08/09/2021
🍞🥖 Bannock 🥖🍞
Bannock is a Bread that you can cook using little more than a fire and a stick though it can also be baked or fried. Names for bannock include bushbread, trail bread, grease bread and galette.
(Side Note:This post is a "compilation" of a few articles I found a long while back. Except for the note at the end about substituting Crisco for butter, this was all written by other folks - Rev. Jake)
Bannock has been a staple food of wilderness explorers, prospectors, soldiers, and trappers for centuries. Portable, nutritious, tasty and easy to make while surviving in the outdoors, bannocks legendary reputation continues as one of the best survival foods you can bring into the wilderness. Bannock is high in carbohydrates and complements the proteins of pemmican, jerky, the arctic survival ration, and other meats. It can be used as a hearty stand-alone food or combined with foraged wild edibles such as berries, fruits, and meats.
Bannocks origins are lost in the mists of time, but some believe bannock was first made by the Scotts from the same oat flour that gave their horses great strength and endurance. With stomachs fed with hearty oat bannock those who became explorers and mountain men in the new world introduced the bannock recipe to the Native Americans and other outdoorsmen who lived in the wilderness. The most simple bannock recipe consists of just flour of nearly any kind and water. Kneaded into a dough and wrapped around a green stick, this most basic bannock cooks into a fine tasting bread that can be eaten alone or used as a basis for a full course meal. There are a great many other bannock recipes that will give you the urge to try your hand at making your own.
Bannock on a Green StickThe following recipe provides enough bannock for one day. Stored in a waterproof bag, it is easy to carry a week or ten day supply.
1-cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons milk powder
Mix all the ingredients well, making sure the butter is evenly distributed throughout. Then slowly add water while mixing until a dough ball is formed.
Make the bannock dough into a cigar shape and wrap it around a green stick. Try to keep the thickness of the dough about ½ inch.
Slowly roast the bannock over a hot fire, rotating occasionally until it turns a golden brown.
Multi-flour Bannock Recipe
This combination of flours, spices, and dried fruit makes the bannock a delicious meal of itself. It can be cooked over an open fire on a green stick or formed into a loaf and baked and makes a 3-day supply:
1 Cup Barley flour
1 Cup Wheat flour
1/2 Cup Rolled Oats
1 Cup White sugar
1/2 to 1 Cup Raisins or other dried fruit
1 1/2 Cup Buttermilk
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 tbsp. Coarse Ground salt
1 tbsp. Cinnamon
1 tbsp. Cloves
1 tbsp. Nutmeg
Try Making Bannock
Bannock is a fulfilling meal that can be used to supplement natural foods foraged from your surroundings. Try out various combinations of bannock mixed with fruits, nuts and seeds, cheeses, meats, fish and a variety of spices. Wilderness meals containing bannock can satisfy even the most discriminating palate. Bannock is easy to cook and is an excellent comfort food that will elevate your mood and fill your stomach. There is nothing quite like the sight and smell of fresh bannock cooking over an open fire at the end of a hard day surviving in the wilderness.
On a side note, using Butter Flavored Crisco instead of butter will greatly increase the "shelf life" of the "bannock dry mix".
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bannock_(food)
