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Stick bread?
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Booshway
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Lads: I have read several journal citations in which "stick bread" is mentioned as being the bread baked when on the trail. Cresswell notes it, and Felix Redick does as well, though written at a later time.

The ingredients have to be pretty simple - these guys are living out of haversacks on the frontier and did not carry much in the way of fancy stuff.

As described, a flour dough was made up and rolled into long "fingers" which were then wrapped around a stick to "bake" before the fire. Col Townsend Whelen, in "On Your Own in the Wilderness" (early 20th century) also mentions this and goes into how to cook it, but not what the dough recipe is!

I have read of "white ash" being used in place of baking powder, though I am not entirely sure what it was - perhaps no more than the white ash from the fire. Thus, the ingredients must be no more than wheat flour, water, and the white ash,
with possibly some salt as well.

I tried making this last night with mixed results. Rather than an open fire, I used the oven while my wife was baking a Game Hen..temp was perhaps a bit high for bread, though (400 deg). The result was "edible", with a pleasing nutty taste However, the crust was thick and rather leather-like...perhaps from the high temperature.

So, Lads, any of you campfire cooks got any more information on Stick Bread and how it is made?
I really want to figure this out and give it a try at Martins Station next month....

Col Boone
 
Posts: 728 | Location: Volcano, Hawaii | Registered: 22 September 2008Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Pilgrim
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Boy Scouts on a camp-out were to make "stick bread". Sent the "tenderfoot scouts" out to get the sticks. Not knowing any different they chose to bring some cascarra branch sticks.

All was fine until about 1 am when all broke loose!!!

Dave D.
 
Posts: 97 | Location: Shelton, WA | Registered: 23 January 2010Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Factor
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Yes, the recipe way back when was pretty simple, and mostly a pretzel type product was produced. Flour, water, a little salt and perhaps a little fat like lard.

Ashes from the fire can be added, as they have a pH that is base, but they only help with a minor "leavening" akin to baking soda, IF you add a little bit of an acid, such as citrus juice, vinegar, or buttermilk. The reaction between the ashes and the acid cause some bubbles to form, thus lightening the finished product.

Baking Soda (NaHCO3) and Baking Powder are 19th century innovations for "quick breads" when yeast was not available.

Soda Ash (Na2CO3) was produced in the 1790's, and with a suitable acid such as buttermilk, will do a better job in making non-yeast quick breads rise.

Unleavened Bread.—Quickly made, wholesome, and good for a change. Keeps like hardtack.
2½ pints flour,
1 tablespoonful sait,
1 tablespoonful of sugar.

Mix with water to stiff dough, and knead and pull until lively. Roll out thin as a soda cracker, score with knife, and bake as above. If you have no utensil, work dough into a ribbon two inches wide. Get a club of sweet green wood (birch, sassafras, maple), about two feet long and three inches thick, peel large
end, sharpen the other and stick it into ground, leaning toward fire. When sap simmers wind dough spirally around peeled end. Turn occasionally. Several sticks can be baking at once. Bread for one man's meal can be quickly baked on a peeled stick as thick as a broomstick, holding over fire and turning.
Unleavened bread that is to be carried for a long time must be mixed with as little water as possible (merely dampened enough to make it adhere), for if any moisture is left in it after baking, it will mold.
- Horace Kephart 1908


LD


It's not what you know, it's what you can prove
 
Posts: 3843 | Location: People's Republic of Maryland | Registered: 10 November 2004Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Booshway
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Loyal Dave: That is great stuff...very helpful indeed. The idea of the sugar did not occur to me, but I would have had that in 1770, so it fits in. Overall I think that the high temp of the oven was the culpret behind the tough crust, so I shall try again at lower temp to see how it goes. At this time of year here it is still wet as heck - rains nearly every day so the idea of trying it "properly" with an open fire is out for the time being...that will have to wait until the end of May, I expect.

Not being much of a cook, this is a real adventure for me...but, fun to try. I figure even if it is not the best bread you ever had, it at least won't kill you...

Col Boone
 
Posts: 728 | Location: Volcano, Hawaii | Registered: 22 September 2008Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Booshway
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You can also use a hot rock and cook it like a pan bread. I have done this with a similar receipe that Dave suggested above. Another idea I have used if it is in fire pit with a good amount of ashes is to bury the a small rolled up portion of the dough in fairly hot ashes. Leave set for a while depending on how hot your fire is and you can eat the inside of the roll.

BC


"Better fare hard with good men than feast it with bad."
Thomas Paine
 
Posts: 649 | Location: Oregon | Registered: 27 June 2011Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Booshway
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The "white ash" that is mentioned is not just any ash from the campfire. Most campfire ash is gray and this is from soft woods, such as pine, spruce, cedar, etc. White ash is produced by burning a hardwoods, such as alder, oak, birch, hickory, and some hard willows.

When I have camped and knew I was going to make stick bread or biscuits, I would throw in some really dry birch sticks, the size of my fingers, along the edge of the fire and let them burn down without disturbing them. They would form rows of white ash that looks very different than the softwood ash.

When using the ash, be careful to take the white ash only. Use a spoon or the tip of a wide knife to get it.

Hope this helps!

Regards, xfox


The forest is a wilderness only to those that fear it, silent only to those that hear nothing. The forest is a friend to those that dwell within its' nature and it is filled with the sounds of life to those that listen.
 
Posts: 532 | Location: Bitterroot Valley | Registered: 23 October 2004Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Booshway
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Crossfox - Good tip on the ash. Here we burn a very hard native wood, Ohia, that is easily as hard as any you note, in fact far harder I would think. The ash is indeed white - no gray in it at all, so it seems it might do fine.

Col Boone
 
Posts: 728 | Location: Volcano, Hawaii | Registered: 22 September 2008Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Booshway
Picture of Hunts4Deer
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A documented leavening agent was Pearl Ash. I have had cookies that used it in the recipe. See this Wikipedia page:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potassium_carbonate


John
Vive le Roy!
 
Posts: 513 | Location: Colony of Maryland | Registered: 04 November 2007Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Booshway
Picture of Hunts4Deer
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Also, when I was in Norway, I was served pancakes as a snack that smelled like ammonia. They said the reason was the leavening agent they used was an old traditional recipe made from powdered reindeer antler. I could never find anything else about this until I stumbled on this page:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ammonium_bicarbonate


John
Vive le Roy!
 
Posts: 513 | Location: Colony of Maryland | Registered: 04 November 2007Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Factor
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Sounds a lot like the "ramrod rolls" made from corn meal. CSA soldiers lived on this, often for pretty good lengths of time. Obviously this had it's roots long before then.


*Young guys should hang out with old guys; old guys know stuff.*
 
Posts: 3559 | Location: Maine (by way of Georgia then Va.) | Registered: 26 January 2009Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Factor
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Not all these, laid in bed majestical,
Can sleep so soundly as the wretched slave
Who with a body filled and vacant mind Gets him to rest, crammed with distressful bread
; . . . And but for ceremony such a wretch,
Winding up days with toil and nights with sleep,
Had the forehand and vantage of a king.

Williams Shakespear
King Henry; Henry V

And perhaps more than a century, for this speech is by Henry while walking among his host on the eve of the final battle. Perhaps distressful bread as imagined by the author in the 16th to 17th centuries is the same stuff??

LD


It's not what you know, it's what you can prove
 
Posts: 3843 | Location: People's Republic of Maryland | Registered: 10 November 2004Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Booshway
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Hunts4 - Thanks! Very interesting info. BUT, I have seen the term "pearl ash" several times, and "white ash" as many times, so ARE THEY THE SAME THING? Seems they might be.

A second experiment with the receipt that Loyal Dave suggested, and with an oven temp of 325 deg, produced a far better bread. The crust was like "crust" (not moccasin leather!), and the flavor was quite good - even my wife thought it "decent", which is a lot coming from her.

So, I grope towards understanding and a full belly. Now I got to try this on the Vermin in the Hunters Camp at Martins next month and see how it goes over. Of course, those guys will eat almost anything, so it is not really a fair judge.

Col Boone
 
Posts: 728 | Location: Volcano, Hawaii | Registered: 22 September 2008Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Booshway
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Col. one tip I can give ya, no matter what recipie ya end up useing, when ya wrap it around the stick, stay close for a few minutes, the dough will usually want to droop n sag at first unless very dense, so ya need to turn the dough against the heat several times until the outside is kind of set, then it should stay in place for the duration, I have useally moved the dough back away from the fire abit so the heat is more tempered so to speak(once its set in place from the heat),I'll hold my hand out so the heat hits my palm, I want the bread in the area where I feel I need to pull my hand away from the heat between the count of 6 to 8 seconds. That should give a good crust on the outside n yet fully cook inside to before browning to much. Kind of primative temp gauge but its worked for me over the years. I'll do the same thing n place different foods at different distances from the heat useing my hand as the temp gauge, just takes time n practice is all. just some thoughts YMHS Birdman ps ya may want to try bannok bread more or less baked in a small cast iron skillet. place it over a medium heat set of coals n let it cook from the bottom up, run a skinny sliver into it to see if its done just like ya would at home, then take it off the fire n tilt the top towards the fire to brown it up nice n give it a crust, usually turns out pretty dang good, all steamy hot n fresh smeared with whatever sweetness ya got with ya or broken up to sop up gravy n juices, heck I can make a full meal out of just that LOL
 
Posts: 964 | Location: south eastern Pa | Registered: 31 October 2004Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Booshway
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Am going to have to try this recipe out. Made hardtack one time. Bird that testing temp with the hand thing is something most backyard grillers do. My one brother had it down to a science 'till he went to the darkside and bought a gas grill.


I never have been much for drinking the kool-aid.It's not in my nature.
 
Posts: 336 | Location: Central Pennsyltucky | Registered: 12 January 2012Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Booshway
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Birdman- Most welcome tips, Sir! I thank ye kindly...

I have the Townsend Whelen book here and he does mention stick cooked bannock bread in some detail. He notes that if you select a stick with side branches and leave stubs of them on, it helps catch the dough to keep it from slipping. He also notes the "cook it at first close, then move back" approach, which makes total sense. I love your "temperature gauge"...clever, and "needs no battery".. :-)

I am going to try a slightly different recipe in the oven tonight - still too darn rainy to even keep a fire going, let alone cook on it!

Col Boone
 
Posts: 728 | Location: Volcano, Hawaii | Registered: 22 September 2008Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Factor
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The biggest problem with "hardtack" is that folks use the wrong ingredients as they use ingredients by "default". The wheat of the 18th century, and through the Civil War was whole wheat, but it was what we call today "soft white". So IF you are going to make hardtack, you need to use modern "whole wheat pastry flour". Much less gluten and more albumen, so the hardtack or ship's biscuit is softer. Not all that softer, but not the hockey pucks many folks make with modern whole wheat flour made from hard, red wheat.

In fact, if you are making ship's biscuit, it was made from the lowest grade "flour", known as ship's stuff. There was a lot more bran and straw in it than in higher grades of flour, so you should add about 1 cup of wheat bran to every three cups of whole wheat pastry flour (imho) to simulate the proper flour for the biscuits. You end up with a very hard cracker, but you can eat them with your teeth.

LD


It's not what you know, it's what you can prove
 
Posts: 3843 | Location: People's Republic of Maryland | Registered: 10 November 2004Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Factor
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To supplement what LD said, the difference between the red and white wheat is in the gluten. Gluten is the stuff that makes it sticky (I think) and traps gasses. "Hard red" wheat traps lots of air, hence the large holes in bread. Soft White wheat has gluten that isn't quite as good at keeping gas trapped, so the holes are much smaller. Soft White wheat is used to make cakes and noodles.

Bird, somewhere along the line I learned about testing frying pan heat holding my hand about an inch or two above the pan. If it felt 'hot' it was time to drop in the eggs and get that perfect sizzle whisper.

I have made bannock several times in the oven in a frying pan. One thing I used to do is spin the bread in the pan once in awhile...just put a hand down and give it a quarter turn or so..

Sparks


"I thought when you said you chased tornadoes, it was just a metaphor."
--soon to be ex-fiance in Twister
 
Posts: 247 | Location: Boise | Registered: 12 November 2011Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Factor
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I found what George Washington Sears, aka Nessmuk has to say about "club bread"...

... because it is baked on a veritable club sassafras or black birch. This is how to make it: Cut a club two feet long and three inches thick at the broadest end; peel or shave off the bark smoothly, and sharpen the smaller end neatly. Then stick the sharpened end in the ground near the fire, leaning the broad end toward a bed of live coals, where it will get screeching hot. While it is heating, mix rather more than a half pint of best Minnesota flour with enough warm water to make a dough. Add a half teaspoonful of salt, and a teaspoonful of sugar, and mold and pull the dough until it becomes lively. Now, work it into a ribbon two inches wide and half an inch thick, wind the ribbon spirally around the broad end of the club, stick the latter in front of the fire so that the bread will bake evenly and quickly to a light brown, and turn frequently until done, which will be in about thirty minutes. When done take it from the fire, stand the club firmly upright, and pick the bread off in pieces as you want it to eat. It will keep hot a long time, and one soon becomes fond of it."

LD


It's not what you know, it's what you can prove
 
Posts: 3843 | Location: People's Republic of Maryland | Registered: 10 November 2004Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Factor
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Here is a recipe for "unleavened bread" from Camp and Trail by Stewart Edward White c. 1911

Take three-quarters of a cup of either cornmeal, oatmeal, Cream of Wheat, or Germea [this is a wheat-germ product I don't think is available these days], and mix it thoroughly with an equal quantity of flour. Add a teaspoonful of salt, a tablespoonful of sugar, and a teaspoonful of olive oil or shortening. Be sure not to exceed the amount of the latter ingredient. Mix in just enough water to wet thoroughly, and beat briskly; the result should be almost crumbly. Mold biscuits three inches across and a quarter of an inch thick, place in a hot greased pan, and bake before a hot fire. The result is a thoroughly cooked, close-grained, crisp biscuit.

I think a little more water would allow it to stick to a stick. This appears to be a corn+wheat ship's biscuit or hardtack, with fat/oil and sugar added.

For what it's worth. Big Grin

LD


It's not what you know, it's what you can prove
 
Posts: 3843 | Location: People's Republic of Maryland | Registered: 10 November 2004Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Greenhorn
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Here is a demo from Jas. Townsend

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...2&feature=plpp_video


Colonel Christopher
 
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