Baking bread

[Froggy]

Is there any way?

Thanks....

[Frolicking Dinosaurs]

Yes, there is a way: http://www.bakepacker.com/

[Topcat]

or here...

http://trailquest.net/baking.html

[Froggy]

Very interesting and likely enough to get me by - but I'd like to bake yeast bread on the trail.

[Frolicking Dinosaurs]

Froggy, yeast breads can be baked in the bakepacker, but getting them to rise reliably in the unreliable conditions on the trail is going to be difficult.

[Topcat]

You should into reflector ovens if you want to make yeast breads. It will be tough to have the time to proof the dough and go through all the steps for bread baking. That is why flat breads and quick breads are easier.

[Froggy]

I'd like to bake yeast bread on the trail. I've got one recipe that might be adaptable.

This bread recipe was from a NY Times article. It works reliably at home, at 5,400 feet, and I've converted it to sourdough. I was hoping that I could adapt it to the trail:

3 cups bread flour (or all purpose flour)
1/4 tsp instant yeast
1 1/4 tsp salt
1 5/8 cups water (one ounce more at 5,000 feet)

Mix, stir. Don't knead.
Let rest 18 to 24 hours in a pot or bowl.
Put on a well-floured place, fold on itself once or twice. Cover and let rest for 15 minutes.
Using a little more flour to keep your hands from sticking, shape into a ball.
Put on floured towel. Cover with another floured towel.
Let rise about 2 hours. (I let it rise 2 1/2 hours.) When ready it will have doubled or more in bulk and won't spring back readily when poked.

Half an hour before it's done rising, preheat the oven to 450 deg. Put in a 4 to 6 quart heavy covered container in the oven as it heats.

Slide your hand under towel and turn the dough over into the pot. It might look like a mess but that's okay. Shake the pot once or twice to settle the dough into it.

Cover with the hot lid. Bake for 30 minutes.
Remove the lid. Bake another 15 minutes. Loaf will be nicely brown and the internal temperature will be 195 to 205 degrees when it's done.

Remove and let cool on a rack.

[Frolicking Dinosaurs]

For a loaf that size you will have to have a reflector oven and a wood fire. How are you going to let the dough rest while hiking? Won't the 'jiggling' down the trail upset the process and make the bread tough?

[mudhead]

Bisquick. Toasted uncut english muffin. On a stick!

[highway]

How about a (Canadian, I believe as that was where I was when I first had it) fried bread called 'bannock'. Actually, I found that to be quite good-very tasty.

I have a recipe somewhere.

You can cook it in your pot while your stove is simmering, although it is usually done in a cast iron fry pan. Now talk about a food item that injects massive amounts of calories into your body when you consume it and Bannock is it.

If I remember correctly, I was told that the Inuit in the Canadian northern latitudes where i was, near the Arctic circle, have a saying, "Bannock and lard make Indian hard". Now that was cold!!!!! and it was in their summer:D

[neo]

Yes, there is a way: http://www.bakepacker.com/


:) the bake packer is awesome,i have the smally one that i use with a 2 liter alumnum pot,i use jiffy muffin mix mainly in mine:cool: neo

[NICKTHEGREEK]

outback oven

[RAT]

the bake packer is awesome,i have the smally one that i use with a 2 liter alumnum pot

I agree, I love mine, have made biscuits, cornbread, pizza,muffins, if you can think of it and carry it, it will bake it, best part is no mess ;) Also can put any leftover meals in a cooking bag and use it to re warm later, again, no messy pot to clean (not that I clean mine anyway)

RAT

[handlebar]

While I agree there is nothing like fresh-baked yeast bread, beware that either the bakepacker or outback oven will take a whole lot of fuel and probably won't work with an alcohol stove. As I recall from my old boy scout manual (circa 1958), bannock bread dough can be shaped into a coil around a "green" stick and baked over a fire, though, again it sounds like a lot of hassle for a thru-hike.

After a long day on the trail, you'll want something fast and simple I'll wager. Model T said he toasted english muffins in a pan using olive oil as shortening. You could probably do the same for bagels. Those seem like practical compromises for trail meals.

Some hostels might have an oven available and you could bake a big batch of real bread---though every hiker there will be yogi-ing some.

[freefall]

Walk About and Caboose made blueberry muffin mix in their cook pot and a plastic bag one morning. Best breakfast I had on the trail!

[Frolicking Dinosaurs]

I've done muffin mix in a pan inside a larger pan - put water and three or four similar size pebbles in larger pan, put smaller pan with batter atop pebbles, put tight fitting lid on larger pan and cook 20 minutes (can cozy for ten of that). It won't be browned, but it will taste wonderful.

[mrc237]

The Southwest Native Americans have something they call frybread. I was there last Feb it was offseason and I couldn't get any but you can probably find recipes on google. Bisquick snaked around a green stick always worked for me.

[Frolicking Dinosaurs]

Frybread is a thin fried biscuit (some recipes add a small amount of sugar to the basic biscuit recipe). To make it, make the dough, pinch off a ball of dough about 1 - 2 " around, flatten dough to about 1/4", deep-fry in hot oil (if frying in a pan with less oil, flip it to fry other side).

Muffin mix can be made into a dough instead of a batter and cooked the same way (it will be somewhat crisp like a sugar cookie when done). Cornbread can also be made this way from a cornbread mix. This cornbread and re-hydrated chili makes a mightly fine meal.

I have made various frybreads in my big pot before making the main course. The left-over oil becomes part of the main course.

[jrwiesz]

Google Mary Janes' Farm. Great organic, for home, office, trail, etc. Used it exclusively on a trip to Isle Royale. Great foods and a some fry breads.

[Grinder]

I vote for chapatis/ tortillas. You only need flour and water. Oil is a luxury.

Three parts flour and one part water. You get a stiff dough. Hand flatten a ball of dough and fry. watch for "blisters" to form. With a bit of experience you can easily estimate when browned on one side.Turn once and voila!!

Improvements on basic. Make dough at lunch and let it "rest" til dinner. Adding oil makes a "softer crumb".

Miles of Smiles
Tom

[pure_mahem]

Not homemade but sort of and here ya go. Go to the frozen section of the supermarket and find the frozen bread dough now find the Dinner roll sized one next to them they work perfect. you put one inside a greased ziploc bag and let it rise there when you want to stop and bake you can and you have a little bit of homemade sort of bread. you can also use this to make fried bread dough which is really really good, bet you can't eat just one you'll be bringing the whole frozen package, lol!

[moondoggy]

http://www.wildernessdining.com/cl30105.html

I've heard good things about these folks products....Although, I've never tried any myself

[CoyoteWhips]

I like biscuits. Just need some biscuit mix, water, little oil. Lots of cooking methods on here.

[Wise Old Owl]

Here is an idea I used in a pinch on the trail, completely unplanned I remembered this from my mom using a double boiler and used a teflon coated nested msr pots. I put three pebbles in the bottom and some water between the pots and filled the center with BC muffin mix. Put the lid on and didn't look at it for 14 minutes. Came out perfect. Remember to keep your stove on the minimum.

[ubersmack]

Check these out..

http://www.cachelake.com/fnimall/category/FryinPan/listing.phtml

Come in premade bags and are absolutely great. Have used them a few different times and cook relatively easy. And the best part, there really really good. :)

[Froggy]

I've made this pizza at home. Haven't tried it on the trail. I'll bet it could be adapted. The bread part of it is excellent:

http://tinyurl.com/2ln8dw

It would give you a yeast pan bread with a rich olive oil flavor, depending on how much you used.

[TN_Hiker]

Outback Oven get my vote. The bakepacker seems like a hassle, but it is lighter than the outback oven. I like the outback oven because it will brown on top as well. Used it many times on weekend and short trips, but would think long and hard about taking it on a long distance hike.

[budforester]

I've made this pizza at home. Haven't tried it on the trail. I'll bet it could be adapted. The bread part of it is excellent:

http://tinyurl.com/2ln8dw

It would give you a yeast pan bread with a rich olive oil flavor, depending on how much you used.


I sometimes make calzones. Just roll or pat the dough (often biscuit mix) into a round. Plaster some sauce, seasonings, cheese, and chunkies on one half; fold the other half over and crimp the edges. Size it to fit in the fry- pan. Griddle slowly on oiled surface. Flip as needed to cook both sides.

[mkmangold]

JrW: I'd like to do Isle Royale sometime. Planning on going there this year?

[jrwiesz]

JrW: I'd like to do Isle Royale sometime. Planning on going there this year?

I had hoped to, but my son is playing baseball in Iowa.

My wife and I decided, to take the limited vacation time we get, to take in some of his games in late April and May.:)

Most likely won't be able to make another visit to the Isle until summer 2009.:(

The Mary Janes Farm fry breads and other fare were incredible. For the most part they are boil water and eat, already pre-seasoned. We went exclusively with Jetboil, as many of the campsites on the Isle are "No open fires". The only fire-ring or grill type sites were those that are at the shorelines that are accessible to boaters. I believe all interior sites are "stoves only". We had one wood fire, to cook a lake trout that we caught in Lake Siskwit, and that was at a perimeter site in a BBQ type grill.:sun

[double j]

i seen this on another board

1.kmart grease pot
2.cut the lip off the strainer flip it upside down in bottom of pot.
3.add

[double j]

i seen this on another board

1.kmart grease pot
2.cut the lip off the strainer flip it upside down in bottom of pot.
3.add
3.add a little water to bottom of pot.
4.of course u need some sort of a pot stand.
5.use 3 tea candles
6.pre heat for 15 mins
7.lay biscuit on peice of wax paper maybe
8.cook for 15 mins

anyways thats what i saw for a biscuit

[Tinker]

I've made pancakes a few times. Cleanup is a hassle, as is carrying an extra container to mix the ingredients in. Bread, pastries, etc. would take time away from my hiking, besides, I can get better stuff in town than I could ever make on the trail, so I just wait a few days.
I heard that stuffing mixes can be rehydrated and even browned on the trail, but I haven't tried that yet. I will soon, though.

[Topcat]

I've made pancakes a few times. Cleanup is a hassle, as is carrying an extra container to mix the ingredients in. Bread, pastries, etc. would take time away from my hiking, besides, I can get better stuff in town than I could ever make on the trail, so I just wait a few days.
I heard that stuffing mixes can be rehydrated and even browned on the trail, but I haven't tried that yet. I will soon, though.
Doesnt have to be a hassle or lots of clean up. Put Bisquick in plastic bag, mark bag with the amount of water to add, knead back to mix, cut off corner to squeeze batter into oiled or non stick fry pan, cook and eat. Clean up is rolling up bag and wiping pan.

[Thoughtful Owl]

I don't bake bread when hiking, takes to much time. I get yeast rolls, biscuits, pancakes etc. when I hit a trail town. Now if I am stationary camping that's a different story. I have a small cast aluminum dutch oven that works great for this.