[ FOOD ] Best Bush Bannock
THE GREATEST THING SINCE LONG BEFORE SLICED BREAD
Most of us make compromises on our food when tripping in the wilderness. It doesn’t mean we don’t eat well, but we of- ten give up the taste and comfort of soft, fresh bread for pita and flatbreads that won’t squish. Stop sacrificing. Here’s a rec- ipe that promises a fluffy backwoods treat. Bannock is a Gaelic-rooted word that
comes from the Latin panecium, which means baked things. A bannock is a small, flat loaf of bread, risen by a leavening agent. Its roots date back to ancient times, where it nourished Roman armies and First Nations tribes. Add some honey and it tastes like manna from heaven—hot, light and delicious.
Ingredients
1 cup flour 1 tsp. baking powder 1/4 tsp. salt 1/4 cup dry milk powder 1 tbsp. shortening
Instructions
Make the mix at home before your trip. To do so, mix the dry ingredients together then cut the shortening in with a pastry cutter or two knives until you have a granu- lar, corn meal-like mixture. Package in zip- lock freezer bags and double bag it if you’re going on a long trip.
Once fireside, warm a small cast iron
frying pan on the fire and oil it well. Next, pour water into the bag of mix, squooshing it around in the bag. Pour in enough water so the dough spreads easily, but has a heavy and thick consistency. The faster you go from mixing the dough to spreading it on a skillet, the lighter your bannock will be. Squeeze the mix out of the bag and onto
the warmed pan. If the dough sizzles, it means the pan is too hot, cool it off and try again. Spread the dough so it’s no more than an inch thick, then place the pan over hot coals. As the dough cooks, it will start to rise slowly. When the underside takes on a golden tone, flip over your loaf. Wait an- other five minutes, then flip again. The key to great baking is a consistent
heat, ideally from glowing red embers of hardwood. You’ll know it’s ready to eat when you can stick a fork in the center and it comes out clean. A fun variation is cooking bannock on a
stick. To do this, roll out a snake-like length of dough and wrap it around a stick, keep- ing it a half-inch thick. Rotate your ban- nock above hot coals until it cooks through and is easy to slide off, usually about 10 minutes. Chief paddling evangelist, Darren Bush
is the owner of Rutabaga Paddlesports shop.
www.rutabaga.com.
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