Cornmeal Bannock
One bag of dry mix, a third of a cup of water, and a pan. Bread at camp with no yeast and no waiting.
- calories
- 520
- weight
- 5 oz
- cal / oz
- 104
- protein
- 13 g
- serves
- 1, scales
- prep
- 3 min
- cook
- 12 min
- total time
- 15 min
- water
- 80 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
- Canister stove
- Campfire coals
- Liquid fuel
- Backpacking
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Canoe / raft
- Vegetarian
- Nut free
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| All-purpose flour | 1/3 cup | |
|---|---|---|
| Quick-cooking oats | 1/3 cup | instant, not rolled or steel cut |
| Cornmeal | 1/3 cup | fine or medium grind |
| Powdered milk | 1 tbsp | |
| Sugar | 1 tbsp | |
| Baking powder | 1/8 tsp | |
| Salt | a pinch | |
| Cooking oil | 1 tsp | for the pan |
Method
- At home, shake the flour, oats, cornmeal, powdered milk, sugar, baking powder, and salt together in a freezer bag.
- In camp, pour 80 ml of cold water into the bag. Squeeze it from the outside until there are no dry pockets left. The dough should hold a shape, not run.
- Turn the dough out and flatten it into a patty about the width of your palm and a finger thick. Thicker than that and the middle stays raw.
- Wipe the pan with oil and set it over low heat. High heat scorches the outside long before the center cooks.
- Cook about 12 minutes total, flipping every two or three minutes, until both sides are brown and a poke in the middle comes back dry.
Bannock is a flat quick bread that leans on baking powder instead of yeast, so there is no proofing and no timeline. The cornmeal and oats do more than add flavor: they cut the gluten, which keeps the dough from turning rubbery when you knead it inside a bag by hand.
The two failure modes are both heat. Too hot and the outside browns in three minutes with a wet seam through the center; too thick and the same thing happens even on low. Keep the patty thin, keep the flame down, and flip often. Powdered milk stands in for the fresh milk this kind of bread usually gets, and it carries at ambient temperature all week.
Packing
Everything dry goes in one quart freezer bag at home. Mix, hydrate, and cook out of that same bag so the only thing to wash is the pan. Oil rides in a dropper bottle.
Variations
- Skip the powdered milk and use water alone. It is drier and less rich, but it still works.
- Split the dough into two thinner patties. They cook faster and burn less easily over a fire.
- Cook it, break it into a bowl, and pour chili or stew over the top.
https://camprecipes.com/classic-recipes/cornmeal-bannock