Bread
in the Woods
We really like fresh
bread while we’re camping. There is something about bread products
that just seems especially good in the woods. Maybe it’s the fresh
air; maybe it’s the appetites that we work up in the woods.
When we talk about
bread in the woods, two thoughts seem to flash through folk’s
minds: “Hey, I can barely handle yeast in the kitchen,”
and “Yeah, but I’m a tent camper. I can’t bake in
the woods.” Never fear. This article will help.
If you can barely
handle yeast in the kitchen, maybe yeast in the campground isn’t
a great idea. But then, yeast is not temperamental to anything but temperature.
If you solve the temperature problems, yeast in the campground is no
more difficult than yeast in the kitchen. You need warm enough water
to get the yeasty critters growing. Most recipes are going to ask for
water in the 105 to 110 degree range. Unless you have a practiced finger,
bring a thermometer.
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Now you’ve
got to keep the yeasty critters growing. That involves temperature too.
Instead of covering your dough with plastic wrap, place the dough, bowl
and all, in a large food-safe plastic bag. It’ll keep the surface
of the dough from drying out, the drafts away from the dough, and you’ll
have a little mini greenhouse. If you have some sun, you can probably
get the dough warm enough for the yeast to work. Once at 11,000 feet
in Montana with a youth group, we moved a tent into the brunt of the
sun to absorb the afternoon rays and create enough heat to make the
dough rise.
But you still don’t have an oven. You can use a Dutch oven. You
can fry your yeasted bread. (In some parts of the West, these are called
scones.) Raised doughnuts—Spudnuts®—are fried yeast
breads. We’ve written before about fried bread.
To learn more, check out these fried
bread directions.
Learn more about
baking
bread in a Dutch oven.
If you don’t
want to mess around with the yeast, you can still make some great fried
breads. What follows is an easy flatbread recipe. Or check out this
versatile Sopaipillas
Recipe.
You can also make
some wonderful steamed breads around a campfire or on a cook stove.
Many of these are sweetbreads, maybe even dessert breads, but they can
be very good—good enough to make at home.
Check out this great
steamed
bread recipe.
And of course, you
can always rely on pancakes. In fact, pancakes may be one of the most
versatile of camping foods. It works on the trail on a backpacking trip,
in an RV, and everything in between. You can make them sweet or savory.
You can top them with syrups or sauces. You can even stuff them, roll
them, and eat them as a burrito. Check out this
savory
pancake recipe.
For more about making bread without an oven or bread in woods, we recommend
that you check out a copy of our “Emergency
and Outdoor Bread Manual”—it’s a free download
consisting of about 28 pages of goodies.
Here's a good recipe
to start with, Indian
Flatbread.
