One-Pot Trail Bannock
Flour, fat, and a pot lid. Bread you bake on a hiking stove without an oven.
- calories
- 520
- weight
- 4 oz
- cal / oz
- 130
- protein
- 10 g
- serves
- 2, scales
- prep
- 5 min
- cook
- 20 min
- total time
- 25 min
- water
- 120 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
- Dinner
- Snack
- Canister stove
- Liquid fuel
- Campfire coals
- Backpacking
- Basecamp
- Car camping
- Canoe / raft
- Vegetarian
- Nut free
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| All-purpose flour | 1 1/2 cups | |
|---|---|---|
| Baking powder | 2 tsp | double-acting, so it keeps lifting in the pan |
| Salt | 3/4 tsp | |
| Sugar | 1 tbsp | |
| Powdered whole milk | 3 tbsp | |
| Shortening or ghee | 3 tbsp | both ride warm without spoiling |
| Cold water | about 1/2 cup | |
| Parchment paper | 1 sheet | cut to the pot bottom |
Method
- Rub half the fat into the dry mix in a bag until it looks like coarse sand. This can be done at home.
- At camp, add water to the bag a splash at a time and squeeze until a shaggy dough forms. Stop while it is still tacky. Overworked dough bakes into a hockey puck.
- Melt the rest of the fat in the pot, lay in the parchment round, and press the dough flat to about half an inch.
- Lid on, lowest flame the stove will hold. Ten minutes. If your burner will not simmer, set the pot on a rock or a wire grate so the flame is not touching metal directly.
- Flip with a spoon or lifter and give it another eight to ten minutes. It is done when the middle springs back and a splinter comes out clean.
- On a campfire, use coals only, never flame, and turn the pot a quarter every few minutes.
A minimalist kitchen means one pot doing every job, and bread is the hardest thing to ask of it. The two fixes are parchment and patience. Parchment keeps the crust from welding itself to thin aluminum, and a very low flame lets the inside set before the bottom scorches. A stove that only roars is the real enemy here, not the dough.
The milk powder and fat are not optional if you want something that eats like bread rather than paste. Baking powder does the lifting, so there is no yeast, no rise time, and no waiting. Mix the dry side at home and the whole thing becomes one bag, one jar, and twenty minutes of watching a lid.
Packing
Cut the flour, baking powder, salt, sugar, and milk powder together at home and carry it as one bag. Fat goes in a screw-top jar. Cut the parchment to fit the pot before you leave and fold it inside the pot.
Variations
- Stir in a handful of raisins and cinnamon for breakfast bannock.
- Swap 1/4 cup of the flour for cornmeal if you want more crumb and less chew.
- Pull off golf-ball pieces and fry them in extra fat instead of baking one round. Faster, greasier, harder to burn.
https://kyraonthego.wordpress.com/2016/05/16/backcountry-kitchen-how-to-make-do-with-less