Bannock 1832

[crockett]

I am reading Washington Irving's "A Tour of the Prairies" of 1832. He went into what is today Oklahoma and along with some old trappers. Bean- whose outfit later went to the Rockies was among the crew. In any event there is a description of flour mixed with water into a paste and either fried in a pan or wrapped around a stick and baked over coals. It sounds like bannock but there is no mention or any sort of rising ingredient.

 

[Black Hand]

In any event there is a description of flour mixed with water into a paste and either fried in a pan or wrapped around a stick and baked over coals. It sounds like bannock but there is no mention or any sort of rising ingredient.

Because there wasn't any. Chemical leaveners weren't common at the time.
The same basic recipe for ashcakes just cooked differently. In the old Boy Scout manual, the bread wound onto a stick and cooked was called Twist Bread". In any event, different names for the same result...

 

[coloradoclyde]

In the old Boy Scout manual, the bread wound onto a stick and cooked was called Twist Bread".

That was bannock....on a stick.

Look it up... :wink:

 

[satx78247]

The BSA Field Manual from the 1950s has an amazing bannock recipe. - AND lots of other useful rustic skills, too.

yours, satx

 

[coloradoclyde]

I've got that manual.... :thumbsup:

 

[coloradoclyde]

Unleavened breads go back almost as far as man....
I make unleavened breads all the time....Because they are fast.
I made a unleavened pizza tonight in 15 minutes......From scratch.... :grin: From the time I touched the flour bag to first bite....
It was every bit as good as anything you would pull out of a freezer.... :grin:

 

[Loyalist Dave]

I've got that manual.... :thumbsup:

Original owner? :haha:

I made a unleavened pizza tonight in 15 minutes......From scratch.... :grin: From the time I touched the flour bag to first bite....
It was every bit as good as anything you would pull out of a freezer.... :grin:

So share what you put in your dough, or is it simply flour and water? Do you use a stone or a baking sheet?

:thumbsup:

LD

 

[coloradoclyde]

Flour
water
salt
Some type of sweetener
some type of fat/oil/butter

I use a perforated pan or a pizza screen

How you incorporate the ingredients determines the end product.(especially the fat/oil/butter) technique is very important.

 

[Black Hand]

I've got that manual.... :thumbsup:

Going a little further back: (Sorry for the de-rail)
Scouting for Boys by Lord Baden Powell http://www.thedump.scoutscan.com/yarns00-28.pdf

 

[Loyalist Dave]

Here's what they published for the Canadian branch of scouting in 1911..., very similar to Black Hand's link, but with some editing...,

From the:
Canadian Boy Scout Handbook
By Sir Robert Baden-Powell. 1911

“The three B’s of life in camp are the ability to cook bannocks, beans, and bacon.”

To make bread, or bannocks, the usual way is for a scout to take off his coat, spread it on the ground, with the inside uppermost (so that any mess he makes in it will not show outwardly when he wears his coat afterwards). Then he washes his hands thoroughly. Then he makes a pile of flour on the coat, and scoops out the centre until it forms a cup for the water, which he then pours in; he then mixes the dough with a pinch or two of salt, and of baking powder or Eno’s Fruit Salt, and kneads and mixes it well together until if forms a lump of well mixed dough. Then, with a little fresh flour sprinkled over the hands to prevent the dough sticking to them, he pats it and makes it into the shape of a large bun or buns."
(That's kinda hard-core, eh?)

"Then he puts it on a gridiron over hot ashes, or sweeps part of the fire to one side, and on the hot ground left there he puts his dough, and piles hot ashes round it and lets I bake itself.

Only small loaves, or bannocks, like buns, can be made in this way.

”¦, Another way is to cut a stout club, sharpen its thin end, peel it, and heat it in the fire. Make a long strip of dough, about two inches wide and half an inch thick; wind it spirally down the club; then plant the club close to the fire and let the dough toast itself, just giving the club a turn now and then.”

“The best kind of bread for camp is what the Boers and most South African hunters use, and that is “rusks”. Rusks are easily made. You buy a stale loaf at the baker’s, cut it up into thick slices or square “junks”, and then bake these in an oven or toast them before a hot fire till they are quite hard like biscuits. They can then be carried in a spare haversack or bag, and do very well instead of bread. Soft bread gets damp and sour and stale in camp.”

Johann Edwald, commander of the Hessian Jaegers in America during the AWI, noted in his journal, about 135 years prior, that Zwiebach, "twice baked" bread was the best for bread rations for his men. Slicing a loaf fo bread into portions that sort of resemble biscotti, and then baking them a second time was the process. Looks like things hadn't changed by the time Baden-Powell got to South Africa and was associating with the Boers who were Dutch.

LD

 

[satx78247]

Lord Baden-Powell's FIRST book was a military manual (written for UK soldiers, who were to be posted to the far-flung areas of The Empire) entitled AIDS TO SCOUTING & that he was shocked to discover, when he returned to London from The 2nd Boer War (as "The Hero of Mafeking"), had become much better read/enjoyed by young boys than by "his intended audience".
(He later rewrote the book & entitled it SCOUTING FOR BOYS.)

yours, satx

 

[coloradoclyde]

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...oeTS70WUhGoz6hZDt6CeNQ&bvm=bv.149760088,d.eWE

Bannock starts on about page 50 the picture is amazing...

 

[satx78247]

YEP. - Also, the RAISIN-BRAN muffin recipe that I often bake at home/in camp is VERY similar to the recipe there, too.
(At Cedar Creek Reenactment in 2009, my beloved "Duckie" baked so many muffins & biscuits that I had to go into town to buy more ingredients for muffins & her biscuits/sausage patties/cream gravy/coffee. = We had a LARGE number of "best friends" who kept "stopping for breakfast" & many of those "best friends" were persons whose names we didn't know. = CHUCKLE.)

yours, satx

 

[satx78247]

"Twist Bread" was originally a ZULU idea/recipe for a bread to "eat on the march" & that Lord Baden-Powell popularized in the 2nd edition of his SCOUTING FOR BOYS.

yours, satx

 

[satx78247]

Btw, THE OFFICIAL MANUAL FOR GIRL GUIDES (another book that Lord Baden-Powel "contributed to" before WWI) has even more recipes that are suitable for cooking in camp and/or for "on the march".
(Girl Guides are The Girl Scouts of The British Empire.)

yours, satx

 

[Tallswife]

I like this bannock recipe, its a bit heartier than just flour and water.

Auld Country bannock

 

[satx78247]

Thanks.

yours, satx

 

[crockett]

How well do ashes do in raising the dough?

 

[Black Hand]

How well do ashes do in raising the dough?

Can you clarify?
Ashes added to the mix or when the dough is cooked in hot ashes?

 

[coloradoclyde]

I like this bannock recipe, its a bit heartier than just flour and water.

Auld Country bannock

Wow! that bannock is dense enough to warp space time.... :wink: :thumbsup: