This article has been excerpted from
"An Emergency and Outdoor Bread Manual." This
28 page manual can be had free and without purchase
from The Prepared Pantry.
Click here to get a free manual.
How to Bake: Bread on the Grill
One of the slickest tricks we know is baking
bread on the grill. Once you get to know your
grill, it's easy—like baking your favorite recipe
in the oven.
We can think of all kinds of reasons to use
the grill. You can enjoy fresh baked bread while
camping, or at the cabin, or at the next family
reunion. Sometimes, it's just nice to get out
of the kitchen, enjoy the spring air, and bake
outside. (Watch the neighbors turn their noses
upwind when the smell of fresh baked bread wafts
over the fence.) And in the summertime, you
don't have to heat up the kitchen to bake. Finally,
if there is ever an extended emergency when
the power is off, you may have the only fresh
bread in town.
You can bake nearly anything with a covered
grill. (If your grill doesn't have a cover,
improvise with a large inverted pot.) The heat
rises and circulates in the covered area just
as it does in your oven. The heat source can
be charcoal, gas, or even wood. We prefer gas
because it is easier to control and does not
impart a smoked taste to the bread. Since it
is hottest near the flames, elevate the bread
even if you have to improvise. In our grill,
there is a secondary shelf for baking potatoes
and such.
For this demonstration, we used Old-Fashioned
White Bread mixes though any mix or recipe will
do. We mixed according to package directions.
After it had risen, we formed one batch into
oval country loaves, one into hamburger buns,
and another into dinner rolls.
The trick to grilling bread perfectly is
controlling temperature and time. If your grill
comes equipped with a thermometer, you've got
it made (though ambient temperatures and winds
may impact how well your grill retains heat).
If you have a thermometer, just heat to the
temperature designated on the package or in
the recipe. If not, guess. After a few loaves
you'll have it perfect and we bet that the first
batch off the grill will be just fine.
Rolls and buns will probably bake in 15 to
20 minutes and loaves will take 20 to 30 minutes
depending on size and temperature. An occasional
peek to see how your bread is doing as it nears
completion is okay.
We made twelve giant-sized hamburger buns,
just the ticket for that quarter-pounder. (With
our Old-Fashioned White bread mix, the buns
scaled out at 4 ounces each.) Form the buns
as you would dinner rolls then press them flat
several times until they look like those in
the picture to the left. (The dusting that you
can see on the pan is cornmeal.) Cover and let
rise.
Just before baking, we washed the buns with
an egg white wash (one egg white plus one tablespoon
of water). We then sprinkled them with sesame
seeds. On our grill, we baked them with the
heat turned about two-thirds open for about
18 minutes.
For the dinner rolls, we used a 8 1/2 x 15-inch
pan and made 20 rolls scaled at 2.5 ounces each.
We made two country style loaves from one
mix. If you look closely you'll see that we
forgot to slash the tops to release the steam
and consequently ended up with a split on the
side of the loaf. Don't do as we did—score two
or three quarter-inch deep slashes on the top
of the loaf just as you begin baking.
Here are a few more hints to help you along
the way:
• Bake the bread before the burgers. The
bread can cool while you cook the rest of the
food. Burning grease in the bottom of the grill
makes the temperature harder to control and
the soot can stain the bread.
• If you are letting your bread rise outside
where the temperature may be less than indoors
or where breezes may swirl around the bread,
consider using a large food-grade plastic bag
as a greenhouse. Simply slip the bread dough--pan
and all--inside the bag, inflate it slightly,
and close it. If the day is cool, set the bag
and the bread in a sunny warm place to capture
a little solar energy.
• Grills tend to not circulate the hot air
as well as ovens. To keep the bottom of the
bread from burning, place one pan beneath the
other. The second pan will tend to insulate
the bottom of the bread and keep it from burning.
Sometimes place a wire rack between the pans
for even more insulation.
• If your bread is baking faster on one side
than the other, turn the pan 180 degrees part
way through the baking cycle.
• The tendency is to burn the bottom of the
bread. Place the bread as far away from the
flames as you can even if it means elevating
the bread.
We hope that you have fun baking bread outside
this summer. We do know that you will be the
envy of the neighborhood, campground, or RV
park.
**********
This article was submitted by Dennis Weaver.
He is the general manager of The Prepared Pantry,
which produces baking mixes that are designed
and packaged for both storage and everyday use.
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