Folks the bannock idea has probably been beaten to death but I have a cool and vbery traditional way to mix it without making a mess so I though I would share it with everyone. I used to work at a hotel in Canada where we served bannock and the most people we made it for was about 2000...that's a lot of bannock.
When the wagon trains were coming west they often made ash cakes with no leavening simply because the gals were too tired after a day of traveling to do much more. They would open the flour barrel and made an intentation in the flour with their fist then pour in a little water......
I make my bannock mix like most other people. For every cup of flour a couple teaspoons of baking powder, some salt and a bit of powdered milk. I rarely add fat to my mix unless I plan on cooking it in the oven. Keep it in a heavy plastic bag or better yet a gallon can with plastic lid-way easy for the mixing method I use.
When I want to make some bannock I make the hole with my fist and pour in some water, about 1/4 cup will easily make enough bannock for one person. Then I mix it with a fork, stick etc. and slowly bring flour into the water by scraping the sides and bottom of the hole. Once I have a dough that will hold together a bit I switch to my hands and toss some of the dry mix onto the top of the dough and begin to gently knead it, turning it and getting more and more flour into the mix. Once it's stiff enough for my purpose I take it out and either cook it or stack them up before cooking them all at once. If I want to stack them I put generous amounts of dry mix between them to stop them sticking together.
If you fry them in a pan with oil/grease (it's called "fry bread" by the natives in North America) then keep the dough a bit softer and it will cook faster and not be doughy. Simply shallow fry in a pan. To wrap it around a stick you make it a bit thicker but still only thick enough to hold its weight before it begins to cook and harden on the stick. Once it begins to harden it will hold well onto the stick with no problems. If you add fat to the mix don't even bother trying to cook it on a stick as it sags and falls off. It took me a yelling and hollering fit to learn that one....some things aren't always best learned the hard way.
Of course you can add fat/butter/oil etc. to the mix if you cook it in the oven. You can add soaked dry fruit with raisins or currents being the traditional thing. You can make fried bread and put cinnamon sugar on it. You can dry it out too like hard tack and it will keep for a long time, and is good softened in your coffee or tea.
The BOMB for fried bread is to eat it as an "Indian taco" Top it with thin sliced lettuce, cooked ground beef (mince) with some taco seasoning added or your favourite chili, top it off with sour cream and some nice salsa and you'll understand what camping heaven can be.
I see all kinds of videos of people mixing bannock and the dough is sticky and stuck all over everything and it's a hell of a mess. This method eliminates all of that misery.
Have fun with it!
When the wagon trains were coming west they often made ash cakes with no leavening simply because the gals were too tired after a day of traveling to do much more. They would open the flour barrel and made an intentation in the flour with their fist then pour in a little water......
I make my bannock mix like most other people. For every cup of flour a couple teaspoons of baking powder, some salt and a bit of powdered milk. I rarely add fat to my mix unless I plan on cooking it in the oven. Keep it in a heavy plastic bag or better yet a gallon can with plastic lid-way easy for the mixing method I use.
When I want to make some bannock I make the hole with my fist and pour in some water, about 1/4 cup will easily make enough bannock for one person. Then I mix it with a fork, stick etc. and slowly bring flour into the water by scraping the sides and bottom of the hole. Once I have a dough that will hold together a bit I switch to my hands and toss some of the dry mix onto the top of the dough and begin to gently knead it, turning it and getting more and more flour into the mix. Once it's stiff enough for my purpose I take it out and either cook it or stack them up before cooking them all at once. If I want to stack them I put generous amounts of dry mix between them to stop them sticking together.
If you fry them in a pan with oil/grease (it's called "fry bread" by the natives in North America) then keep the dough a bit softer and it will cook faster and not be doughy. Simply shallow fry in a pan. To wrap it around a stick you make it a bit thicker but still only thick enough to hold its weight before it begins to cook and harden on the stick. Once it begins to harden it will hold well onto the stick with no problems. If you add fat to the mix don't even bother trying to cook it on a stick as it sags and falls off. It took me a yelling and hollering fit to learn that one....some things aren't always best learned the hard way.
Of course you can add fat/butter/oil etc. to the mix if you cook it in the oven. You can add soaked dry fruit with raisins or currents being the traditional thing. You can make fried bread and put cinnamon sugar on it. You can dry it out too like hard tack and it will keep for a long time, and is good softened in your coffee or tea.
The BOMB for fried bread is to eat it as an "Indian taco" Top it with thin sliced lettuce, cooked ground beef (mince) with some taco seasoning added or your favourite chili, top it off with sour cream and some nice salsa and you'll understand what camping heaven can be.
I see all kinds of videos of people mixing bannock and the dough is sticky and stuck all over everything and it's a hell of a mess. This method eliminates all of that misery.
Have fun with it!
