Recipes for quick breads

[Capt. Hamp Cox]

As I'm sure you are aware, many trail drives started in deep South Texas, with substantial numbers of Mexican vaqueros and more than a few real live Mexican Cocineros.  The following is a trail bread recipe that definitely rates a PC.  For you old hickory wood snobs, this bread tastes best when cooked over and under mesquite wood coals .




                                   
basic recipe           half batch           quarter batch   

5 lbs.    flour             2.5 lbs             1.25 lbs       
1 lb.     butter             .5 lb               .25 lb         
4 tsp.    salt              1   tsp              .5  tsp       
4 tblsp   bak. pwdr     2   tblsp          1    tblsp     
water                       water              water     

Pre heat the dutch oven over hot coals.
Mix all ingredients in a large bowl, adding just enough water to allow the dough to form a ball. Knead as for tortillas. Pat dough into flat cakes about 1/2 inch to 3/4 inch thick and large enough to cover the bottom of the dutch oven.
Grease or oil inside bottom of the dutch oven with oil, lard or shortening.
Put in the bread. Replace the top on the dutch oven and cover the top with coals. Cook until done, usually 15 to 30 minutes depending on how hot the oven is. When it is done it is light brown and cooked through.

[Capt. Hamp Cox]

1 cup flour
1 cup starter
1 tablespoon butter or lard
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg
water

Mix everything together, adding water until batter looks right.  Pour or spoon pancake size amounts onto skillet and cook until the edges start to look like they are starting to crisp up a bit, flip, and cook until brown.  Have plenty of butter and syrup, honey, or preserves available, and watch 'em disappear.

[Ozark Tracker]

Indian Fry Bread,   I got this out of a Cherokee newspaper I get

3 Cups Flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
(increase to 3 teaspoons at high altitude)
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups warm water or milk
in a mixing bowl combine all ingredients and kneed until smooth rub oil over dough cover and let sit for 30 minutes.
Pat or roll out enough dough to fin in the plam of your hand and deep fry in hot oil or shortening makes 10 to 12 fry breads

When my wife cooks this she cuts it in half for the 2 of us.  It will save in the refridgerator

roll it out about the thickness of a toritilla, it will puff up real good.

then just add some refried beans,    fried hamburger meat,   cheese,   lettuce, tomatoes and onions,  some hot sause ( your choice) and boy you can make a meal right there.
with a little practice you can make them just the size of your plate.  lol

[Delmonico]

Real Sourdough Biscuits

The down and dirty (did I say that) way of makin' sourdough biscuits, the way cosie would have done it on the trail drive or roundup.

Sourdough Biscuits

4-5 handfuls of flour a pinch of salt
2-3 pinches saleratus (baking soda, sodioum bicarbonate, NaHCO3)
1 or more tablespoons of sweetener if desired. (Sugar, brown sugar, honey, molasses or sorghum syrup)

Mix in bowl by hand a lump of lard the size of a medium chicken egg
Work into dry mix till mealy

Add enough sour dough starter to make a slightly sticky dough. 
Work just enough to mix, over working will make them tough.
Flatten dough by hand on cutting board, cut with tin biscuit cuttert or a tin can with an end removed. 
Place in pre-heated 14 inch shallow dutch oven, let rise about 5 minutes and bake about 15 minutes in a hot oven (bout 400 degrees) till nice and brown.

Some of the best food in the world is sourdough biscuits. Thow some meat and cheese on them, ya can make a better meal than any fast food in about 20 minutes using the oven at home. Use canned corned beef and some cheddar cheese and ya gots period correct fast food. Don't be afraid ta add some stone ground mustard and some ground horse radish.

Some good bulk sausage and a can or two of canned cow will make a wonderful meal also, gravy and biscuits is good food.

Shave some sirloin steak, slice some onions, grill in a cast iron skillet, thow some grated cheese in just before you are done and ya got "Cosie Cheese Steaks" on sourdoughs.

If yer personna is late 1890's ya can throw some peanut butter on them, but folks might think yer sick cause it was developed as invalid food.

Put some real butter on them and some sorghum lasses and ya got dessert. If your local store ain't got sorghum lasses, go somewhere else cause they be heathens.

If ya can't get sorghum lasses the slap some honey on them fer dessert. 

Sorghum (It's a molasses made from cane sorgum, similar to milo. I can get it in several local stores, but any dark molasses will work.)

[Delmonico]

Sourdough Pancakes
2 cups of sourdough starter
1 beaten egg
couple double pinches of brown sugar
a couple a tablesppons melted lard
a couple a cups of flour
a good double pinch of salertus (bakin' sody)

Beat egg and add to starter, stir in the sugar, stir in enough of the flour to make the bater as thick as desired. A slightly thick batter will make a good pancake, a thin one will make on a them whipy things like the serve at the pancake house. Beat in the melted lard, when ready to cook beat in the salertus and cook on yer cast iron griddle.

Best if served with real butter and sorghum mollasses.

[Delmonico]

Sourdough Potato Pancakes

1 or 2 cooked potato (grated or riced)
bout 2 cups sourdough starter
bout 1 cup milk
1 egg beaten
1 pinch salt
big double pinch brown sugar enough flour to make the batter thick enough mix well, beat a big pinch salertus into the bowl. Cook on cast iron griddle. Pour real melted butter over top, I use homemade elderberry syrup on top

[Delmonico]

Irish Soda Bread

2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salertus (baking soda)
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup of cultured butter milk or sour milk
1 beaten egg
3/4 tablespoon butter

Mix the dry ingediants and cut in the butter.  Mix the milk and beaten egg and stir it into the dry mix.  Knead 12 strokes and form into a round ball.  Cut an X on the top and bake in a moderate oven (350-375) for 30 to 40 minutes.

Heck it's St. Patricks day add some currants and a wee bit of brown sugar, (2-4 tablespoons) and brush with another beaten egg before bakin' if desired.

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

I was sent this from a fellow Cowboy Action Shooter in Victoria BC, "The Reverend Al".   He is also quite a cook.



Bannock 101


by Richard Munn       Published 07-12-2006

Bannock 101

History

Most of us believe that bannock is a traditional native food that was adapted by European fur traders. In fact, it's the other way around. In many parts of North America, Native people had no access to flour prior to the arrival of European traders, although some flour substitutes existed, like wild turnips or corn, dried and ground to a powder.

Bannock actually has its culinary roots in Scotland. The Scots originated this simple bread, and some fancier variations. Do a search on traditional Scottish cuisine and you'll find bannock mentioned frequently. You'll probably find information on Selkirk Bannock, old and famous enough to have its own name. It was a fancy bannock served only on holidays.

Because bannock could be quickly prepared from readily available ingredients, and because these ingredients lasted a long time without spoiling, bannock became a staple of the European fur traders and subsequently, the native people also. Of course, canoeists and other wilderness travellers have also adopted bannock as a staple of backcountry travel.

What is Bannock?

Bannock is a simple bread, generally leavened with baking powder rather than yeast. It can be baked, fried in a pan or sometimes even deep-fried. It can be made from virtually any kind of andse almost any kind of fat available (oil, lard, or bacon grease).

Making Bannock

Famed author and wilderness canoeist Sigurd Olson passed on his recipe for Bannock in a letter from 1962, stating that it was good "...for four, depending on what else goes with it." Olson's recipe was:

"Three or four cups of flour, a good pinch of salt, a few tablespoons of bacon grease, a level teaspoon of baking powder, enough warm water to make dough. Kneed the dough well, turning it over and over until all the ingredients are well mixed and the dough of even consistency. Use only enough water to make a rather dry dough. Too much water and it is spoiled.

Then, depending on the size of your frying pan, cut off enough of the dough to pat into a well-greased pan, making the bannock at this stage not more than half an inch in thickness. Have it fill the pan.

Now it is ready for the baking. You can start it over a low flame very gently so as not to burn, but it is better to do as the Indians and Old Timers—prop your pan beside the fire so it will get the heat and bake from the top. After the top is done, you can turn it and brown the other side. It usually takes about twenty minutes. The secret is a slow, even heat.

After it is done you can rub it with more bacon grease to make a nice juicy crust. Many like to add some fruit to the bannock, raisins, any chopped fruit, dried, or anything you can pick in season. It does something.

This is the bread of the north and worth working at."

The first rule of bannock making seems to be that there are no rules. A glance at the hundreds of recipes available shows a wild variation in ingredients, quantities and cooking time. Virtually any combination of flour, water and baking powder that is baked or fried will result in some type of bread, although the final product will vary in "eat-ability."

Recipes

A basic bannock recipe consists of:

4 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup melted lard
4 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 cups water
From this basic starting point, a wide variation exists. Some recipes call for more or less water, some call for more baking powder. Some call for the addition of eggs. Many recommend "fancying up" the recipe with cinnamon, brown sugar, nuts or berries.

As long as these basic proportions are maintained, and the resulting dough is fairly dry (rather than sticky or runny) the end result will likely be acceptable. The dough is patted down into a pizza-like patty and either baked or fried in a pan with oil. Traditionally, bannock was baked in a cast iron frying pan that was propped up next to the fire so that the top baked.

Bannock prepared by frying takes about 12-15 minutes to cook. Baked bannock will take longer - from 30 to 40 minutes 

Favorite Metis recipes from the Louis Riel Institute of Manitoba

Li Gallette - Bannock
3 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp baking powder
1/2-cup lard
1 1/2 cups cold water
Mix
Knead 5 to 8 minutes
Roll 1/2 thick
Bake at 375° F until done

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

Old West Sourdough Biscuits

Ingredients

•   2 cups flour
•   3 teaspoons baking powder
•   1 teaspoon salt
•   1/4 cup shortening
•   1 cup sourdough starter
•   1/3 cup milk

Combine dry ingredients in bowl; mix. Cut in shortening until it looks like coarse meal. Add sourdough starter to milk. Stir with fork until moist. Do not over-stir. Turn dough out on lightly floured board, then gently pat into a 10-inch circle. Cut; place on ungreased cookie sheet and bake at 450 degrees F for 12 minutes.   

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

Corn Cake

One egg, two tablespoonfuls of sugar, one cup of Indian meal (which is yellow corn meal), two cups of flour, two teaspoonfuls of cream of tartar, one teaspoonful of soda, a little salt, a piece of butter the size of a walnut, and one pint of sweet milk.

It didn't say how long to cook, but usually in the oven about 25 minutes.

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

The Very Best Cowboy Camp
Baking Powder Biscuits


4 1/2 cups of all purpose flour, plus some extra for bench flour
2 1/2 tablespoons of Baking Powder
4 tablespoons of sugar
1 teaspoons of salt
1 cup of shortening (or butter or bacon fat)
1 1/2 cups of whole milk
1 large egg

Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees.

In a large bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt until evenly combined.  Blend the shortening or butter into the dry ingredients with a pastry blender until the mix resembles coarse meal.

Mix the milk and egg together in a measuring cup and whisk them together until thoroughly mixed.  Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and blend together until it forms into a wet dough.  Dust your work surface with some bench flour, and work the dough lightly adding bench flour until it's not too wet, and then fold it over and over several times to create flakier biscuits.  Roll out or pat out the dough until it's about 3/4" thick, and then using a large sized biscuit cutter, cut out the biscuits and place them on a greased baking sheet.  (In camp I use a soup can with both ends cut out as a biscuit cutter, and dip the end in flour so the biscuits don't stick)  This recipe will make about 12 to 16 cowboy sized biscuits.

Bake for 12 minutes until golden brown on top.  Serve hot with butter.


Optional glaze:

1 tablespoon of heavy cream
1 tablespoon of melted butter

Lightly brush the biscuit tops with the glaze just before baking.

As another option, I usually just spray the biscuit tops with a bit of olive oil from our pump sprayer just before baking, rather than using the glaze listed above.

I've also added some grated Cheddar to the dry mix just before adding the wet ingredients, and made them into Cowboy Camp Cheese biscuits too, and they're great that way!

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

THE CAMP COOK'S BEST BISCUITS

Ingredients

   - 4 cups of flour
   - 4 eggs
   - 1/2 cup butter or Crisco
   - 2/3 cup whole sweet milk
   - 1 tsp salt
   - 2 tsp sugar
   - 6 tsp baking powder

Preparation & Cooking

   Add the dry ingredients to the flour, mix well.  Cut in the shortening.  Add the milk and beaten eggs.  Mix only until blended.  Do not overwork.  Press the dough (do not roll) into a cake about 3/4 inch thick.  Dust with additional flour as needed.  Cut rounds with a clean, empty, floured 14 oz. tin can.  Place the rounds closely in a frying pan or baking sheet and bake at about 450 degrees F for 15 minutes or until golden.  The amounts given here will make about one dozen "man sized" biscuits.  This beautiful bread is good with butter, better with honey, but BEST when drowned in thick, rich sausage gravy.

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

The Reverend Al's Homemade Buttermilk Biscuits


3 cups of all purpose flour
3 teaspoons of baking powder
1 teaspoon of salt
¾ teaspoon of baking soda
1 tablespoon of Garlic powder

¾ cup of shortening (Crisco, bacon grease, lard, etc.)

1 cup of grated cheese (Cheddar or your choice of mixed cheeses)

¾ cup of buttermilk

Pre-heat oven to about 375 degrees.

Sift the flour to make sure that there are no lumps.  Add the baking powder, salt, baking soda, and Garlic powder.  Mix the dry ingredients well.  (I use the pastry blender to stir the dry ingredients in the bowl until they're all well blended.)  Add the shortening and work into the dry ingredients with a pastry blender until the mix resembles coarse cornmeal.  Add the grated cheese and mix well.

Next, add the buttermilk, working it into the mixture with a large, solid spoon.  After everything is thoroughly mixed, roll it out onto a floured board or counter top.  Knead the dough lightly, adding flour if too wet, or a bit more buttermilk if too dry, until the dough doesn't stick to your hands, and has a "satin" look to it.

After it has the right consistency, roll or pat out the dough to about ¾" thick, and cut out the biscuits with a 2" to 3" biscuit cutter, or if in camp use the end of a soup can with the top and bottom cut out.  (If you lightly flour the end of the biscuit cutter or soup can, the biscuits won't stick to your cutter.)

I use a flat cookie sheet for baking biscuits and use baking parchment paper on the pan to prevent the biscuits from burning on their bottoms.

In our oven about 10 to 12 minutes is just about right for light, medium browned biscuits.  If they are too dry in the middle, bake for a slightly shorter time, as they should be slightly moist in the centre when finished.

[Delmonico]

Basic Baking Powder Biscuits

2 cups all-purpose flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar (optional)

Mix well

Cut in 1/4 cup lard or 1/3 cup shortening

I just cut it in by working in with my hands till there are no clumps of the lard.  (Note the reason it takes more shortening is that lard works better and since the are almost equal in good/bad cholesterol, you are better off with lard for baking)

3/4 cup of milk

Mix in and knead just enough to make a sticky dough.  Pat or roll to about 1/2 thick and cut with a biscuit cutter, empty can or just pinch off and make them by hand.  Bake in a 450 degree oven for 10-12 minutes.  Makes 18 two-inch biscuits.

[Delmonico]

More Biscuits

From the 1956 Betty Crocker Cookbook

[Delmonico]

Bannock

From Sir Charles deMouton-Black

by Richard Munn       Published 07-12-2006

Bannock 101

History

Most of us believe that bannock is a traditional native food that was adapted by European fur traders. In fact, it's the other way around. In many parts of North America, Native people had no access to flour prior to the arrival of European traders, although some flour substitutes existed, like wild turnips or corn, dried and ground to a powder.

Bannock actually has its culinary roots in Scotland. The Scots originated this simple bread, and some fancier variations. Do a search on traditional Scottish cuisine and you'll find bannock mentioned frequently. You'll probably find information on Selkirk Bannock, old and famous enough to have its own name. It was a fancy bannock served only on holidays.

Because bannock could be quickly prepared from readily available ingredients, and because these ingredients lasted a long time without spoiling, bannock became a staple of the European fur traders and subsequently, the native people also. Of course, canoeists and other wilderness travellers have also adopted bannock as a staple of backcountry travel.

What is Bannock?

Bannock is a simple bread, generally leavened with baking powder rather than yeast. It can be baked, fried in a pan or sometimes even deep-fried. It can be made from virtually any kind of andse almost any kind of fat available (oil, lard, or bacon grease).

Making Bannock

Famed author and wilderness canoeist Sigurd Olson passed on his recipe for Bannock in a letter from 1962, stating that it was good "...for four, depending on what else goes with it." Olson's recipe was:

"Three or four cups of flour, a good pinch of salt, a few tablespoons of bacon grease, a level teaspoon of baking powder, enough warm water to make dough. Kneed the dough well, turning it over and over until all the ingredients are well mixed and the dough of even consistency. Use only enough water to make a rather dry dough. Too much water and it is spoiled.

Then, depending on the size of your frying pan, cut off enough of the dough to pat into a well-greased pan, making the bannock at this stage not more than half an inch in thickness. Have it fill the pan.

Now it is ready for the baking. You can start it over a low flame very gently so as not to burn, but it is better to do as the Indians and Old Timers—prop your pan beside the fire so it will get the heat and bake from the top. After the top is done, you can turn it and brown the other side. It usually takes about twenty minutes. The secret is a slow, even heat.

After it is done you can rub it with more bacon grease to make a nice juicy crust. Many like to add some fruit to the bannock, raisins, any chopped fruit, dried, or anything you can pick in season. It does something.

This is the bread of the north and worth working at."

The first rule of bannock making seems to be that there are no rules. A glance at the hundreds of recipes available shows a wild variation in ingredients, quantities and cooking time. Virtually any combination of flour, water and baking powder that is baked or fried will result in some type of bread, although the final product will vary in "eat-ability."

Recipes

A basic bannock recipe consists of:

4 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup melted lard
4 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 cups water
From this basic starting point, a wide variation exists. Some recipes call for more or less water, some call for more baking powder. Some call for the addition of eggs. Many recommend "fancying up" the recipe with cinnamon, brown sugar, nuts or berries.

As long as these basic proportions are maintained, and the resulting dough is fairly dry (rather than sticky or runny) the end result will likely be acceptable. The dough is patted down into a pizza-like patty and either baked or fried in a pan with oil. Traditionally, bannock was baked in a cast iron frying pan that was propped up next to the fire so that the top baked.

Bannock prepared by frying takes about 12-15 minutes to cook. Baked bannock will take longer - from 30 to 40 minutes 

[Ozark Tracker]

I've cooked em, still cook em, I use a little self rising flour with corn meal, added a coupla of eggs and milk to make it about the thickness of pancake batter,  can't remember exact porportions.
we always made em when we were in a hurry and didin't want to have to wait for cornbread to cook in the oven,  goes real good with beans or anything else cornbread goes with.

here's one from an older  cookbook

Makes about 12 cakes


2 cups fine stone-ground cornmeal

2 teaspoons baking powder, preferably single-acting

1 teaspoon salt

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

2 cups whole milk, buttermilk, or yogurt

Oil, melted butter, or lard, for the griddle

From Oldcop:

Mom often made fried hot water cornbread, and I have carried on the tradition. I think it would work for hoe cakes too. Just yellow corn meal with salt to taste, then add (stir in) enough boiling (boiling for sure which pre-cooks the meal) water to make a thick mush. Pat out balls of the mixture to about 1/2 to 3/4" thick rounds and fry in hot grease.....they are a little crisp on the outside and softer in the middle...old Southern tradition.

From Monterry Jack Brass:

The only period recipe I could find for 'hoe cake' named as such in my reference library is on page 31 of Buckeye Cookery and Practical Housekeeping (1877): "Mix corn meal with water or milk (adding a little salt) to the thickness of stiff batter; stir thoroughly, spread on a baking board, and tip up before the fire. On southern plantations they are often baked on broad hoes used in the fields, hence the name."

[Delmonico]

.