Bannock...
Bannock is a backcountry staple that has kept full the bellies of adventurers and explorers for centuries. Although its origins hail from Scotland, here in Canada it is most closely associated with First Nations Peoples who probably learned the art from Scottish and Welsh settlers. It has become a favourite staple among canoeists and backpackers for its simplicity in preparation and for its belly filling warmth on the trail.
More of the history of bannock can be found here http://www.for.gov.bc.ca/rsi/fnb/FNB.htm .
My Basic Bannock Recipe for two people!
When travelling solo this is my basic recipe for one! Especially due to the calories burned paddling and portaging alone!
2 Cups all purpose flour
2 tbsp of baking powder
2 heaped tbsp of fat
1/4 tsp of salt
Mix together the flour , salt, and baking powder and pour into a large ziplock bag.
Cut the fat into the mixture. The fat used can be any fat source and is what gives the bannock its tasty calorie kick. Lard is a popular and traditional source but you could also use unsalted butter, ghee (clarified butter) or vegetable oil. Cut the fat in till well blended, press out the extra air and seal the ziplock. You now have the basic ingedients for a tasty bread at camp.
At camp.....pour small amounts of water at a time into the ziplock and knead well...keep adding water till the flour mixture forms into a dough consistency, its a good idea to practice this at home to get a feel for how much water to add. When you have a good dough going you need to warm up your frying pan. The only tricky part to this is the frying pan...you need one with fairly straight sides as you will be tipping the pan on its side into the fire and don't want the bannock to slide out into the ashes. I use an MSR Blacklite cookset for solo trips and for groups of up to three people and the frypan works fantastic for this recipe.
Start with the frypan over low to medium heat...add cooking oil and drop bannock dough in....when the bottom of the bannock has browned, take the prypan and tilt it on its side into the fire to allow the fire to brown the top...rotate the pan every few minutes to allow an even cook. When you have an nicely browned bannock, remove from heat and enjoy!
Now the real fun begins...experimenting with bannock!
Variations!
Make a bannock dough while cooking a pot of soup...when soup is nearly ready, spoon small loonie sized pieces of bannock dough into soup to make dumplings.
Breakfast Bannock.
Use basic bannock recipe but add a packet of vanilla sugar and a handful of dried berries....serve hot with honey or maple syrup.
Pancake Bannock
Prepare breakfast bannock as above but also mix in 1 tsp milk powder and 1 tsp egg powder OR 1 whole egg and 1 tbsp milk powder...add enough water to make a thick pancake batter. Fry as pancakes and serve with maple syrup!
Pizza!
I carry 2 or 3 packs of instant yeast in my camp larder just to change up the bannock. Start with basic recipe. Take a packet of instant yeast and in a separate ziplock add yeast, 1 cup lukewarm water and 1 tbsp of sugar. Let yeast mixture sit for 10 minutes to activate yeast. Add yeast mix to dry bannock ingredients , knead and add more lukewarm water as needed to make a dough. Let dough rise for 10 minutes in ziplock. Remove from ziplock and flatten dough to make a pizza crust...add tomato sauce and toppings and bake in the fire, Outback Oven, or Reflector Oven!
Edited on Aug 4/2008
I have been experimenting with this recipe a lot and have come up with a campfire variation for pizza pockets....divide the dough into two balls....flatten the first and place into an oiled pan and place on the fire, spread on a little tomato sauce and some of your favourite cheese...take the second ball of dough and flatten and place on tiop of the toppings...bake as a bannock for a cheesy Pizza Pocket treat!
Savory Garlic Bannock
1 ziplock of Basic Bannock mix
2 tbsp dry garlic granules
2 tbsp dry onion flakes
1 packet instant yeast
1 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp parmesan cheese and 1 tbsp melted butter or olive oil (optional)
Add garlic and onions to a ziplock with 1 cup luke warm water and let rehydrate for ten minutes. Prepare instant yeast mixture as above. Pour yeast and garlic/onion mixes into dry Basic Bannock ingredients, knead and add more water as needed to make a dough...bake as per basic bannock instructions. Optional...at the last minute before bannock is finished...brush loaf with butter or olive oil ad sprinkle with parmesan cheese.
Kirk
Candied Apple Bannock
So I have stopped fighting it and let my inner "Wild Child" come out and tried working up a couple of recipes since I got into dehydrating. This one worked fantastic at home but I waited till I had a chance to test it on a campfire.
[b][size=4]Candied Apple Bannock![/size=4][/b]
Ingredients (bannock for one person)
1 cups all purpose flour
1 tbsp baking powder
2 tbsp lard
1/4 tbsp salt
These ingredients are packaged into a ziplock at home before heading out
one dehydrated apple in slices
3 packets vanilla sugar
4 tbsps sugar
3 ounces of medicinal spirits
for this attempt I used St. Remy Brandy, I have tried Courvoisier and Grand Marnier, both excellent!
Dab of butter
First, pour 2/3 of the medicinal spirit into a cup and sip...enjoy the flavor and continue to sip as needed! [8D]
Next
Add remaining spirit and a small drop of water to a ziplock and toss in apples to let them soak up the flavor!
Open packet of Bannock mix and add 2 packets vanilla sugar. Add small amounts of water and knead in ziplock to form a dough, separate dough into two equal sized balls and flatten to form each into a thin pancake.
Sip the cup of spirit!
Places the flavored apples onto one of the dough peices, put the second dough on top and seal the edges, the leftover liquid from the ziplock of apples will help seal the dough together over the apples!
Place two pans over the fire.
In the first add 4 tbsp sugar and the remaining vanilla sugar, aong with a quarterish or so cup of water and bring to a boil, let this simmer till it has reduced by about half, while this is reducing, melt butter in second pan and place bannock dough in. When bannock is browned on bottom, turn the pan on its side in the coals to finish baking. When bannock is done remove and let cool slightly, by now the sugar mixture should be reduced to about half and will be forming big bubbles
(you could at this point let the sugar stay on the heat till it caramelizes but I have never had the patience to wait. Spoon the hot sugar liquid on top of the bannock and let cool!
This sugar liquid will crystallize into a rock candy within seconds of being taken off the heat, so add two cups of water to remaining suar mix and let boil again to make the cleanup much easier to deal with!
Enjoy with a steaming hot mugga coffee!
Kirk
