Bread - on the road

I must admit, I'm not that partial to any residual self raising or baking soda taste in damper and 9/10 would prefer a nice fresh slice of bread.

Growing up mum would always bake bread from scratch (no breadmakers)

The wife and I use a breadmaker and premix as it cuts the labour time down to a few minutes.

If camping for a week or so I'd be inclined to try premix in a camp oven.

If you stay reasonably close to breadmaker proportions you cant go too far wrong. All doughs ive seen have usually been just that...doughy...you wouldnt call them sloppy at all.

Whether sloppy or not the yeast will make the dough rise...however a sloppier batch may not cook so well in the centre?

Cheers
Rev

Call me old fashioned but there is something about damper when in the bush that makes it better than bread IMO.

When you do bread by hand it has to be of a consistency that you can knead it and form it into a ball.

The mix varies only a little from the recipe printed on the pack, so just knead?? to experiment a little to get it right. certainly not a slurry.

Personally I prefer the breadmaker as it takes only a minute or two to set things up then the rest of the day is your own. With the camp oven you knead?? to mind things for half a day.

The camp oven is good for impressing the overseas tourists though.

A tip that does work well... just make up the dough in your breadmaker, most have a dough setting & you can use the prepared mix if you wish. Then make up smaller balls of the dough & freeze... when the time comes to make some bread, thaw a lump of the frozen dough, leave covered in a warm place to rise and then bake, in a camp oven if you wish, otherwise as I do in the caravan oven for about 20 mins at around 250c... Nothing like fresh crusty warm bread to impress the knickers off German backpackers...

There is no need to knead.

Go to a health food shop. There is a little book called the "No Knead Bread Book". It is by Carol Bates if my memory serves me well. Very simple and easy to make bread.

I use the bread mix in the camp oven. Usually make the dough into small balls and put them together on a tray and into the camp oven. It is a pit of a pain having to knead the dough but well worth it. The smell of fresh bread wafting through the camp gets everones taste buds going

SRFlour, water, pinch of salt....what more do you want.

There are a plethora of mixes.

Breadmaker in the bush?........are we becoming softies?...lol

hi Steve
i under stand there is a diference in how much baking soda that is in the self rasing flour thats why you use plain flour and use backing soda to bring on the bread rise
Snailbait

thanks for the input so far, guys. Looks like those bread mixes might be the go. We don't have a breadmaker, although I wouldn't discount the purchase of yet another gadget. Are they heavy on the 12V? If so I'll just have to roll me sleeves up and knead away and use the camp oven. Actually, I'll probably just "supervise". The two boys are dying to have a go and there's always the chief cook for backup ;>))

Made some bread a couple of weeks ago while camped on the river for 12 days, 60 k`s to nearest shop.

This is what I did, turned out pretty bloody good.

4 level cups of bread flour( not bread mix)
2 teaspoons bread improver
1 '' '' salt
2 " " sugar
1 sachet dry yeast ( 8 grms)
Mix all above dry in large bowl

Then add
1 tablespoon of cooking oil or margerine
1 1/2 cups of hand hot water
Mix well till it is like "dryish crumbly mud" then keep adding a little water till dough is not sticky to floured hands.
Tip it out onto a floured board/table and knead till dough will remain the shape of a ball, about 5-10 mins.
Sit the ball on the board/table with the bowl upside down over it to keep it warm, place in a warm spot and leave for 30 min`s.( go check fishing line)

Remove bowl and knead again for 3-4 min`s.
Place ball of dough in warm camp oven(not hot),that has been floured inside, place lid 3/4 on and let dough rise till about double in size(about 30 min`s)
Drag out some coals,place c/oven on some and put some on lid.
Bread should take 25-30 min`s to bake an even golden brown, check after 15 mins
it should have risen a bit more and started to change colour.
When baked remove from oven and tap bottom to test,it should have a hollow sound if fully baked,sit upside down on a rack or a row of sticks.
If using a gas oven in a van etc.still use camp oven, temp should be 170-180 for 30 min`s

You might need a couple of goes to get the temp right when using fire coals.
Have a go, have fun.

Less said about Jack the better I reckon - but on bread - three points - bread is much nicer than damper in my view, and I've had some good damper (damper is for people who haven't got the gear or the time to make bread I reckon) - kneading (using the mixes that require it) is time consuming and very important and that is why the bread makers do such a great job (mine has 2 knead cycles) - packets of bread mix are far removed from just flour and a bit of this n that - there are improvers and conditioners in there that add performance and flavour to the product. But hey - some people do like damper.....

Steve,

Those bread mixes are good oh! for making bread in the camp oven. I have even baked it in the Cobb Cooker.
Give it a go, you have nothing to lose and much to gain.

The "trick" is working out how much water you need. I use about one standard cup per bag of bread mix. Have tried the wholemeal mix but found it a little "heavy". The standard white bread mix works best.

Place the flour mix in a bowl, add the sachet of yeast and mix in dry.
Add the water and mix in.
Knead for 10-20 mins to expel as much air as possible.
(optional) place kneaded dough in a log style cake tin and place in a warm place to rise. (inside the rear of the 4BY is good. Even on top of a warm engine in cooler climates.
The dough will increase in size until no further expansion occurs. (allow about 1 hour minimum)
Place the tin with dough in a hot camp oven, preferably with a trivet (mesh plate) underneath and with sufficient coals (or heat beads) both underneath the oven and on top of the lid.
Allow to cook for about 20-30 mins, checking from time to time that it is not burning.
Tap the bread with your knuckles and when it sounds hollow, the bread is ready for consumption.

The bread produced has a crispy crust and soft dry inside and is as good (or better) than freash commercially baked bread. If the inside of the loaf is still moist, not enough time has been allowed in the cooking process.

After you have successfully baked and eaten bread cooked in the camp oven your outdoor cooking experience is complete and you will be the envy of your camping companions. Depending on the finished size and shape of the loaf, you can use it like any bread loaf, including toast in the morning. (if there's any left over)

Haven't bothered with damper since I tried the bread mix.

This was a bread mix from Woolworths mixed by hand following the directions on the packet for hand mixing, tasted as good as it looks. Hope it works

But why not have both. Same trip, hand made Johny cake

Is there any truth in the rumour that if you use beer instead of water, you'll get bread instead of damper???

If you have a gennie already, $135.00 for a small bread maker is nothing.

We take ours when away from civi and put it on every second day or so, which is perfect for recharging batteries in da camper and lantern etc at the same time.

Put it on at around 3:00 and it's ready for dinner time.

David and I make bread using pre-mixed bread flour (for machines) but put the ingredients in a stainless bowl, cover with a damp teatowel and put it under the hood of the vehicle whilst the engine is still warm after the day's drive. After about an hour the bread mix will have doubled in size and is ready for backing in the camp oven. Bread made with yeast keeps considerably fresher and doesn't take on the rock solid texture of damper when eaten the next day for sandwiches.

<img src="http://www.exploroz.com/Images/Journal/2003Trip/Breadmaking.jpg"

Thanks everybody. I'm inspired. Think I know where we're going with this now. I just need to pass the info on to the kitchen hands.;))

Done stews/casseroles and damper but looking forward to real bread.

cheers

Steve

Steve
If your into Wholemeal buy Laucke Wholemeal Machine Pre Mix Bread in 5KG bags.
It is not heavy and cooks well.
The Cobb is an invaluable cooking impliment we have cooked a garlic infused leg of lamb with 7 beads kneaded a dough mix in machine and then cooked it after the lamb with the same coals.Bloody beautiful.
Wheeley