Bannock - A Camping Bread Recipe

Bannock is the essence of camping in a meal. If you are not familiar with it, then you are missing out. Bannock bread is all things camping should be: sweet, comforting, easy, and special. Bannock is very old, the root word for Bannock bread means Baked things in Gaelic. In this article we'll attempt to blend the classic nature of Bannock to a modern time, not to take away from the recipe, but to make it easier for everyone. The oldest recipes of Bannock do not use measurements like cups, teaspoons, and grams. Instead, it's based on your hand. One of the oldest recipes I could find looked like this: Take a pile of white flour, the size of your fist. Add enough baking powder that will cover the inside of your palm, and use enough salt that you can balance on your thumbnail.

When you lived in the outdoors, you did not have, or want, things like cups and whisks and the like. They had their hands, and used it for measuring. We will get to more exact measurements in a moment, but let's continue the recipe. Heat up some lard in a pan, about a big spoon's dollop. Melt it and pour most of it into the center of your flour mixture. Then you want to mix the dough with a splash of water. Knead it until it becomes together. The next step is the cooking, but let's look at the recipe again, and give it some values.

A fist of white flour is 1 cup
The palm of Baking Powder is 2 Teaspoons
The thumbnail of Salt is 1 Teaspoon
The Spoon's dollop of Lard is 1 Tablespoon

The water will depend on the humidity, your elevation, and other factors, so just add enough for it to come together, probably a tablespoon or two. When it comes time to cooking, you MUST have these two things. A heavy duty cast iron skillet and a very hot fire. Heat the pan until it is smoking hot and remove it from the heat. Then add the dough and spread it out evenly. Next, you need to prop the pan up facing the fire at the steepest angle you can get without the dough falling out. Watch it until the top turns golden brown, then flip it.

So, we added a little bit of a modern touch to make this old recipe a little bit easier, without taking away from it. A few things about this recipe. Using substitutes are very bad for it, you will end up making something very different from Bannock. It is a simple recipe, using less than simple things throws off its delicate balance. Other flours (wheat, or a mix) and lards (healthy lards or vegetable substitutes) will make the Bannock much, much worse. Also, try not to pre-mix the ingredients. When you make it fresh, with the hot fire behind you, there is a certain pop that is added, one that cannot be created in a different way.

Bannock bread is going to take you some time to master, but as long as you keep it simple, use good ingredients, and a hot fire you will have a delicious and ancient food that is the perfect embodiment of camping and the outdoors.