How to cook bannock?

[Theenglishcamper]

Me and my dad are going walking soon and I want to know how to cook bannock and what ingreidents do i need?


thanks,joshua

[Martin]

Do a Google search Joshua. You'll find dozens of bannock recipes on there. :)

Martin

[AdrianRose]

My basic recipe is:

3 parts plain flour
1 part milk powder
3 tsp baking powder
Water

Mix to a stiff dough, but don't kneed (this is very important).

You can add any sweet or savoury ingredients to the above as it suits.

Hope this helps

Ade.

[CanadianMike]

Best to find a suitable container (a leather bag even, I made one for this purpose, line it with a large zipper bag), and measure out all your ingredients at home, mix well, then store in the bag/container. That way when you get out and about with your dad, all you need to do is add water and mix/knead. Another tip is to do the actual mixing in a large zipper bag too, if too dry once thoroughly mixed, add a bit of water, if too wet, add a bit more mix. Try to balance it out this way, but also keeps your hands from getting totally gooey, which is important if you have limited water resources around.

[AdrianRose]

My basic recipe is:

3 parts plain flour
1 part milk powder
3 tsp baking powder
Water

Mix to a stiff dough, but don't kneed (this is very important).

You can add any sweet or savoury ingredients to the above as it suits.

Hope this helps

Ade.

Hello again

Following my post above, I have received a private message off of a "concerned" forum member stating that I have used "relative and absolute measurements" in my reply and I have been advised to edit my post.

So to avoid any confusion:

3 cups of plain flour
1 cup of milk powder
3 tea spoons of baking powder
Water - roughly one cup but make the mix dry rather than over wet.

I hope that this is less confusing and makes everybody happy!

Ade

[Emdiesse]

My basic recipe is:

3 parts plain flour
1 part milk powder
3 tsp baking powder
Water

Mix to a stiff dough, but don't kneed (this is very important).

You can add any sweet or savoury ingredients to the above as it suits.

Hope this helps

Ade.

Can I ask why not to knead bannock?

My understanding of why we need bread is to stretch the gluten which helps make the bread nice and fluffy. So, we don't have yeast, but we have self raising flour. So kneading would only serve to make the bannock lighter and fluffier? Or is the objective to make a big thick bread?

[AdrianRose]

In my experience, over-working or kneading the bannock dough results in a flat, un-risen end result. I read somewhere that over-working has a detrimental effect on the action of the baking powder and its role as a raising agent.

I really don't know the science behind it, i just know that I have kneaded bannock dough and it has remained flat, but given a "light working" it always rises well.

Ade

[Emdiesse]

In my experience, over-working or kneading the bannock dough results in a flat, un-risen end result. I read somewhere that over-working has a detrimental effect on the action of the baking powder and its role as a raising agent.

I really don't know the science behind it, i just know that I have kneaded bannock dough and it has remained flat, but given a "light working" it always rises well.

Ade

Interesting, thanks. I will have to do some bannock experiments at some point see what happens :)

I guess with bread, typically we are relying on the yeast for it to rise and so perhaps kneading also warms and activates the yeast, along with stretching the gluten, helping it rise.

Cheers

[Humakt]

If you click on my Youtube channel (ink in signature below) you'll find a film called 'forage and wild cook'. In that I show how to make bannock and the recipe I use.

Shameless self promotion over...

[Marvell]

Can I ask why not to knead bannock?

For the same reason you don't over knead pastry or cake. Leavened bread (with yeast) is kneaded to give it structure and the rise is provided by the action of the yeast over the proving period. If you over work unleavened bread, it will become tough as AdrianRose quite rightly points out, as the action of the bicard in the baking powder is not strong enough to overcome the strong gluten bonds to create a risen structure.

[CanadianMike]

In the very early 90s I took the Chef Training course at the local collge, included two semesters of baking class, always made me smile in how yeast works to make bread rise, the yeast eats the sugar and farts out carbon dioxide, which is trapped by the glutten forming bubbles, which makes the bread expand. :)