Another video of Exploration eats, this time focusing on Bannock backcountry bread! Why Bannock in the backcountry? Well, why not!? You get fresh hot bread that’s easy to make in the back country for your breakfast, or great additions to your meals.

I will admit straight up, I’m not a bread maker, let alone a baker. Fry bread came to me when I was travelling in the Dakotas and found a fry bread mix that I thought would work for camping, decades ago. Only recently did I more actively seek recipes to make and try out in the back country. I share this to caveat that: if I misinform, apologies – please do share with us what could be done to make it better!

I will give full credit to The Spruce Eats for this recipe, being reproduced below: https://www.thespruceeats.com/native-american-fry-bread-4045432

Recipe:

• 3 cups vegetable oil or shortening (enough for 1-inch depth, for frying)
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup milk (substitute with 1.5 tablespoons of Bulk Barn powdered milk.)

Instructions and Tips:

• Quite simply, premix this all the dried ingredients that’s ready to go for the back country into a container
  • Ziploc bag is recommended for space saving as you go through the ingredients, it’ll shrink in size as you consume it, as opposed to a solid container.
• When ready (in the field), mix in the water to the mixture and let stand for 15 minutes so the milk reconstitutes. Or just be a monster and mix and go.
  • Add more just a little bit of water or powder as necessary.
• The consistency should be thicker than pancake powder and sticking to the spoon, but still slightly gelatinous-like
• The consistency will make it hard to work (I think), so I use a spoon to shape it in the fry pan.
• Pour your vegetable into the fry pan.
• Work your bannock batter into the pan, small balls at a time and press to flatten.

The variation with the powdered milk is our adaptation, for the backcountry. For the powdered milk, if you’d like to have more insight, follow this link to other powdered milk that we have reviewed for use in the back country, specifically!

Bulk Barn states, “To reconstitute, always add milk powder to cold water. For smoothness and flavour, mix at night for use the next day. For 1 glass of milk, mix 3 tablespoons (30 g) of powder with 1 cup (250 ml) of cold water.”

Bannock comes from a complicated history of colonial rule and the creation of the reserves in Canada. Fry bread was brought over to Canada on sea-faring ships by the British (also consisting of Irish and Scottish descendants). When the Indigenous population was put into reserves, from 1830 onwards, they had learned the way to create fry bread and has since become to be recognized as a staple of Indigenous cuisine.

Hope you enjoy the Bannock backcountry bread! Video, below: