Skillet Sourdough Rolls
Discard rolls baked in a covered pan over coals. Dinner bread at basecamp, sandwich bread the next day.
- calories
- 290
- weight
- 3.2 oz
- cal / oz
- 91
- protein
- 8 g
- serves
- 12, scales
- prep
- 30 min
- cook
- 25 min
- total time
- 55 min
- water
- 250 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
- Vegetarian
- Nut free
- Real dishes
- Pre-mix at home
- Needs a cooler
- Actual cooking
Ingredients
| Bread flour | 500 g | premeasured at home |
|---|---|---|
| Instant yeast | 7 g | does the lifting so the starter can just add flavor |
| Coconut sugar | 50 g | |
| Salt | 10 g | |
| Whole milk powder | 30 g | stands in for 250 g fresh milk |
| Water | 250 ml | warm, not hot |
| Sourdough starter, unfed | 100 g | discard, carried in a screw-top jar in the cooler |
| Powdered whole egg | 3 tbsp | replaces 2 yolks and the wash; keeps 1 tbsp back for brushing |
| Butter | 100 g | softened; ghee works and does not need a cooler |
| Sesame seeds | 2 tbsp | optional |
Method
- Warm 250 ml of water at the fire until it is barely above body temperature. Too hot kills the yeast.
- Stir the water into the dry premix along with the starter and the softened butter. Work it in the pot with a spoon until it holds together, then knead on a clean cutting board for eight minutes. It should stop sticking to your hands.
- Cover the pot and leave it somewhere warm for an hour. Near the fire, not in it. It should roughly double.
- Punch it down, cut it into 12 pieces, and roll each into a ball: pull the edges to the center, pinch, then roll under a cupped palm until smooth.
- Line a 12-inch dutch oven with parchment and set the balls in touching each other. Lid on, rest 30 minutes.
- Mix the reserved egg powder with a splash of water and brush the tops. Scatter sesame seeds.
- Bake with 8 coals under the oven and 16 on the lid, about 25 minutes. Rotate the oven and the lid a quarter turn each in opposite directions every 10 minutes or the bottoms burn.
- Done when the tops are deep brown and a roll sounds hollow tapped on the bottom.
This started as a kitchen recipe with a stand mixer, fresh milk, and an oven thermostat. All three are gone. Milk powder and water replace the milk, powdered egg replaces the two yolks and the wash, and a dutch oven with counted coals replaces the 350°F setting. The kneading is by hand, which takes about the same eight minutes the dough hook did.
The instant yeast is what makes this a camp recipe rather than a two-day project. Unfed starter brings sourness and a little softness, but it is slow and unreliable at whatever temperature your campsite happens to be. The yeast handles the rise on a schedule you can plan dinner around. Crowding the rolls in the pan matters too: shoulder to shoulder they push up instead of out, and the sides stay soft.
Packing
Flour, yeast, sugar, salt, milk powder, and egg powder go into one zip bag at home, already weighed. Butter and the starter jar ride in the cooler. Parchment cut to size and folded flat.
Variations
- No starter, no problem. Skip it and add 60 g flour plus 60 ml water; you lose the tang, not the roll.
- Ghee instead of butter and the whole thing leaves the cooler behind.
- Leftovers split and toasted on the grate make the next day's sandwiches.
https://mealswithmaria.site/sourdough-bread-rolls-recipe