BS: Coffee Can for baking in Crock Pot???

Subject: BS: Coffee Can for baking in Crock Pot???
From: Maryrrf
Date: 11 Jul 08 - 05:04 PM

Somebody was telling me that using a coffee can you can bake cakes and quick breads in a crock pot. I am looking at using up some of my zucchini for zucchini bread, and also maybe making pumpkin bread at some point and was wondering if it could be done using this method. Exactly how do you use the coffee can? This sounds like a great idea but I'm not sure how to implement it.

Subject: RE: BS: Coffee Can for baking in Crock Pot???
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 11 Jul 08 - 06:40 PM

A similar method has been used (rarely in my experience) in "Dutch Ovens" for campfire cooking.

Baking implies heating by surrounding hot air, so any container that maintains some air space between the food and the can could - if you stretch the language and the gullibility levels - be called "baking."

Most crock pots that I've seen, however, don't reach high enough temperatures to be very effective for "baking." Normal oven baking is done at around 350 F (175 C) and higher, with lots of breads needing 400 - 450 F (204 - 232 C) if you want nicely browned crusts.

Crock pots commonly used here "top out" at well below 212 F (100 C) since they'd boil off the liquid and couldn't be left for "unattended" slow cooking at higher temps. Some, with "settable" temps may go higher, but I'd expect them still to be below satisfactory "oven temps" for baking.

From the pedantic and purist view, anything "baked" in a crock pot could not be called "bread," although you might get something you might serve as "heat-congealed lumps with cereal grain content."

I'd be interested, of course, if someone has a method that actually produces "breadish stuff" in a crock pot.

Some of the "automatic bread machines" do manage to cook semi-bread at somewhat lower temperatures than commonly used in oven baking, so I'll allow for the possibilities.

John

Subject: RE: BS: Coffee Can for baking in Crock Pot???
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 11 Jul 08 - 07:06 PM

Mary, you're too honorable!

Sneak up on your neighbor's porches after dark and leave them some zucchinis, then you don't have to find so many ways to cook them.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Coffee Can for baking in Crock Pot???
From: GUEST,.gargoyle
Date: 11 Jul 08 - 10:38 PM

Time is short
And you would cause me to scurry...
However, the article of baking you are seeking is in the field of:

STEAM BAKING

Classic Examples are found in:

Boston Brown Bread (molasses and raisn)
OR
Plum Pudding

Sincerely,
Gargoyle

SEEK and YE shall find that You can also Pump your Kin into taking batch... or Zuck some in for him to give a grin.

Subject: RE: BS: Coffee Can for baking in Crock Pot???
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 11 Jul 08 - 11:16 PM

I think Gargoyle is on the right track - involves steam - which, while not contradicting the learned missive from JiK, sidesteps it.... :-P

Subject: RE: BS: Coffee Can for baking in Crock Pot???
From: Maryrrf
Date: 12 Jul 08 - 09:27 AM

I did find some recipes for baking "cake" type breads using coffee cans and crock pots but then saw a warning that while that method was used quite a bit in the 70's now they coat the cans with something that might be harmful - so best not to do it. I suppose I could just make zucchini bread in the oven. SRS I haven't yet resorted to leaving zucchini secretly on my neighbors doorstep but I have given it away to everybody I could think of and eaten it myself in every form I can devise - my favorite is battered and fried but I indulge in that rarely because it turns something very good for you into something very fattening. My garden was VERY abundant this year especially with squash. I bought a small extra freezer but that's filling up! I really hate the thought of throwing food away, so I'll figure something out.

Subject: RE: BS: Coffee Can for baking in Crock Pot???
From: DougR
Date: 12 Jul 08 - 12:02 PM

How about sharing it with a Food Bank?

DougR

Subject: RE: BS: Coffee Can for baking in Crock Pot???
From: GUEST,Jack the Sailor
Date: 12 Jul 08 - 12:59 PM

I like to have a tempura night every now and then. Zucchini are wonderful cooked that way. The secret to good tempura is ice cold water in the batter.

Subject: RE: BS: Coffee Can for baking in Crock Pot???
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 12 Jul 08 - 01:14 PM

In my locale, it's beginning to be very difficult to find a (metal) coffee can. Only a few "exotic" (i.e. expensive) brands can still be purchased in metal, a few in "plastic cans" and most just in paper (albeit exotic paper) bags.

The metal ones with the "snap on" plastic lids, to keep the coffee fresh(?) after the can is opened, make great storage cans for dry foods like beans, rice, dry pasta, or even flour and cornmeal. It's easy to apply a coat of (non-toxic) paint to pretty them up and make identification of the contents easy. The lids do have a tendency to crack after a time, if used as daily-opened cannisters, but will last for a few years for pantry storage.

The plastic ones could be used in the same ways, but are really hard to paint/label, and I don't have the feeling that the lids are quite as vermin resistant as the ones on the metal cans. (Good enough for dry beans or rice, but maybe not for flour.)

One might debate whether a good metal coffee can is "too valuable" to use as cookware, since the cooking use almost certainly would be a one-time (or few times) use.

John

Subject: RE: BS: Coffee Can for baking in Crock Pot???
From: Maryrrf
Date: 12 Jul 08 - 02:13 PM

The local food banks want non-perishable stuff. I just stopped by and made a donation, as a matter of fact, but they want canned, boxed etc. I still intend to find a way to use or share all of it - just now gave some more away to a friend of a friend and guess what's for dinner tonight? Zucchini - just not sure how I will fix it!

Subject: RE: BS: Coffee Can for baking in Crock Pot???
From: RangerSteve
Date: 12 Jul 08 - 03:08 PM

I have a couple of crock pot cookbooks from the Rival company with recipes for cakes and steamed breads, they all refer to a Rival bread baking pan available from their website. But I've checked their site and there's no reference to the pan. Try their website, maybe I'm just not looking in the right place.

Subject: RE: BS: Coffee Can for baking in Crock Pot???
From: Maryrrf
Date: 12 Jul 08 - 03:12 PM

No Steve I've checked - they don't make those bread baking pans anymore.

Subject: RE: BS: Coffee Can for baking in Crock Pot???
From: GUEST,CrazyEddie
Date: 14 Jul 08 - 08:27 AM

Could you use a terracotta flowerpot, rather than a can?
Or a mess-tin from an Army-Surplus shop?

Subject: RE: BS: Coffee Can for baking in Crock Pot???
From: Maryrrf
Date: 14 Jul 08 - 09:47 AM

I went ahead and made it in the oven - turned out great!