I have a friend who's an expert at making bannock (bread made with flour, water, and little powdered milk, sugar and baking powder, then fried in oil). When it's done right, it's to die for! On a portage one time, he flipped over a canoe and used the bottom as a surface to make the patties. I've tried it a few times, with mixed success. Does anybody else have any thoughts, suggestions, or methods for making bannock?

I ate something on my last trip from Enertia foods that was a kinda flat bread that we fried that was real good, especially when I augmented it with some dehydrated garlic/onions.

Jay

I'll check that out, but making your own bannock with flour is virtually free.

Mark,
Bannock bread is pretty simple to make. I usually take it on all of my guided trips and customers just love it. It is easy as well as the variations are only limited to your imagination. Here is my basic recipe.
3 cups flour
1 tsp salt
2 tbl baking powder
1/4 c butter, melted
1-1/2 c water

1. mix all dry ingredients and place in zip-loc
2. at camp add butter (i simplify by using squeeze butter) and water to form a ball.
3. place ball onto buttered griddle and push down with a fork to flatten (about 1 1/2 inches)
4. fry until golden brown.

For variations add dried fruit, granola, spices (garlic) or what ever you want. I like to add garlic and then serve it with spaghetti. Dried fruit works well for b-fast and toped of w/ syrup....this is making me hungry. You will find that you will have to adjust the amount of water depending on what you have added, but with practice you will master the art of Bannock Bread. Have Fun

Making bannock is more of an art than a science. There are hundreds of recipes for bannock. Here is basic one.

Bannock
1 cup white flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons baking powder (always use good baking powder)
1/2 teaspoon salt

At Home: Mix ingredients together in a plastic bag.

In camp: add enough water to make a stiff dough (an egg and a little oil is optional). Knead quickly. Roll into a ball. Flatten it (so it is about 1" thick) in a greased fry pan. Then fry and flip - or - brown the bottom of the cake. Then either move the pan up 12" from the fire, or tilt pan on edge in front of the fire, and let bake.

You can substitute a baking mix like Bisquick or Jiffy Mix or any biscuit mix doctored up with a little powdered milk and perhaps a little powdered egg. Not really bannock, but pretty good pan fried biscuits.

There are lots of options with bannock. Start with the basic bannock and add any of the following. If it is a flour-like ingredient, substitute for an equal portion of one of the flours in the basic recipe.

1/2 t of cream of tartar
1/2 c. shortening
1/2 c. powdered milk
a little honey or molassess
3/4 c. walnuts, or dried fruit, or raisins, or dried cranberries
an egg or equivalent of powdered egg
1/2 c. corn meal
1/2 c. rolled oats
1/2c. oatmeal
1/2 c. any kind of flour you fancy

Definitely art not science!!! And I'm no artist. But bannock is so good it's worth continuing to try to perfect my technique. The recipe I was given (and have eaten skillfully prepared) had a smidgen of sugar and some dry milk added. It's pretty clear from Bannock's post that it's my frying skill and not my recipe that needs the most work.

Here's a link that might help you MarK:
recipe-video

quote mjmkjun: "Here's a link that might help you MarK:
recipe-video "

I love Kevin Callan! He's just one of us. He makes little mistakes, etc, but he doesn't let it bother him. He certainly doesn't take himself seriously. His videos are great.

Whenever i try to make bannock, it always turns out doughy in the middle. Any ideas on what I'm doing wrong?

woodtick..real bannock no matter what the recipe is baked slow in front of a fire,coals are best.the slow bake cooks it all the way thru.most of us,me included,want to hurry the process up and just end up with a fry bread/biscuit made like a pancake only it comes out thicker with milk added rather than egg which would make it a pancake.from what i understand you can't work the dough too much or it becomes "sad" and won't rise.
i just cut to the chase by adding a bit of dry milk to bisquick and making a semi-dry ball of dough that go's into a pan of hot peanut oil,i flatten the ball with a oil covered pancake flipper,so it won't stick, and cook it slow over a camp stove.
it never fails even made over a small Borde mountain climbers stove.

Bannock, would you add your bannock recipe to the "Bread & Bannock" recipe page?

I like JACKFISH or Bannock's recipe, I have used it and it is good!

Cornmeal Bannock

Here's the recipe for one biscuit:

1/3 cup Flour
1/3 cup Cornmeal
1/3 cup Quick-cooking Oatmeal
1 TBL Powdered Milk
1 TBL sugar
1/8 tsp. Baking Powder
Cinnamon to taste (2 tsp works for me)

At Home: Put all ingredients in a Ziploc bag. Mix well.

At Camp: Mix with water until stiff. (I use 1/3 cup.) Flatten to about the size and thickness of a hamburger. Cook covered over medium heat in a lightly oiled fry pan. Flip every minute or so until browned.

Put butter and jam on the bannock, then cut it into four quarters. Usually feeds two people.

NOTE: I've used this for recipe for years and it's always a favorite. I'll give kudos to "Bannock" for sharing a similar recipe years ago.