How to bake Bread in the Bush

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How to bake Bread in the Bush

Published on Sunday, 18 July 2010 20:12

Written by Holger

Bread
Nothing beats freshly baked bread; the smell, and that first warm slice with butter. Until recently, baking bread in the bush meant to me, using either a bed of coals, or a camp-oven, which is definitely too big and heavy for a Kayak trip. Previous tests with camping stoves resulted in a burnt crust and a raw centre; the heat of a stove (even on the smallest setting) is just too much, and not spread out well enough to evenly bake the bread. My 'new' method makes the task of baking bread at camp a quick & easy process.

You will need a big ziplock bag, filled with 500g of flour (white or wholegrain), a tablespoon of salt, and some sunflower or pumpkin seeds, if you like.

Then you need a small ziplock bag filled with a small amount of flour ( ~ 50g ), a teaspoon of sugar and a sachet of dry yeast. Then you need 5-6 tea-lights, a pot & lid, some warm water and a Trangia stove or a windscreen ( the foldable aluminium- foil type will do fine ).
All_for_bread

First empty the sachet of dry yeast into the small ziplock bag with the flour and sugar. Mix well. Then pour a bit of warm ( but not hot ) water into the bag and mix well to get a runny, wet mixture with the consistency of a pancake mix. Close the bag and let this mixture ( the starter ) rest for 15 – 20 minutes in a warm place out of the wind. The starter is ready when it has slightly increased in size and contains some air bubbles.

Next, take a small handful of flour out of the main (big) ziplock bag, ( just enough to 'dust ' the pot and the finished dough later) and put it in the pot. Pour the starter from the small bag into the main bag. Start kneading the bag. By kneading the bag, (as opposed to sticking your hands into it) you keep your hands clean. Slowly add some more warm water. Go slowly though, and go bit by bit, as it is easy to put too much water in. Knead the dough well, until you get a uniform, dry and 'solid' dough. Take the dough out of the bag, dust some flour over both sides and put it in your pot.

dough

Cover the pot with a lid, and rest it again for about 10 minutes in a warm spot. The dough will grow considerably, even double in volume.
Take 5-8 tea-lights, ( I use typically 6 ) and put them either in your Trangia, or (if you don't have one) on the ground and put the windshield around it. If you use the method with the windshield you also need 3 stones or sticks of the right size to raise the pot about 20- 30 mm above the tea-lights.

Tealights

Now bake your bread over the tea-lights for 30 minutes, turn it over, and bake it for another 30 minutes (when ready, the bread should sound hollow if you tap it ).

beaking

The result should look something like this, and let me assure you, it is absolutely delicious:

ready_bread

Preparation time: ~30 minutes ( 5 minutes work, 25 looking)
Baking time: 2x 30 minutes

500g flour
1 Tablespoon of Salt
Seeds ( if you like )

~50g Flour
1 Teaspoon of sugar
1 sachet of dry Yeast

6 Tea-lights

Enjoy!