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You may have noticed that I posted a thread from the Baking Circle from last year. I'd kept it to record how I had made English Muffins on top of a wood stove. At the time it was an experiment, and I was not sure that I was going to repeat it. On New Year's Day, I began craving those English Muffins, so I found the thread, read it, and decided to post it as a prequel to trying it again.
Tonight, I made the Easy Buckwheat-Oat English Muffins (recipe on this site). I substituted in 1 1/2 cups buttermilk for that much water. I also added 1 Tbs. ground flax meal. I found that the recipe needed 2 Tbs. more of bread flour (as I noted to myself when I've made it twice before). It is a wet dough. I cooked these on a Le Creuset cast iron griddle on a Le Creuset cast iron rack on top of the lower deck of our wood stove. The rack helped with the temperature issue I had when I tried this last year. I also turned the griddle pan around halfway through the baking time on each side. My biggest issue is figuring out how to keep the fire at the right level so that it produces the temperature needed to bake these in three batches. The heat began to drop as the first batch was finishing, and I was getting ready to start the second. I needed to add wood a little earlier, as it took a bit to heat up again. A second concern is keeping the unbaked muffins from rising and deflating while waiting for the ones on the griddle to cook. To deal with that, I divided the 12 into three sets of four, and put each set in a separate container to rise. I left the containers in the coolest part of the house until I was ready to bake that batch. Still, the third batch was flatter. I may try refrigerating the batches until I'm ready for them.
I'm developing a great respect for our foremothers and forefathers who cooked regularly on wood stoves.
I don't have a wood stove, but your post brings back happy childhood memories. My dad, beloved stepmother & I would visit stepmom's relatives in the back woods. Or, at least they seemed like back woods to me at the time, because the woman of the house cooked on a wood stove.
I'd sit at the kitchen table watching the woman cook on the stove. Occasionally, I'd have the fun of seeing her put wood in the stove. The kitchen was always burning hot. I felt uncomfortable from the heat, but I was fascinated by what she was doing and wouldn't leave.
She cooked scrumptious biscuits (no gravy), eggs and bacon on the stove. She cooked for a crowd. We ate breakfast in the dining room at a long table. In addition to my family, there were the parents and kids who lived in the house, and a few farmhands. Every bite the crowd ate came from that wood stove.
Thanks, BakerAunt, for making me think of this.
The wood stove is cast iron, so it gets hot. I would only use cast iron pans or griddles on it. Other metals would likely melt. The Le Creuset and Staub ones that I use have the enamel on iron. Our stove is designed primarily for heating the house, although it also creates a nice atmosphere. An Amish woman, the sister of the owner at the store where we bought it, told me that the top would be suitable for heating a pot of soup and other such kinds of cooking. If I had an iron kettle, I could probably boil water for tea. One of these days, I will try it for flatbreads and pancakes.
I have seen Lodge rectangular cast iron griddles at T.J. Maxx on occasion. Possibly that would work over Aaron's two burners on a gas stove. I think that the cookie sheets would warp.
I'm sure the stove that Italian Cook remembers was a real cast iron kitchen wood stove--probably with an oven as well.
A friend who bought an old house here found a wood stove in the basement that was designed to heat up water for doing laundry!
With our stove, my husband is still learning about how different woods burn. (Yes, he can tell by looking at it the kind of tree from which it comes. I'm trying to learn that.) Some give a fast fire, like pine, which is good for starting the fire, while oak and ash create a steadier fire.
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