made simple prepper bread in skillet, pretty good

[Peter Simcox]

I was afraid my new survival-based life would have to be without bread, then read about bannock and Indian bread.

2-2-2-2 means 2 cups flour, 2 tbsp baking powder, 2 tbsp sugar, 2 pinches of salt mixed with enough warm water to make a dough. I heated oil in a skillet, pointed the burner knob to 3 o'clock, and put the dough in, patted into 2" high loaf, and let her fry. The crust will get real dark, even burnt, but the center will be done, warm and tasty. Had it with honey. Plan to make it with raisins or blueberries.

If you, in the wilderness, can wake up your better half with a chunk of hot bread and tea...can you say "hero?"

[The Saint]

sounds like a plan. I will give it a try

[MikeK]

Don't forget the world full of different flat breads too. Almost every culture has some version. They're simple to make and use less fuel to cook that baked breads.

[The Saint]

Originally Posted by MikeK

Don't forget the world full of different flat breads too. Almost every culture has some version. They're simple to make and use less fuel to cook that baked breads.

and for some reason flat breads keep longer.

[Packitup]

Make your dough slightly thicker than pancake batter and pour it out about 1/2" thick into skillet. 2" sounds awfully thick for a skillet bread.

Another way that we cook it often is in a "biscuit on a stick". Make you dough pretty firm, roll into strips about a foot long and an inch in diameter. Cut a stick or use a piece of 3/4" dowel rod and wrap the dough around the end of the stick. Roast over open coals. Delicious! Fill the center with jelly or peanut butter when it has cooked and the kids love it.

[wilderness bushman]

yep love bannock,,,it will take about any fresh fruit or berry as well as dehydrated,,its a easy trail food fills the belly and like the OP i love my breads,,,,dont be afraid to throw a egg into the mix eather,,,if your doughs a bit thin it will raise as it cooks

the natives in this area say to never cut bannock,,,they claim its bad luck ,,,you tear off what you want

[Liberty1]

We use the flat bread, put it in a grill veggie grate, and cook it over the fire. Tastes yummy! It does last a lot longer too!

[getFOODnow]

i love bannock, i make it with raisins and cinnamon, sometimes apple and cinnamon, sometimes just plain. its always good.

[toobboy]

Fry up a couple 3/8" thick pieces of Baloney, and put that in between your
Bannock/ Scone, and you have a "Native Big Mac". It's friggin' tasty!!

[weaselrunner]

as a side note, when i make bread or pastries, i fry up the left over bread dough with butter and sprinkle with cinn. sugar when it comes out...... tasty snack, have to fight my daughter for it :>)

[Monique]

Biscuit dough in a cast iron skillet. What my grandmother did to keep from turning on the oven in the summer time.

[Zombie response team]

Have to try this out sounds great
ZRT

[IamZeke]

Originally Posted by Peter Simcox

2-2-2-2 means 2 cups flour, 2 tbsp baking powder, 2 tbsp sugar, 2 pinches of salt mixed with enough warm water to make a dough.

I noted something about your recipe that might be of concern at some point.

Baking powder is well known for going weak pretty fast, especially if you open it. Even factory sealed it has a fairly low shelf life.

Might I suggest experimenting with simple soda bread recipes? Baking soda having a far better shelf life would mean being able to make breads long after all the grocers shut their doors.

Here is a recipe pdf I made a while back trying to learn the basics of making soda bread. It isn't a skillet bread recipe and uses the oven. But it is very simple with ingredients that should have a long shelf life, besides the ground flour. It's a no frills recipe that you should be able to modify with some experimentation in a flat surface cooking method.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/103108473/Soda-Bread-Recipe

[NickiTX]

I thought baking powder has a long shelf life but baking soda does not. That's why it's best to store baking powder and creme of tartar separately to make baking soda. Do I have that wrong?

[Cinbad]

I have to bump this. It all sounds good and I want to come back and copy some of it. Thanks guys.

[getFOODnow]

to make baking powder:
2 TBs cream of tartar
1 TBs baking soda
1 TBs cornstarch
sift together

i have a hard time finding cream of tartar in the stores here.

[Peter Simcox]

thanks, i have read several negative things about baking powder, mainly the taste, but also shelf life? Thanks for telling me, i will try soda bread. The Irish are famous for it i think.

[MikeK]

Originally Posted by NickiTX

I thought baking powder has a long shelf life but baking soda does not. That's why it's best to store baking powder and creme of tartar separately to make baking soda. Do I have that wrong?

Not wrong, just backwards.

You use baking soda and cream of tartar to make baking powder. Not the other way around.

[NickiTX]

Originally Posted by MikeK

Not wrong, just backwards.

You use baking soda and cream of tartar to make baking powder. Not the other way around.

Ohhhhh. Okay, thanks!

[IamZeke]

Originally Posted by Peter Simcox

thanks, i have read several negative things about baking powder, mainly the taste, but also shelf life? Thanks for telling me, i will try soda bread. The Irish are famous for it i think.

As someone mentioned above, you can get past the baking powder shelf life issue by making your own and keeping the component parts on hand from the recipe above. The components all having a long shelf life alone but but begin to react when mixed. Any good baker will tell you purchased baking powder should be tossed 6 months after you open the can and a year regardless if opened or not. But the components separate have years or decades of shelf life.

From what I read, the Irish went with soda breads over yeast breads because of the English occupation. Yeast breads being more of a function of urban society wasn't readily available to Irish who preferred being rural and away from the centers of English occupation. If the stories are true then it seems clear the soda breads lend themselves to a more isolated and solitary lifestyle that modern preppers are gearing for.

Also, my recipe is little more than something I cobbled together from reading internet sources. I have tested it and it works, yet it definitely does not make fluffy modern bread. This recipe makes a rather "sturdy" bread, to say the least. Feel free to tinker until you get something you like. As long as you understand the basic process of the vinegar reacting to the soda creating gas to expand the bread, as well as sticking to the proportionality of the ingredients then you are encouraged to add and change ingredients. I doubt that I'll get much opportunity to mess with refined white flour after any calamity. Switching to home ground wheat flour most assuredly will change the interactions enough that you will need to adjust the process ingredients (vinegar, soda, salt) to make it work right.