Bannock, tortillas, and fry bread recipes.

[Leah]

Bannock is a hard Scottish biscuit baked by the heat of a campfire and meant to accompany all of the meals while traveling. The York boatmen of Quest for the Bay used this recipe to prepare their bannock:

 

2 cups oatmeal flour

1 cup of water

1 tablespoon of baking powder

1 tablespoon of brown sugar (if available)

Pinch of salt

 

Mix the dry ingredients together in a pot. Fold in a cup of water slowly. Knead enough to properly mix the ingredients together. Grease the pan well. Cook in a constant, moderate temperature.

Although the traditional diet of a fur trader in the 1840s was short on variety, it was high in protein, and enabled the boatmen to accomplish the rigorous task of rowing hundreds of kilometers for weeks on end.

 

[Leah]

INDIAN BEAN BREAD

 

4 C. cornmeal

2 C. hot water

2 C. cooked beans

1/2 tsp. baking soda

 

Put cornmeal in a bowl and mix in the drained beans. Make a hole in the middle and add soda and water. Mix. Form into balls and drop into a pot of boiling water. Cook abut 45 minutes or until done.

-

This is an unleavened bread, so there is no yeast involved.

INDIAN FLAT BREAD

5 C.s all-purpose flour (white or whole wheat)

2 T.s of baking powder

1 1/4 tsp. salt

2 C.s of milk (substitute dry milk powder)

1 1/2 T.s melted butter

oil for frying the bread

 

This is a good amount for two people on a weekend hike. If you're hiking alone divide the recipe in half.

In a large bowl mix together the flour, dry milk powder, baking powder, and salt. Slowly add water to the flour and melted butter (optional), while kneading the dough. You should end up with a stiff workable dough that is not sticky. Now that your dough is made you're ready to fry some Indian flat bread.

Take your dough and divide it into small balls. Next take the balls and flatten them out into patties Try to flatten them so that they are about 1/4 inch thick. This will make the bread cook fast and evenly. Heat up some oil in a frying pan and cook them for a few minutes on each side until they turn golden brown and puff up like pancakes.

Don't try to fry bread with margarine or butter because it will burn in the frying pan. One more closing note. If you mix your dough and don't fry it all right away, don't worry; the dough will keep for a few days, just keep it out of direct sunlight. You can mix all your dough for a few meals all at once.

 

[Leah]

Fry Bread

4 cups flour

1 Tbsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

1½ cups and a little more warm water

shortening or lard to deep fry

Mix dry ingredients in a bowl. Add water and mix thoroughly. Knead, adding more water or flour as needed. Dough should end up elastic and soft but not sticky. Pinch off balls the size of a small peach. Pat back and forth in hands until about ½ inch thick.

Melt shortening in heavy frying pan or heavy deep fryer. Heat until hot but not smoking. Carefully fry each bread in hot fat, turning till each side is golden brown. Drain on paper towels and serve hot with warm honey.

 

[Leah]

This is the favorite recipe over on zombiehunters.org Everyone who's tried it, likes it.

Squirrley's recipe for pseudo-hardtack

*2 1/2 cups old-fashioned or quick oats.

*3 cups unbleached flour. +≈1/8-1/4C more

*1 1/2 teaspoon salt

*1 teaspoon baking soda

 

*1 1/2 cups buttermilk

*3 tablespoons honey

*1/2 cup melted bacon drippings

 

Combine first half, in separate container combine second half. mix two sets, roll out to ≈1/4 or 1/8 inch thick. cut up. bake at 450 for ≈8 or 10 minutes.

can second bake at ≈300 for a while, ≈15-30 minutes, do get more of the moisture out to store them.

 

I used powdered buttermilk cause I'm not gonna go buy a thing of real buttermilk for 1 1/2c and throw the rest away. after the first baking, they're very tasty. after the second, if you do it, they're still pretty tasty IMHO but are kinda hard and dry sawdusty like, but that's the point of baking them again, to get all the moisture out so you can store them for long periods of time.

 

edit: I say psudo hardtack because this isn't very authentic, and with the oats and honey and bacon I have doubts about it lasting very very long in storage. None of the last batch made it long enough to test this, however this time I've harvested enough bacon grease to make two batches, I think.

[Rezgirl]

 

I took this picture in 1989 in north west Ontario. The Cree/Ojibway ladies would make bannock in the evenings at the lakeside.

 

She is reaching to flip them over, and in the bowl are the finished product.

[Stephanie]

Great recipes Leah!!!

 

Neat picture Rezgirl!

[OldMaineBear]

Since flour and little else was available as commodities on various reservations, fry bread became a staple. I have run across variations all across Indian Land. Some deep fry it, some griddle fry it, some bake it. They all are good. We nicknamed them Flour Burgers. In the Northeast we mix in berries with the mix just like you would pancakes. When we got Federal Food commodities, we called them "Not To Be's" because of the label that stated "Not to be sold traded etc." Word spread fast that the "Not To Be's" were in and the line up began at the Agents office. Sometimes we got Powdered Eggs and that item was best used as adding flavor to mixes and not used as eggs unless you were in the woods for a very long time. Mixed in with the fry bread mix with berries and butter and you had quite a meal. It is the easiest to make camping. I made it every day on the fire tower and cut into the side like a pita pocket and filled it with jam and peanut butter. You can't kill the stuff and you can carry it in a pocket and eat it all day. I still make it and still pack the peanut butter to it. It's quick and very filling. Good for emergencies and just for something quick and easy.

 

Good old Flour Burgers!!

[KMatheson]

That's a great story, OMB. I bookmarked this page so I can add these to my bread recipe collection. Thanks for the posts, Leah.

 

 

 

~Kari

[Rezgirl]

Yesterday we attended the Community Field Day. I was able to video some ladies making fry bread. Here is the Youtube of that.

[Canned Nerd]

Cool video. Thanks for sharing

[sassenach]

Thanks for the posts, Leah and OMB, it really helped define the true nature of the bannocks and fry bread. I think the way OMB makes his camp bread is much how I would do it if I was 'out there' a long time too, or as a treat for any campers I was with. I simply remember making fry bread from thawed bread dough, pressed flat into patties and fried in oil when I camped with my mom and even when I was in Eureka and a friend who was a descendant of one of the many tribes in the county, made fry bread and it tasted as good. I never did get her recipe. So its nice to see the recipes and the hardtack one, it can be made and maybe vaccuum packed for longer storage in a packs ahead of time?

I have made falafel burgers of some size and done the same, eaten them all day long, and they are high in protein too and spiced with herbs that I like. Heck, I dip them cold in ketchup! ( Probably a sacrilage to the middle eastern crowd, but I don't care.)

 

Australian sheep herders simply mixed flour and salt and water and cooked it dry in their pan over the fire, for bread. They would simply turn it over to brown the other side. I forget what they called it! Does any one have the term?

 

Basic bread as sustenance is common the world over, using so many varieties of grains.... I think the recipes can vary as greatly as one could ever imagine. In each culture, particular grains were common to them and they created basic recipes as time went on.

 

I would like to see a recipe or two dealing with barley breads , quick breads, cakes, whatever, as well, if anyone has any information.

 

[gramma lois]

This is also how we use our Bannock/Fry Bread here in the North

 

INDIAN TACOS - Use Fried Bread as the base.

Ingredients

 

Cooked rice, just a bit, about 1/2 cup

Mushrooms

Shredded cheddar cheese

Separate Toppings:

1 large onion

1 lb. Fried hamburger

2 cans tomatoes

1 large green pepper

A few shakes of Tabasco sauce (if you like it hot add lots)

1 tsp. Chili spice

Ingredients for Topping:

Shredded,1 head of lettuce

About 4 diced fresh tomatoes

1 small can refried beans

1 large can of red kidney beans

 

 

Directions

 

Mix the first 10 ingredients in a large pot.

Simmer on low heat for about 2 hours.

While this is simmering make fried bread.

Place hot fried bread on a plate,

Top with sauce, add some shredded cheese on top,

This will melt a bit add lettuce, tomatoes.

Serve with sour cream

 

Delicious - Enjoy!

[PoGo]

Nice video, Rezgirl, thank you. You can tell these women have made fry bread a few times! lol

[Michelle_3kds]

This is a recipe for bannock I found years ago, changed the milk to powdered so I could make it with all stored ingredients. My DD now makes gallon size baggies full of this and fries up single servings for breakfast. Not traditional, and making it up is not an exact science, but boy it's really good! I used to take this along camping when the kids were little.

 

4C flour

2T Baking Powder

1-1/2 t salt

1t cream of tartar

1/2 C sugar

1 C shortening

3/4 C powdered milk

cinnamon sugar (for topping)

- Mix dry ingredients together, cut in shortening.

-To use, take out desired amount, add water until thick batter, place in preheated (med), greased pan, spread out into about a 1/2" high round, cover with lid and cook about 3-4 minutes. (Check, this burns easy). Spray top with oil, flip and leave lid off, cook other side a few minutes. Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar, flip onto plate and sprinkle other side too.

[Genoa]

Michelle,

 

Your mix sounds good. I'm going to try it.

 

I was also wondering whether anyone is famliar with the #10 cans of dried shortening. If so, could that be substituted for the shortening in this recipe and, if so, what adjustments would be made to this recipe?