Canoe Camp Bannock
Two flours, sugar, salt, and a fire. Bread you make on the fifth day out.
- calories
- 620
- weight
- 5 oz
- cal / oz
- 124
- protein
- 15 g
- serves
- 2, scales
- prep
- 10 min
- cook
- 20 min
- total time
- 30 min
- water
- 180 ml cold
- cost
- $
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Dinner
- Breakfast
- Snack
- Campfire coals
- Canister stove
- Canoe / raft
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Backpacking
- Vegetarian
- Vegan
- Dairy free
- Nut free
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| All-purpose flour | 1 cup | |
|---|---|---|
| Bread flour | 1 cup | the gluten is what holds it together over a fire |
| Sugar | 2 tbsp | |
| Salt | 1 tsp | |
| Baking powder | 2 tsp | added for the trail version; skip it and you get a flatbread |
| Oil | 2 tbsp | plus more for the pan |
| Cold water | about 3/4 cup |
Method
- Get a bed of coals going, or set the stove on its lowest usable flame. Open flame scorches the outside before the middle cooks.
- Pour the dry premix into your pot. Add the oil and about half the water, stir with a spoon, then add water a splash at a time until it pulls into one shaggy ball. Stop while it is still slightly tacky.
- Knead it against the side of the pot for a minute. Let it sit ten minutes if you have the patience.
- Oil a pan or the pot bottom. Press the dough out to about a half inch thick and lay it in.
- Cover it and cook over low coals eight to ten minutes a side. Flip when the underside is brown and it lifts free on its own.
- It is done when a stick pushed into the center comes out dry.
This is trip bread. Flour keeps forever, weighs little, and turns into a hot dinner side on day five when the fresh food is long gone. The two flours are doing different jobs: bread flour brings the gluten that keeps the round from crumbling when you flip it, and all-purpose keeps it tender rather than chewy.
The source dough had no leavening, which works if you want a flatbread. Baking powder is the trail change worth making. It costs almost nothing to carry and it lifts the middle enough that the inside cooks through before the crust burns. Heat control matters more than technique here. Coals, low and steady, with a lid on. A roaring fire gives you charcoal outside and raw dough in the center.
Packing
Both flours, sugar, salt, and baking powder go into one bag at home, shaken to mix. Oil rides in a leakproof bottle. The whole thing is a single bag and a single bottle in the food barrel.
Variations
- Wrap ribbons of dough around a green stick and bake them over coals instead of using a pan. Slower, but nothing to scrub.
- Work a handful of dried berries and an extra spoon of sugar in for a breakfast version.
- Cut the dough into rounds and fry them in a half inch of oil if you are carrying enough of it.
https://www.canoetripping.net/threads/lobster-lake-to-chesuncook-lake-9-9-19-to-9-13-19.98124