Making bread without an oven + recipes!

In true "off-grid homestead" fashion, I made bread Saturday without the aid of an oven for baking or even for letting it rise. (I usually set the oven to it's lowest setting and prop the door open for the rise.) I mixed the dough by hand instead of in the bread machine, let it rise, kneaded it, let it rise again, then baked it in my dutch oven.

It's not the camp style dutch oven. It's just a 4 or 5 quart cast iron pot with a handle and a lid. It still worked, though, for baking the bread. I will tweak my baking method a bit for better results, but the bread I made is still very good and can be used for sandwiches or as a side to a meal.

I'll share my basic bread recipe here as well as my dinner roll recipe. I did use the bread machine to make the dough for the dinner rolls while I was working on the off grid bread recipe. And, I used the oven as usual for the rise and the bake of the dinner rolls.

I use instant yeast so I didn't proof it before adding it to the recipes. I also didn't use the parchment paper as indicated in my written recipe down below, but that was probably a mistake. I used a cake pan as a liner for the dutch oven, and it was quite difficult to manage when it came time to flip the bread over.

Off Grid Bread Recipe
1 cup warm water
1 ½ tsp. Salt
3 tbsp. Sugar
3 tbsp. Oil or fat of your choice
3 cups flour
2 ¼ tsp. Yeast
Mix all together well and knead about 10 minutes. Place in oiled bowl, cover with plastic, and let rise till double. Knead again just till cohesive. Form into a round loaf. Place loaf on parchment paper in a skillet. Cover with plastic and let rise until almost doubled. Uncover, remove from skillet using the parchment to lift it out, and place paper and risen dough in preheated dutch oven. I used a medium low setting on the stove. Allow to bake till sides are brown and top is dry. Remove from dutch oven, flip it over in the paper, and let it bake another 10 minutes or so till the top is also browned. Remove, cool, and serve.


Dinner Rolls (bread machine)
1 cup warm water
1 egg
4 tbsp. Sugar
3 tbsp. Butter
1 ½ tsp. Salt
3 cups flour
2 ¼ tsp. Yeast

Put into bread machine pan in the order given. Set for “Dough”. When done, remove from bread machine pan and lightly knead on a floured surface. Cut into desired roll shapes. Place in a greased oblong cake pan and cover with plastic. Let rise one hour. Remove plastic and bake in oven until golden brown, about 25 minutes at 350 F.

Dinner Rolls

Off Grid Bread