During this year’s BWCA canoe trip, we made biscuits in an Omnia stove-top oven to go with salmon in a cream sauce.  This got me thinking about the possibility of baking bread in the Omnia on layover days.  One question is how much dough can the Omnia contain.  Fortunately, the Omnia website www.omniasweden.com contained a recipe, from which this posting is adapted.  (As I expected, it was smaller than a standard bread recipe I had consulted.)  This is a relatively high yeast and therefore fast bread, taking a little over 2 hours to make from the initial mix until the rolls are fully baked.  The rolls were surprisingly good for something which could be made on a stove in about 2 hours.

I noticed that the rolls did not brown very much on the top, which I think was attributable to the large volume in the Omnia so that there was relatively little hot air in the top of the oven.  Perhaps related, the thermometer never rose to my usual target temperature of 300 degrees F.  (My experience is that low and slow is best in the Omnia since there is inherently more heat put on the bottom of the pan than on the top.  At a higher temperature, I have had the bottom burn before the top is fully cooked.)

This recipe will make 10 rolls.  The top of the rolls might brown better if a smaller batch was made.  Also if time permits a reduced amount of yeast could be used, which should make a better and more complex flavor.

Scant 1 cup of milk

3 Tbs. butter, cut into small pieces

1 egg

3 Tbs. sugar

2 tsp. yeast

1 tsp. salt

11.8 oz. (2-3/4 cups) all-purpose flour (plus more for kneading and shaping)

In a small saucepan, put the milk and butter and warm to skin temperature.  Add the egg and mix well.

In a bowl put the sugar, yeast, salt and half the flour.  Add the liquid mixture and mix well.  Add the rest of the flour and mix with a dough whisk until all the flour is incorporated.  The dough will be quite sticky.  On a floured surface, stretch and fold the dough until smooth.  Shape into a round and put it in a covered doubling container to ferment until about doubled in size, about an hour.

Put the risen dough on a floured surface, and stretch and fold for about a minute or two to strengthen the dough.  Divide into 10 equal pieces and form each piece into a ball.  Put the balls spaced evenly in the silicon mold inside the Omnia oven.  Cover and allow to rise for another 30 minutes.

Put the Omnia oven on a stove and bake low and slow for 30-35 minutes until the rolls are done.  (Normally, I fine-tune the stove to try to maintain a temperature of 300 degrees F. on the Omnia’s thermometer.)  Use your fingers to tap the top of the rolls rolls and use a toothpick to assess whether they are done.  They may not be very brown on the top.

Allow to cool slightly before enjoying.