camp meals

Griddle Pancakes for Camp

Blueberry pecan pancakes off a dry mix you built at home. One bowl, one griddle.

calories
330
weight
3.5 oz
cal / oz
94
protein
7 g
serves
8, scales
prep
10 min
cook
15 min
total time
25 min
water
300 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
  • Grill grate
  • Campfire coals
  • Canister stove
  • Car camping
  • Basecamp
  • Canoe / raft
  • Vegetarian
  • Real dishes
  • Pre-mix at home
  • Shelf stable
  • Basic

Ingredients

All-purpose flour 1 1/2 cups
Baking powder 3 1/2 tsp fresh tin, it dies with age
Salt 1 tsp
Sugar 1 tbsp
Whole milk powder 1/3 cup stands in for 1 1/4 cups milk
Powdered whole egg 1 tbsp or crack one real egg if you have a cooler
Butter 3 tbsp melted, plus more for the pan
Water 1 1/4 cups
Dried blueberries 1/2 cup
Chopped pecans 1/2 cup

Method

  1. Melt the butter in the pan first, then pour it into a cup and set it aside. The pan is now greased and the butter is measured.
  2. Stir 300 ml of cold water into the dry mix. Add the melted butter. Stir until the lumps are small, then stop.
  3. Let the batter sit five minutes so the dried blueberries take on some water.
  4. Heat the griddle or a skillet over medium coals or a low flame. Too hot and the outside burns before the middle sets.
  5. Pour rounds about 1/4 cup each. Scatter pecans on top of the wet side.
  6. Wait for bubbles to open across the surface and stay open, roughly three minutes. Flip once, cook until the second side browns.
  7. Grease the pan again between rounds.

Pancakes are a car-camping breakfast, not a backpacking one, but the only thing standing between them and a camp stove is refrigeration. Milk powder and powdered egg solve that. Both rehydrate in the same water the batter needed anyway, so the ratios do not change.

Dried blueberries replace fresh because fresh ones turn to pulp in a pack. They pull moisture out of the batter as it rests, which is why the five-minute wait matters. Heat control is the other half: coals that feel comfortable to hold a hand over are about right, and anything hotter cooks the crust before the baking powder finishes lifting.

Packing

Flour, baking powder, salt, sugar, milk powder, egg powder, and the blueberries go in one bag at home. Pecans separate so they stay crisp. Butter travels in a small screw-top tub.

Variations

  • Skip the egg powder and add an extra tablespoon of milk powder. Flatter, still fine.
  • Squeeze the batter from a cleaned condiment bottle for even rounds and no ladle to wash.
  • Cinnamon and a spoonful of brown sugar in the dry mix if you have no fruit.

https://www.lodgecastiron.com/blogs/recipe/classic-pancakes