Bannock

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John Fenna

Lifetime Member & Maker
Oct 7, 2006
23,136
2,874
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Pembrokeshire
I have just tried a new version of a Bannock recipe and thought it so good as to be worth sharing.

This makes pleanty for a weekend!

3 cups self raising flour
3 cups wholemeal plain flour
I cup dried skimmed milk
1 cup vegetable suet
1/4 cup baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon unrefined sugar

Mix well and devide into 3 or more re-sealable bags as cooking portions.

To cook

Open portion bag and SLOWLY add water and mix from outside the bag by kneading until you have a dough ball inside the bag and still have clean hands!
Flatten the ball and place on a bake stone on the embers of a fire. Cook each side until both are golden brown.
Even if you over cook this bannock it is still good - a bit like crispy fried bread - a lesson learned from experience.
For those who were at the Feb Welsh meet at Gellie - this is an improvement on the recipe I was trying there.
This mix stores well without refridgeration, tho should be kept in a cool dry place to maintain the veg suet in good condition.
Unlike recipes containing butter it will not go rancid overnight.....
Try adding herbs, onion, cheese, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, raisins, chopped dried apricot etc - or combinations of the afore-mentioned,before cooking, for variations. Try it plain served with butter and golden syrup or - even better - Maple syrup...fat boy special - yum!
It will work wrapped around sticks to cook, like "Twist" but is a little "short" (as cooks say), and may break and fall apart in cooking.
I was impressed with this recipe and think you will be too.
John
 

saffy

Forager
Feb 2, 2007
107
0
UK
I want to try this to take out for the weekend, please confirm that 1/4 cup baking powder is correct (sounds a lot).
 

Tadpole

Full Member
Nov 12, 2005
2,842
21
60
Bristol
tanto said:
Is suet some kind of butter substitute? Can you replace it with anything?
no, it is no a "butter" anything.
Suet is hard fat mostly found around the loin or the kidneys, the stuff you get in the supermarkets has had a lot of the water removed. Vegetarian suet is made from palm ouil and rice flour, it does the same job, but is not as 'rich' tasting
 

tanto

Member
May 29, 2005
49
0
45
Sweden
Tadpole, thank you. Know what it is now.

Its close to impossible to get suet here (veg or not). Can i leave it out or use something else?
 

John Fenna

Lifetime Member & Maker
Oct 7, 2006
23,136
2,874
66
Pembrokeshire
Yes - it is 1/4 cup of baking powder! I thought it was a lot as well, but this is quite a lot of bannock.....
The veg suet could be replaced by butter, tho I would not know quite how much and you may have storage problems, especially in warm weather. Veg suet does not need refridgeration and has a long shelf life.
Greg - this is a much better recipe!
John
 

janiepopps

Nomad
Jan 30, 2006
450
9
50
Heavenly Cornwall
tanto said:
Tadpole, thank you. Know what it is now.

Its close to impossible to get suet here (veg or not). Can i leave it out or use something else?

Tanto, I am going shopping today and will happily pick you up a box of each (veggie and normal) if you like.

If so, PM me your address and I shall send on to you.

j
 

Matt Weir

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Jun 22, 2006
2,880
2
52
Tyldesley, Lancashire.
tanto said:
Tadpole, thank you. Know what it is now.

Its close to impossible to get suet here (veg or not). Can i leave it out or use something else?

I've had a dig about and a lot of recipes say you can susbstitute veg suet for veg shortening so not sure if that would be easily available. It looks like is would result in a richer and heavier bannock though - good or bad I'm not sure?

Matt.
 

Hoodoo

Full Member
Nov 17, 2003
5,302
13
Michigan, USA
You can use margarine as a replacement.

I'm not sure why there's baking powder in the recipe if you are using self rising flour. :confused:
 

John Fenna

Lifetime Member & Maker
Oct 7, 2006
23,136
2,874
66
Pembrokeshire
The baking powder is there because the whole meal plain I use is quite "heavy" and it does need the help! Without the powder the bannock struggles to rise - especially on damp and cold monday mornings...oh.. that is ME not the bannock!
John
 

bushtank

Nomad
Jan 9, 2007
337
2
51
king lynn
me and ady05 did our first bannock two weeks ago we just chucked all the ingredients together and mixed it in my trangia frying pan non stick of course and it was brilliant we had it with steak rabbit an a venison stew it was lovely just needed some more salt :beerchug:
 

Oakleaf

Full Member
Jun 6, 2004
331
1
Moray
John

Just nipped back in to house to cover work e mail :( . However - joy of remote cottage, camp is set up 1 mile into the forest :) .

We threw together your recipe this morning - adding raisins and using 'straight' suet - but otherwise as per your posting. Set up camp this afternoon and cooked up a bag - part in pan and part on hot rock beside embers.

All of it was chuffin nice! Thank you for the recipe :35:

Preference was hot rock version - tearing off as it cooked. Another batch is going on as soon as I radio heading back out .

Thank you kindly!
 

saffy

Forager
Feb 2, 2007
107
0
UK
I dunno what I am doing wrong but I have tried the OP's recipe 3 times, 2 twice at home and once in camp and each time resulted is an inedible bannok fit for the trash along with unused mix.

There is an awful bitter metallic after taste which burns to the degree that the tasters (not just me) pallet was left stripped. I assume this is due to the stated quantity of baking powder used, as said I do not know what else I am doing wrong.

Reading on this thread that others have cooked via this recipe and posted their findings as a tasty bannock really irks me :lmao: ... are they heavy smokers with no sense of taste? :confused:

Having experimented with the original recipe and taking advice on recommend baking powder quantities I have come to a recipe I am happy with which produces something tasty and edible for me (Although I am still playing with quantities). As long as the dough is not kneaded to death the quantities I have stated produce 4 of 8inch diameter by a risen 1.25 inch thick cooked bannocks, one of which is more than enough for a mans meal.

12 oz (cup n half) self raising flour
12 oz (cup n half) wholemeal plain flour
4 oz (half cup) dried skimmed milk
4 oz (half cup) vegetable suet
2 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 heaped teaspoon unrefined sugar

Optional: Add 2 oz of dried fruit, nut or seeds to the mix. My current favourite is palmful of torn dates and sunflower seeds.
 

gregorach

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Sep 15, 2005
3,723
28
50
Edinburgh
I have absolutely no idea what quantities I use... I work entirely by eye and experience, both at home and in the field. Whenever I try and measure quantities, it never turns out right...
 

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