Dutch Oven Camp Bread
Four ingredients, no kneading, one pot. Mix it at breakfast and bake it at dinner.
- calories
- 330
- weight
- 3.5 oz
- cal / oz
- 94
- protein
- 9 g
- serves
- 6, scales
- prep
- 10 min
- cook
- 35 min
- total time
- 45 min
- water
- 360 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
- Dutch oven
- Campfire coals
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Canoe / raft
- Vegetarian
- Vegan
- Dairy free
- Nut free
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| All-purpose flour | 3 cups | measure at home into a bag |
|---|---|---|
| Active dry yeast | 1 1/2 tsp | |
| Kosher salt | 1 1/2 tsp | |
| Water | 1 1/2 cups | warm, not hot |
| Oil or cornmeal | 1 tbsp | to keep the loaf off the iron |
Method
- In the morning, stir the flour, yeast, and salt together in the dutch oven. Add the water and mix with a spoon until no dry flour is left. It will be sticky and shaggy. That is correct.
- Put the lid on and leave it somewhere out of direct sun for two hours, longer if it is cold. It should roughly double and look bubbly.
- Build your fire and let it burn down to coals. You want a bed of embers, not flames.
- Scrape the dough onto a floured lid or flat rock and fold it over itself four or five times into a rough ball. Oil the pot or dust it with cornmeal and drop the ball in, seam down.
- Set the pot on a shallow bed of coals and shovel more coals onto the lid, roughly twice as many on top as below. Bake 30 to 35 minutes.
- Lift the lid. The loaf should be browned and sound hollow when you knock on it. If it is pale, replace the coals on the lid and give it another ten minutes.
Bread on a trip sounds ambitious until you realize this one asks for four ingredients and no technique. There is no kneading and no second rise. Time does the work gluten development would otherwise need, which is why the two-hour wait is not optional and why you start it long before you are hungry.
The dutch oven is the reason it comes out crusty. A closed cast iron pot traps the steam coming off the dough, which keeps the surface soft long enough to expand, then dries and browns it once the steam escapes. Coals on the lid matter more than coals underneath; heat from below alone will scorch the bottom while the top stays raw. Nothing here is perishable, so the dry mix can ride in your bin for a week without complaint.
Packing
Combine the flour, yeast, and salt at home in one gallon freezer bag. Squeeze the air out. In camp the only measuring you do is water.
Variations
- Halve the batch for a small pot. Bake time drops to about 25 minutes.
- A tablespoon of dried rosemary or garlic powder in the dry mix costs nothing in weight.
- No dutch oven: bake it as flatbread rounds in an oiled skillet over low coals, four minutes a side.
https://homeandkind.com/blogs/food-recipes/no-knead-crusty-bread