Anyone "bake" on their cooktop?

[Iowa Dave]

She can torque your lug nuts accurately too. She’s a champion.
Iowa Dave

[Bea]

In our tent camping days and when we had our 1st tent trailer (that had no oven) we used this https://www.amazon.com/Coleman-20000...4895390&sr=8-3 (Glad to see it still being sold!)

This little oven is simple, lightweight, compact (folds nice and flat) and has a convenient thermostat on front. I baked a ton of birthday cakes, breakfast breads and cookies in it. The rack in it is 10x10 inches so fits most toaster oven cookware.

However, if you plan to use this oven with your indoor Escape counter top stove, I would make sure the metal oven does not sit/rest too close to your laminate counter top. The metal gets very hot! Hence, I would be cautious using this with any flush-top stove types but otherwise, it works great on typical portable propane stoves or stoves with raised metal brackets.

Our oven like this is in a camping box in the attic, mixed in with all our other fun camping gadgets ready to hand down to the next generation some day. -Bea

[Iowa Dave]

I never thought the Coleman ovens worked very well till I went to Idaho in 1969 to work. The horse and mule person for the Forest service is called the Packer. Our Packer was Al Maynard. Al was a master on the Coleman stove and accessory oven. When we were out overnight he baked biscuits , made hot sandwiches, and baked pies. We would pick huckleberries on the way in at the end of the day and take the liner out of our metal hard hats to carry them. We washed them in a snow runoff stream, Al had several little pie pans in his cook box and under his direction we would make a crust and prepare the pie for baking. While we gathered some firewood, Al would keep an eagle eye on that temperature gauge and the result was a warm blueberry pie in the gathering darkness as we discussed the day’s activities around a campfire. This made a lifetime memory for me. Those little ovens do work if you know what you’re doing.
Iowa Dave

[Bea]

Originally Posted by Iowa Dave

I never thought the Coleman ovens worked very well till I went to Idaho in 1969 to work. ....... Those little ovens do work if you know what you’re doing.
Iowa Dave

Thanks for the reminder Dave! I forgot to mention that I always use a non-glazed ceramic pizza stone or tile in the bottom of these little ovens, including in my current oven in our 21C. I like how it disperses the heat more evenly - and like you said - makes for great lifetime memories!!! -Bea

[Mike G]

Originally Posted by Upfisk

We use a #10 cast iron skillet plus a small steel pan cut down to 1/2" high that is inverted into the skillet. That steel pan creates an air space and I bake biscuits on top of it. Place a tight fitting lid on top of the skillet (mine is stainless sterl) and you have created an oven like thing. I bake pizza, biscuits, crescent rolls, etc in it. My instant pot with 6" baking pans inside makes cakes, cornbread, muffins.

That helps answer my question!

[MVA]

Originally Posted by Iowa Dave

I never thought the Coleman ovens worked very well till I went to Idaho in 1969 to work. ... Al would keep an eagle eye on that temperature gauge and the result was a warm blueberry in the gathering darkness as we discussed the day’s activities around a campfire. This made a lifetime memory for me. Those little ovens do work if you know what you’re doing.
Iowa Dave

Originally Posted by hrewer

I’ve made biscuits, bread, and cake in the Omnia. It takes a little figuring out but it is nice for cool weather camping when you don’t mind running the stove. ...

Seems like there is a recurring theme - practice and watch the oven carefully.

We live in an area with frequent outdoor burning restrictions and our camping destinations often have similar restrictions, so the Dutch oven and coal method other posts have mentioned are probably not a reasonable alternative for us. Maybe one of these days we will be fortunate to camp near some of the forum members who use a Dutch oven and coals to see and smell the wonderful baked goods.

[Nindy]

Originally Posted by cpaharley2008

Next time I'm going to camp closer to Nindy........

That would be lovely! Will we be seeing you on the Mississippi?

[Nindy]

Originally Posted by Iowa Dave

She can torque your lug nuts accurately too. She’s a champion.
Iowa Dave

I'm glad everyone only remembers that time I was really good at something I knew nothing about! Two years later I completely bombed at the competition as I recall!

[Iowa Dave]

I was afraid some might not have remembered for whatever reason so I had to remind them.

Hope you’re having a good summer and still doing some inventory/ research. I was surprised to see a posting a week or so ago about the overall reduction in the pocket gopher population in Iowa. They were asking for reports of sightings or evidence by county. On Saturday I was pulling some steel stakes in my prairie and there was a fresh mound.

I used to head out into the urban hinterlands as a kid and had a blue Jean leg bag I’d scoop a mound of dirt into and take it home to my mom for potting soil for her zinnias, hollyhocks and bachelor buttons. Couldn’t beat the fine texture, black soil and natural fertility. Should be fun in September.
Iowa Dave

[Nindy]

Originally Posted by Iowa Dave

Hope you’re having a good summer...
Iowa Dave

What a great memory, bringing home that great Iowa soil to mom. Too bad about the pocket gophers. We're supposed to have them in MO but I've never seen one.

I AM having a great summer. I've actually camped twice in the Great Smokies since the end of April and both times stopped at my southern MO property on the way home. Also three separate trips to the property this year so far.

The latest trip to the Smokies was a firefly photography workshop where we got to photograph synchronous fireflies, blue ghosts and others for four nights on private property without the crowds and lights!

I am just shy of 60,000 miles on my trailer now, since March 2015. Looking forward to seeing you in September.

[Jim Bennett]

We now have a Dickinson Caribbean stove with a great oven in our trailer and love the results. With our previous Escape I used the Dickinson Spitfire BBQ with a stone tile on the grill to bake and got some really good results from that. The latter could work with any decent BBQ.

[cpaharley2008]

Originally Posted by Nindy

That would be lovely! Will we be seeing you on the Mississippi?

Not this year, we are Escapeless until next May when we get our new E19 at the factory.....then the fun begins........

[Weavery]

I have an Omina oven. There is a learning curve but it works fine. I used it in my Scamp. When I bought my Escape the previous owner left me a tabletop convection oven. It works just fine, too. And simpler than cast iron or the Omina.
Jean

[Judy Duggan]

I love my Omni oven, although I have not used it on the cook top. I use my Coleman stove outside. I have baked pillsbury cinnamon buns 3 times, and two bananas breads from scratch. All have turned out perfect. I make sure that I heat the base on high for one minute, then place oven on it and heat for another minute on high. Then bake the rest of the way on medium low. I also joined the Omni oven Facebook site, and have gotten many ideas that I am going to try. For the banana bread, I pre measured the dry ingredients in a zip lock bag, and froze the bananas. Yes it is expensive, but so is spending $48000.00 to live like a homeless person. Lol

[the5reeds]

I regularly use a Coleman collapsible oven on my Blackstone griddle ( griddle removed,) to bake stuff. Small, portable and cheap. Never tried it inside though

[Patch]

Hi, I've used the Omnia Stovetop oven with good results. Baked a cake in it once that turned out okay. The only drawback is that you're using a lot of propane because the stove has to be on for 45 to 60 minutes. Also, it's important for the burner area of the stove to be very clean because any food residue will be baked onto the stove itself. Hope that helps. I have my Omnia for sale, if you're interested in buying it. I've decided to go with a cast iron Dutch Oven instead, which does have to be outside.

[scoram]

My mother used to make cake in a pressure cooker when we were travelling and it was very good. I just Googled "pressure cooker cake" and there are recipes.

[Nindy]

Originally Posted by the5reeds

I regularly use a Coleman collapsible oven on my Blackstone griddle ( griddle removed,) to bake stuff. Small, portable and cheap. Never tried it inside though

That's an interesting combination. Which Blackstone do you have?

[hollyt]

I also have a newly purchased Omnia - used only once so far, inside my house. Will be using it on a long upcoming trip. Just FYI - facebook has a Group "Omnia Stovetop Cooking". Tips, questions answered, ideas, some recipes. Here is the link: https://www.facebook.com/groups/143800689351894

[kstock11]

I used my Omnia for the first time this week. Blueberry muffins came out fine. I kept the heat low, and extended the heat time. Always good to learn something new. I also like that the Omnia isn’t heavy. Through 50 years of tent camping, I always preferred to keep the weight down.