Doing this may be enough to make your Refleks usable for bread if you felt like experimenting.

I do think the small quantity is the key to success though. The top has then cooked before the bottom can even think about burning.

SWL

Hello Seaworthy! - Exactly what I was thinking after my wife clued me. My son has some 1/4" (6.35mm) aluminum plate that he will cut out 3 round plates from to fit the Refleks fiddle interior edge to edge tomorrow to act as stackable heat diffusers. Our low setting is simply too hot for baking - but cooking anything else is good to go if we watch it carefully. The fiddle height on our 60M is 3 1/3 inch (85mm), so anything cooking will still be stable using all 3 diffusers if necessary.


We buy in bulk and make up meals for just 2 hungry people so portion size is just right for the pots/pans that fit the Refleks. We wonder why we never thought of using the "stove" to cook on before - boil water in a kettle for tea/coffee, yes, but cooking? Better late than never and we love one pot meals. Cooked a pot of rice and veggies last night on the Reflects and that worked perfectly.



I'll report my findings tomorrow with the heat diffusers. Im going to try to make some pan biscuits and gravy in a bit for breakfast.



John

[Seaworthy Lass]

Originally Posted by LostBiker

Hello Seaworthy! - Exactly what I was thinking after my wife clued me. My son has some 1/4" (6.35mm) aluminum plate that he will cut out 3 round plates from to fit the Refleks fiddle interior edge to edge tomorrow to act as stackable heat diffusers. Our low setting is simply too hot for baking - but cooking anything else is good to go if we watch it carefully. The fiddle height on our 60M is 3 1/3 inch (85mm), so anything cooking will still be stable using all 3 diffusers if necessary.

We buy in bulk and make up meals for just 2 hungry people so portion size is just right for the pots/pans that fit the Refleks. We wonder why we never thought of using the "stove" to cook on before - boil water in a kettle for tea/coffee, yes, but cooking? Better late than never and we love one pot meals. Cooked a pot of rice and veggies last night on the Reflects and that worked perfectly.

I'll report my findings tomorrow with the heat diffusers. Im going to try to make some pan biscuits and gravy in a bit for breakfast.

John

Hi John
I am very glad that this thread has at least alerted one person to the option of cooking/baking on the Refleks .

To reduce the temperature significantly on your larger Refleks, I think an air gap is needed, so I would consider some strips of alu in between your discs. Either way, it would be good to know what you find works.

It has only gone 5:30 pm here, but it is now pitch black outside, as the sun set well over an hour ago. Our eating schedule shifts dramatically at this time of year. A pre dinner drink of bubbly was poured (a super dry Spanish rose cava chilled in the cockpit) and a Refleks baked pizza was served with drinks.

It was just made with a herbed garlicky tomato topping and cheese, but the simple flavours need no other embellishment. I have attached a few photos showing the finished result, an underside shot showing the evenly cooked crispy bottom and a cross section showing the texture. Sorry that the photo quality is poor. It is just flash photography with dim ambient light.

The final photo is the soup I served. It is a combination of sweet potato and red lentils flavoured with ginger and coconut cream. This was made in the pressure cooker on the Refleks a few days ago and served reheated on the Refleks and topped with a dollop of thick Greek yoghurt and toasted pine nuts. Generous single serves of soup were poured into glass jam jars from the pressure cooker while bubbly hot and sealed. This easily lasts a couple of weeks refrigerated.

I am currently satisfyingly listening to a lot of mmmmmm noises while my hubbie is consuming a second pizza. His comment is that this is the “best ever” . A big thumbs up for Refleks baking in a frypan.

SWL

PS I am happy to post recipes if anyone is interested, but these are just general ones. Nothing out of the ordinary is needed to bake/cook on the Refleks.

[LostBiker]

Originally Posted by Seaworthy Lass

Hi John
I am very glad that this thread has at least alerted one person to the option of cooking/baking on the Refleks .

To reduce the temperature significantly on your larger Refleks, I think an air gap is needed, so I would consider some strips of alu in between your discs. Either way, it would be good to know what you find works.

It has only gone 5:30 pm here, but it is now pitch black outside, as the sun set well over an hour ago. Our eating schedule shifts dramatically at this time of year. A pre dinner drink of bubbly was poured (a super dry Spanish rose cava) and a Refleks baked pizza was served with drinks.

It was just made with a herbed garlicky tomato topping and cheese, but the simple flavours need no other embellishment. I have attached a few photos showing the finished result, an underside shot showing the evenly cooked crispy bottom and a cross section showing the texture. Sorry that the photo quality is poor. It is just flash photography with dim ambient light.

The final photo is the soup I served. It is a combination of sweet potato and red lentils flavoured with ginger and coconut cream. This was made in the pressure cooker on the Refleks a few days ago and served reheated on the Refleks and topped with a dollop of thick Greek yoghurt and toasted pine nuts. Generous single serves of soup were poured into glass jam jars from the pressure cooker while bubbly hot and sealed. This easily lasts a couple of weeks refrigerated.

I am currently satisfyingly listening to a lot of mmmmmm noises while my hubbie is consuming a second pizza. His comment is that this is the “best ever” . A big thumbs up for Refleks baking in a frypan.

SWL

PS I am happy to post recipes if anyone is interested, but these are just general ones. Nothing out of the ordinary is needed to bake/cook on the Refleks.

Oh, yes! We both love to cook in as opposed to eating out. We have a 4 season RV trailer thats our other "boat" that we use to travel around Canada and the lower 48 and cook our own way across. We traveled a lot in the military and we continue in civilian life - always somewhere to go and see things.


All your dishes look great and the photo's are fine too.



I for one would appreciate recipes for anything thats not complicated - breads and pies are at the top of any list for us. Soups are good too. One or two pot meals are what we look for for everyday cooking.



Im VERY interested in the pizza! Looks great! Recipe please? Your fry pan is the same as ours I think - 24cm? Technique tips for cooking please? Do you just put the pan on the fiddle and let it cook and then cover the top and steam melt the cheese?



Also yes to the spacers (buttons) between the aluminum - it'll be trial and error but I know it will work. The Refleks just needs to be treated like a regular hot plate.



Here in Alaska sunrise is 0913 and sunset is 1613. We love it here.


We're more rustic and drink beer a lot! Our Canadian Brothers and Sisters next door have really good beer, so we go over and load the truck up once a month.


John