Bread in the bush

We are about to travel Australia permanately and I am taking my bread maker and will always have some bread mix in the van for when we cant buy bread. The generator will run the bread maker so that will do us.
Karen

I know a "Pesty" Member who runs a big inverter and takes his home bread maker when he goes bush. I can smell the fresh bread baking in the back of his vehicle from here.
At least that way, he has fresh bread on tap when he wants it.

Cheers

Stephen

I have been "developing" one for camp oven use which I think is real easy. It is not perfected yet, and may need adjustment. I way prefer bread to damper, and I think the bread mixes are as bad as shop-bought bread... This one is based on a recipe I was given in Denmark, which the Danes call "Italian Bread". Not sure why... It is a moist bread and will keep fresh longer.

This is an overnight rise dough - i.e. the dough is prepared the night before and raised over night. All you gotta do in the morning is kick start the camp oven, drop the bread in and wait for it to cook...

In a small bowl add:

satchet yeast, 1 1/2 tblspns sugar, cup of lukewarm water, coupla heaped tablespoons flour. Mix and let sit while you have dinner. It'll froth all over the place, so make sure that the bowl is not TOO small

In a large bowl:

3 cups white flour (or 2 cups white, one cup wholemeal/rye or whatever)
1 tspn salt
2 tspn bread improver (from the health food shop)
1 1/2 tblspns butter or marg or oil
lukewarm water to mix

Optional - 2 tblspns milk powder

Round non-stick cake tin with a removable bottom, just small enough to fit into the camp oven

Mix up all the dry ingrediants, add butter/marg/oil

With a good wooden spoon, mix in the yeast mixture and add lukewarm water slowly while mixing thoroughly - you want a sticky glutinous batter that is resists pulling apart, so mix maybe for a good 5 minutes. This is a substitute for kneading - don't hold back. Blokes might be better for this job - beats drying the dishes...

Once done, spray a bit of oil over the top and cover with Glad or similar (moist towel ok) and leave overnight in a warm place. Surprisingly it does not need to be too warm - just not cold if possible.

As soon as you get out of bed, light up the coals for the camp over - I use bbq briquettes, and for my 10" oven (spun steel, not cast iron), I use 24 briquettes. When ready, pre-heat the oven by placing 12 under and 12 on the OUTSIDE of the lid of the camp oven and MAKE SURE YOU USE THE TRIVET! I use foil on the lid over the briquettes as well, to direct the heat down and make it more efficient. Leave a few gaps for air.

When oven is hot enough (about 200ºC - i.e. smoking the residual oil in the camp oven) oil cake tin and pour bread mix into it. Cover with foil and drop into camp oven for 10 -15 minutes, then take foil off (gets the dough to rise a bit more before cooking). Leave for a further 35 to 45 to 55 minutes - depends on your oven and technique (this is the tricky part :). Bread should be golden brown all round, sound hollow when knocked and hopefully not doughy in the middle... Er on the side of caution - cook longer than little...

Have plenty of butter and honey handy - you're gonna need it... This bread keeps longer than any other recipe I know, and is the easiest by a long way and does not need the breadmaker...

Store by wrapping in tea towel or bread bag - NOT plastic or glad.

Tip: I use an old microwave rack and a cheap pizza dish (with lots of holes in it) for the camp oven to sit on, on top of the briquettes. Allows air underneath for the briquettes to burn better, and does not burn holes in the turf (well, not as bad...)

Enjoy! :)

viz

Try this Mountain Bread available from supermarkets as well.
regards

G'day Grum4wding, I have never cooked scones in a camp oven but they may be a reasonable substitute for bread rolls. Try using lemonade rather than milk or water to make the dough. This will give the scone a fluffy texture and remember it is important to use a bread and butter knife or similar to cut the mix while the fluid is being added until the desired dough texture is achieved. This allows air into the mix to achieve a fluffier rise during baking. Knead sparingly as over kneading will force the air out of the mix and you will finish up with a brick. Have fun. Regards, Pauper.

Just about any of the premixes from the supermarkets work really well. Generally about 1 1/2 cups of water to 500-600g of bread mix & 1 1/2 - 2 teaspoons of yeast (or one sachet).

Give it a really good mix with your hands for 5 or 10 minutes and then leave it in the mixing bowl covered by a cloth for 30 mins or so to rise and then punch your fist into it really hard as if it were someone you really hate and give it a good pounding for another 5 minutes or so and let it sit again for an hour or two before putting it into prefereably a preheated camp oven. I find putting the camp oven in a hole the same depth as the camp oven with a good covering of coals in the bottom is usually the best. Check it after 25 mins or so & if necessary put some more coals underneath as well as a few big ones on top & leave for another 10 mins or so. Don't put too much on top because the old maxim is coals on top of the camp oven = coals IN the camp oven unless you are VERY careful!

You can get you the camp oven nice & hot to start with by just putting it on the fire for a few minutes but you shouldn't cook in it like that unless you like burnt offerings.

If it doesn't rise enough, try a bit more water in the next mix you make.

All the best, Paul

Haven't tried it but the following was published recently in Westprint's Friday Five newsletter. It was provided by a reader and includes some good ideas. A major advantage is that the approach described allows the bread to be cooked on the night campfire rather than having having an overnight rise, then lighting a hot fire in the morning to get coals to do the cooking, then finding a way to safely leave the fire when you wanted to make an early start anyway!

"Over many trips & corrugations I have found a way of making great bread and not getting your hand dirty with dough. Firstly I use the Laucke which are available around Australia in Coles & Woolworths, (http://www.laucke.com.au/retail_premixes.asp) they have a great range and you can purchase them in individual loaf packs or bulk. I personally go for the bulk pack and weigh the ingredients out into zip bags (heavy duty med size) before I leave (I also place a sachet of sugar & the yeast sachet in the zip bag.)

Each afternoon around 2pm (either late lunch or afternoon tea) I measure out the water required for the bread mix from the leftover tea water (very, very important the water should be around 36 degrees, over 40 and the yeast dies, under 30 and nothing happens except rock cakes).

I stick my finger in the water and if it feels lukewarm then it is perfect, I add the sugar (yeast food) & the yeast and stir with a twig. When fully blended I add the liquid into the zip bag holding the bread mix. I then zip up the bag (make sure this happens or you may have a flour storm inside the car!) and give the bag to the passenger of the car. As the afternoon goes on the passenger massages the bread mix in the bag for 60 minutes, by this time the dough should be well kneaded.

Place the bag then onto the dash for around 1 hour. In this time the dough should rise nicely, make sure a little of the zip is open to allow the gas to get out. With 30 minutes to go before camp again start massaging the mix in the bag.

At camp once you have set up your camp unfold the dough from the bag into your camp oven with a sprinkle of water on top of dough with the lid on and place in a warm spot to allow the bread to reproof & rest (have been known to place under motor on cold days until fire is going) Once the dough has expanded & you have hot coals, place the coals on the camp oven top & bottom.

Important: to get a nice rise in the bread place more coals under the bread than on top for first 10 minutes, after 10 minutes I replace the coals with fresh ones and allow to cook for 30 mins more. After this the bread should be nicely risen, brown on top and hollow sounding when you tap it.

Take it out of camp oven and enjoy.

Hope this is of assistance, nothing special I just use the passenger and keep the dough in a bag. Wayne . Food & Beverage Manager. NSW."

We recently travelled the Canning and used premixed bread and baked it in a coleman oven along with scones and a fruit cake.
The was the first time I had used the oven and it gets five stars from me.
$65 and folds flat and is easily stored.

My recipe is :

Empty the packet of bread mix into a Bedourie

Add a sachet of yeast.

Add water and kneed.

Let it rise for 30 minutes, in a warm place.

Dig a hole for the Bedourie, place some coals in the bottom of the hole and cover with earth (it has to be that red sandy stuff). Place the Bedourie in the hole then place a shovel of coals on top.

Sit back with a refreshment and enjoy the smell coming out of the Bedourie.

After a while, retrieve the Bedourie from the hole with a shovel, scrape the coals off the lid, open and enjoy.