Bread is always a great addition to any camp meal and baking your own bread doesn’t always require having some kind of camp oven. You can always use your campfire to prepare that bread and have fun in the process.
An easy and fun way to cook bread over coals or a fire is making breadsticks with bread on a stick. This camp treat may be cooked while other food is cooking so it is ready at the same time as the main meal.
The basic and easiest method uses dough rolled into a long thin rope that is wrapped around a stick. The stick is held over the coals and rotated until brown on all sides. It requires a little patience to get the inside done at the same time as the outside.
To start, take some type of bread dough and roll it between your hands, forming a long piece (like making a snake or rope out of clay). Don't leave it too thick, which will make it harder to cook all the way through.
Next, select your cooking stick. This should be heavy enough to support the dough but not to thick. Be sure the stick is free of dirt, debris and any other loose particles. Take the dough and wind it around the stick in a spiral, pressing the ends to the dough so that it does not fall off.
Place the stick over the coals. It is much easier to cook breadsticks using coals than fire, since they give off a better heat. It may be helpful to prop the stick up over the coals with a couple of rocks, or pile a couple of rocks on either side and lay the stick across the coals so you don't have to hold it during the entire cooking process. Occasionally rotate the stick so that the bread gets brown on all sides. Patience is helpful here, to ensure that the bread is cooked through.
You can use a thicker, longer stick laid horizontally above the coals to make several at one time. This will save time if you need to cook for a larger group.
A variety of dough can be used. Try various kinds to see which one you like best keeping in mind convenience as well as taste. The easiest is tube biscuits, which come in a number of types and prices. Take one or more biscuits and roll between your hands to form the rope of dough to be wrapped on the stick. Other possibilities include Bisquick (don't make the dough too wet), bread dough (if frozen, let it thaw and rise a little), and scone dough (sometimes available at the bakery or deli in your local supermarket).
Fur traders from Scotland, who trapped and explored all across North America in the 1800's, couldn't bake regular breads in the regular way because ovens were just too big for their canoes.
Instead, they put concocted a mixture of flour, water and fat from hunted animals, put it on a stick, and baked it over their campfires. They called this "bannock" which means bread in the Scots Gaelic language.
Hence, the Scots showed Native peoples like the Eastern Canadian Micmacs, Great Plains Ojibways, and Northwest Coast Haida, how to make this bread and even today bannock is enjoyed as a favorite traditional food wherever Native people gather. Bannock can be fried, deep-fried, barbecued, cooked over an open fire, or baked in an oven. Over the years, people have added baking soda, oatmeal, raisins, eggs, or sugar to the basic dough.
Ingredients
5 ¼ cups flour
12 tsp baking powder
¼ cup sugar
2 cups water
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
3-4 teaspoons animal fat (lard) or shortening (butter)
In large bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, sugar and salt. At this time you can add something extra if you choose – ½ cup raisins, for instance. In a medium bowl, beat together the water, eggs and oil and then add to the dry ingredients. Mix well. Fry, barbecue, bake or cook over fire coals as mentioned above.
After cooking, serve with butter, jams, jellies, or honey. This is sure to be a family or group favorite!
Tags: bread, dinner, dutch oven, dutch oven cooking