Skillet Bannock
Four ingredients, one pan, and bread at camp without an oven.
- calories
- 335
- weight
- 2.3 oz
- cal / oz
- 146
- protein
- 7 g
- serves
- 4, scales
- prep
- 5 min
- cook
- 20 min
- total time
- 25 min
- water
- 270 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
- Snack
- Canister stove
- Campfire coals
- Backpacking
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Canoe / raft
- Vegetarian
- Nut free
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| All-purpose flour | 2 cups | |
|---|---|---|
| Baking powder | 4 tsp | check the date, old powder makes bricks |
| Salt | 1/2 tsp | |
| Ghee or butter | 3 tbsp | ghee keeps for weeks without a cooler |
| Extra flour for handling | 1/4 cup | packed separately |
| Water | 1 cup plus 2 tbsp | cold, from the source |
Method
- Rub about a third of the ghee around the pan and set it aside. Keep the rest for the dough.
- Pour the flour mix into the pan or a bag and work in the remaining ghee with your fingers until it looks like coarse sand.
- Add water in two or three pours, stirring between each. Stop when it holds together. Wet dough sticks, dry dough cracks; aim between.
- Dust your hands with the spare flour and press the dough into a disc a little smaller than the pan and about an inch thick.
- Cook over the lowest flame you can hold, lid on, 8 to 10 minutes. A windscreen matters more than heat here.
- Flip it, lid back on, another 8 to 10 minutes. It is done when a twig comes out dry and the sides sound hollow.
- Tear into four and eat warm.
Bannock is bread made by people without ovens, which is why it works at camp. There is no yeast and no rising time. Baking powder does the lift the moment water hits it, so the clock starts when you mix and the pan should already be warm.
Low heat is the whole game. A hot pan gives you a burnt crust over raw dough, every time. Ghee instead of butter is the only real change for the trail: it does not need a cooler and it will not go rancid in a week of pack heat. The fat also matters for texture, so do not cut it down to save weight.
Packing
Flour, baking powder, and salt go into one zip bag at home. Kneading flour rides in its own small bag. Ghee travels in a screw-top jar, double-bagged.
Variations
- Press dough around a peeled stick and cook it over coals instead of in a pan.
- Stir a handful of dried fruit and a spoon of sugar into the dry mix for a breakfast version.
- Fry the discs in a shallow pool of ghee for something closer to a doughnut.
https://www.outdoors.org/resources/amc-outdoors/outdoor-resources/backpacking-recipes-amc-real-trail-meals-cookbook-preview