Trail Crepes
Thin pancakes from a shaker bottle, cooked one at a time in a greased pan at camp.
- calories
- 480
- weight
- 4.5 oz
- cal / oz
- 107
- protein
- 15 g
- serves
- 2, scales
- prep
- 5 min
- cook
- 20 min
- total time
- 25 min
- water
- 240 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
- Dessert
- Campfire coals
- Grill grate
- Canister stove
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Canoe / raft
- Vegetarian
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| All-purpose flour | 1 cup | |
|---|---|---|
| Whole egg powder | 1/4 cup | stands in for 4 fresh eggs |
| Powdered whole milk | 3 tbsp | replaces the 1/2 cup of fresh milk |
| Salt | a pinch | |
| Cold water | 1 cup | about 240 ml total |
| Ghee or clarified butter | 2 tbsp | one for the batter, one for the pan |
Method
- Mix the flour, egg powder, milk powder, and salt in a wide-mouth bottle at home. In camp, add 1 cup of cold water and shake until no lumps ride the sides. Let it sit five minutes.
- Melt 1 tbsp of the ghee and shake it into the batter.
- Set a pan over low heat. Fire needs coals, not flame. Wipe the pan with the rest of the ghee.
- Pour about 1/4 cup of batter into the center and immediately tilt the pan in a circle so it runs thin to the edges.
- Cook until the top loses its shine and the edges lift, about a minute. Flip, give it thirty seconds, slide it out.
- Grease the pan again between crepes. Stack them and fill as you go.
Crepe batter is mostly liquid, which makes it a good candidate for powder. Egg powder and whole milk powder rehydrate into something close enough to the original, and the flour does not care that it came out of a bottle. Nothing here needs a cooler, so this works on day three as well as day one.
The two things that go wrong are heat and grease. Too hot and the batter sets before it spreads, leaving you with a thick lump in the middle of the pan. Cook over low coals or a stove barely on, and re-grease every single time or the crepe tears when you flip it. Resting the batter five minutes lets the flour hydrate, which is why the first one is usually the worst one.
Packing
Dry mix goes into a wide-mouth 500 ml bottle at home so the bottle is both the measuring cup and the mixing bowl. Ghee travels in a small screw-top jar and does not need a cooler.
Variations
- Cinnamon sugar and a squeeze of a honey packet for dessert.
- Powdered peanut butter mixed with a little water, plus dried banana chips.
- Savory: fold in a foil packet of chicken and a slice of hard cheese.
https://homeandkind.com/blogs/food-recipes/the-best-and-easiest-crepes