Dutch Oven Lid Pancakes
Batter mixed in a bag, cooked on an upturned Dutch oven lid over coals.
- calories
- 430
- weight
- 5.5 oz
- cal / oz
- 78
- protein
- 11 g
- serves
- 4, scales
- prep
- 10 min
- cook
- 25 min
- total time
- 35 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.
- Breakfast
- Dutch oven
- Campfire coals
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Vegetarian
- Nut free
- Eat in the bag
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| All-purpose flour | 2 cups | |
|---|---|---|
| Baking powder | 2 1/2 tsp | check the date, old powder gives flat cakes |
| Salt | 1/2 tsp | |
| Powdered whole milk | 1/3 cup | reconstitutes to 1 1/2 cups |
| Powdered egg | 2 tbsp | stands in for 1 egg, no cooler needed |
| Butter | 2 tbsp | melted; ghee keeps longer in heat |
| Vegetable oil | 2 tbsp | for greasing the lid |
| Cold water | 1 1/2 cups |
Method
- At home, shake the flour, baking powder, salt, milk powder, and egg powder together in a gallon freezer bag until the color is even.
- Build a fire and burn it down to coals. Spread a single layer and set two green sticks or split logs across them.
- Rest the Dutch oven lid upside down on the sticks so air can move underneath. Give it a few minutes to come up to heat.
- Pour 1 1/2 cups cold water into the bag, seal it, and squeeze until the lumps are gone. Stop there. Overworked batter turns rubbery.
- Add the melted butter and squeeze again, briefly.
- Wipe the hot lid with an oiled paper towel. Snip a corner off the bag and pour out rounds of about 1/4 cup.
- Cook until the edges look dry and bubbles hold open on top, roughly two minutes. Flip once and brown the second side.
- Re-oil between batches. Makes 12 to 16, depending on how big you pour.
The original calls for a fresh egg and a jug of milk. Both are replaced here with powders, which means the whole dry side of the recipe premixes at home and rides in a bag for a week without a cooler. Reconstituted milk powder and egg powder behave close enough to the real thing in a pancake, where the flour is doing most of the structural work.
The upturned lid is the point of the method. Propped on two sticks over spread coals, it gets air underneath and heats evenly instead of scorching in one spot, and it gives you a real griddle without carrying one. Mix in the bag, cut a corner, and pour straight onto the lid. Nothing to wash but the lid and a spatula.
Packing
Everything dry goes in one gallon freezer bag at home, which doubles as the mixing bowl and the piping bag. Butter and oil ride in a small screw-top jar.
Variations
- Stir a handful of dried blueberries into the dry mix before the water goes in.
- No Dutch oven: the same batter cooks in a greased frying pan over a canister stove, one or two cakes at a time.
- Cut the water to 1 1/4 cups for thicker cakes that hold syrup better.
https://www.boyscouttrail.com/content/recipe/pancakes-1699.asp