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How to Make & Cook Bannock – Out In the Field

A bannock is a small, flat loaf of bread risen by a leavening agent, most often a chemical one, although yeasty bannocks are sometimes baked, as in a sourdough recipe. They are meant to be cooked hearth-side, whether a fireplace or a campfire. They are simple, and in the woods, simple is good. Add some honey to some simple bread and after a few days or weeks of bagels and Wasa bread, it tastes like manna from heaven. It’s hot, light, and comforting.

How to Make Bannock Bread

Ingredients

Bannock Mix
Water

Basic Bannock Mix

1 cup flour (white or a mixture of white and whole wheat)
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 cup dry milk powder
1 tbsp. shortening

Make the mix at home ahead of time. Sift dry ingredients, and cut shortening in with a pastry cutter or two knives until you have a granular, corn meal-like mixture. Package in zip-lock freezer bags. Double bag it if you’re going to be on a long trip. I’ve found that you can make large batches at once and make enough bannock mix for a trip in about fifteen minutes. Just make sure you sift the dry ingredients well, so you don’t get leavening problems.

Directions

Baking bannock is relatively simple once you get the hang of it. Your first ones will be dark and maybe burnt on the outside and gooey on the inside. Don’t despair, just pretend it’s a jelly donut and try again. The key is a consistent heat. While flames don’t indicate a bad cooking fire, red glowing fires from hardwood are best.

1. Start with a small cast iron frying pan and oil it well.

2. Pour some water into the bag and squoosh it around in the bag (squooshing is a technical term). Because the water and baking powder form carbon dioxide to make the bread light, the faster you go from mixing to skillet, the lighter your bannock will be. There will be lumps, of course, but we call them flavor bursts. I say “some water” because how much you add depends on the humidity and of course, personal taste. You don’t want it any thinner than a muffin consistency. If you’ve never baked a muffin, think spackle. You can distribute the dough with a poke of a finger or a stick or a spoon if you’re the civilized sort. Remember, it’s always easier to add water than take it out, right?

3. Squeeze the mix out of the bag and onto the warmed pan (not scalding hot — if the oil is smoking, it’s way too hot). The pan can be warmed over the fire if you have a grate, or leaned against a few logs near the heat source. It shouldn’t hiss or sizzle like a pancake batter…that means things are too hot. Cool it off and be patient. The bread will start to rise slowly.

4. Your bannock will start to look loaf-like. At this point you’ll want to flip your loaf. A little shake of the pan and flick of the wrist can turn it over, but a spatula is fair game too. At this point, just keep turning it. You’ll know when it’s done. It’ll look a lot like the picture here.

If you have a lid, you can try to cook your bannock dutch oven-style and put coals onto your skillet lid. Otherwise, you can turn it over to cook the top (carefully!) or else when the bottom is done, prop the pan up against a log with the top facing the fire. This is a great method of “semi-reflector-oven”. It also makes a lighter bannock.

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Posted by Wawang Lake on January 19, 2016 in Camping, recipe, Wawang Lake Resort

Tags: bannock, bannock cooked on a campfire, bannock outdoor cooking, cooking outdoors, wawang, Wawang Lake, Wawang Lake Resort

Blueberries – a Critical Food for Black Bear

18 Jan

Blueberries are an important food source throughout the black bear range. The most commonly eaten berries in our area of northwestern Ontario are blueberries and raspberries. Many other berries are eaten, but they have shorter seasons, are scarce, or are less preferred.

The period when blueberries are abundant in our area is short & mainly in August-making that period critically important in the black bear’s annual cycle of events. Efficient feeding during that time is critically important to winter survival, growth, and reproductive success. Researchers found that bears in NW Ontario end mating activities before the critical feeding period and focus on feeding for the remainder of the summer.

Black bears are efficient berry-eaters, consuming up to 30,000 berries a day in a good year. They gather berries quickly, using their sensitive, mobile lips and swallowing them whole. The berries enter a two-part stomach, which grinds the pulp off the seeds.

The seeds pass through the digestive tract unbroken and able to germinate, making black bears important seed dispersers. Each summer, they spread the seeds of their favorite berries all over their home ranges.

Black Bear around Wawang Lake gain weight most rapidly during July and August when berries are abundant. When the berries run out in September, there is little else to eat. The bear usually seek out their dens in September or October. The longer period of food abundance enables bears to achieve more growth and reach maturity more quickly than bear. Bear in NW Ontario typically produce their first litters at 4 to 5 years of age.

Berries contain anti-oxidants, and the seeds of some species contain vitamin B-17, considered an anti-cancer compound by some scientists. Although cancer occurs in captive bear, it has never been reported in wild bear.

RECIPES

Blueberry Pancakes

Gluten FREE Blueberry Pie

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Posted by Wawang Lake on January 18, 2016 in black bear, recipe, Wawang Lake Resort

Tags: black bear, blueberries, blueberry, blueberry pancakes, blueberry pie, blueberry recipe, wawang, Wawang Lake, Wawang Lake Resort

Squirrel Bungee Cord Feeder

17 Jan

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Posted by Wawang Lake on January 17, 2016 in Wawang Lake Resort, Wildlife

Tags: squirrel feeder, squirrels, wawang, Wawang Lake, Wawang Lake Resort, wildlife

Barbeque Moose Roast Recipe

13 Dec

Have you ever wanted to barbeque a moose roast and still have it be tender? We have, and recently cooked a moose round roast on the barbeque that was so tender once we carved it, it was possible to cut it with your fork.

Start out with a moose round roast; it’s not the best cut to be barbequing and it will require moist heat if it were to be palatable.

Remembering a friend telling of how he had cooked ribs on his barbeque and had great results so wondered if we could achieve the same?

The Process

The process is quite simple really, and you could likely apply this to any meat that is tough. Cook it with moisture over a long period of time. How much time… we cooked our roast for almost 9 hours on low heat

Ingredients:

Moose round roast 3 pounds
1 large onion
5 cloves garlic (elephant)
1 1/2 cups of barbeque sauce

Directions: Barbeque a Moose Roast

Thaw the moose roast in your refrigerator
Coarse chop the onion
Peel and slice half of the garlic and mince the balance
Start with a 8 inch by 8 inch roasting pan and place the moose round roast that you plan to barbeque onto a thin layer of the chopped onions.
Place the rest of the onions around the roast evenly.

Next sprinkle the onions with the sliced garlic and rubbed the roast itself with the minced garlic.

Followed by pouring barbeque sauce over the roast.

Once this was complete I covered the entire pan with a layer of heavy aluminum foil and took the pan (with the roast in it) outside to my barbeque.

I lit one burner and set it to low heat. Then place the covered pan containing the moose roast barbeque on the other side well away from the heating element.

Close the lid.

Maintain a constant temperature of about 200 degrees Fahrenheit for 9 hours, or until the internal temperature reached a minimum of 140 degrees; or your required doneness.

Serve the moose roast with baby potatoes, carrots, chopped onions and mushrooms. All of which were cooked on the barbeque while the roast was cooking. All the veggies were wrapped in foil; salt, pepper and butter were added and placed directly over the burner that was set on low temperature. About 1 1/4 hours.

Make gravy from the juice from the meat pan and add the onions from the meat pan to the veggie dish.

The barbequed moose roast and the entire dish… well…Delicious

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