Baking on a 25-foot Boat

Baking on a 25-foot Sailboat

One of the real drawbacks to sailing on a 25-foot sailboat (or many other sailboats larger and smaller) is that the galley comes equipped with a two-burner stove - - but due to space restraints, there’s no oven.  Without an oven, baked goods from sour-dough bread to cinnamon rolls must be prepared at home and then brought to the boat.  Even if these products were baked the day before, they are not fresh baked.  Plus, the aroma of fresh baked products in the small cabin aboard Snickerdoodle is astonishing!!!

What to do???  There are several manufacturers of “camp ovens” that sit nicely over one burner on your galley stove (originally designed to sit over a burner of a Coleman camp (white-gas fueled) or similar stove.  Most have a thermometer that measures the oven temperature for control.  Some have a door in the front of the oven… others, like mine, has a “lift out lid” that pulls up (and out of the oven) a grill-work which will hold two baking pans easily.

Now, simply light the stove’s burner and place the oven over the burner.  When the oven temperature is right, lift up the lid and slide onto the grate whatever it is that you want to bake.  Lower the lid and time the cooking.  Of course, if you don’t want to watch the watch, you can use the tried and true “smell option”.  If it doesn’t smell, it isn’t done… if it smells done, it probably is done…  if it smells burnt, it probably is burnt.

Take a look around camping departments or go on-line to see if you can find one of these ovens.  Mine (when not in use) fits perfectly in the aft part of my port-side settee locker… along with some canned food, pots ‘n pans, dishes, etc.  When you start baking, you will be amazed at how many of your neighbors suddenly show up on the dock at your marina slip.

Here’s a link for a Coleman Camp Oven…

http://www.amazon.com/Coleman-5010D700T-Camp-Oven/dp/B0009PURJA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1399217847&sr=8-1&keywords=colman+camp+oven