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Cookies (and bread)?

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re: crumbs in my beard
My favourite snack to wear (on my shirt on my face on my lap) are homemade date squares. They basically consist of a date mixture shmushed between layers of crumbly oatmeal mixture. Yes they're as messy as they sound, and as good and not at all too sweet. But if you don't have chipmunks swarming your campsite you soon will.

Brad’s mention of date squares got me thinking about cookies. And bread.

I am a cookie monster, and my wife makes date nut squares. The inevitable crumblies are rodentia bait, and they fall apart in food barrel storage. For replenish on the road ubiquitously available in any grocery store I am fond of Fig Newtons. Fairly sturdy, and something about Fig Newtons prevents me from scarfing half the package at a sitting when I have the munchies.

For grocery store bread I prefer Rye or Pumpernickel, or sandwich rounds if I’m on a long trip and want the bread to last unmoldy for weeks.

http://www.canoetripping.net/forums...nd-meals/20773-unintentional-bread-experiment

No doubt chalk full of preservatives, but they hold up well in barrel abuse. And other experimental abuse.
 
Ha bread, I love bread, and cookies and date square..... Things we make from scratch one most trips, nann bread, regular bread, dinner buns, pizza, cookies, cinnamon buns etc etc
ho an bannik!!
 
Try Anzacs (lots of web recipes)--coconut and oats--hearty and last forever.

Ha bread, I love bread, and cookies and date square..... Things we make from scratch one most trips, nann bread, regular bread, dinner buns, pizza, cookies, cinnamon buns etc etc
ho an bannik!!

I will admit my hungry arse has been saved by a friend’s loaf of bannock on a trip where friends were supposed to provide different meals, and didn’t.

But, there’s the rub. Other than reduced repackaging of some store bought stuff I make very little homemade foodstuffs. If I’m lucky I have some cookies or a loaf of bread the Missus made before I left.

Even if I made food at home, on a multi-week, multi-stop cross country wander I’m not renting a suite with kitchen oven and bringing along a dehydrator. I’m replenishing off the shelves of the PigglyWiggly. Hey look, lard in 5 lb cans.

One of my proudest episodes was shopping at the only grocery store in town before departing next-day for 3-week trip. I was already four weeks into a long cross country paddling wander, and had some stuff left in the food barrel, mostly my least favorite gag-me Mt House dinners, some leftover oatmeal/grits/Cup-of-Soups and the last scrapings in a jar of peanut butter.

I did not have a list, just slowly wandered up and down every aisle, kinda randomly picking stuff of the shelves until it seemed right. I came out with one minimal breakfast, a dang scanty lunch and a single Mt. House Pro-pack Beef Stew. Which I still have in storage, good for the next 20+ years. . . . .It may eventually get eaten; hopefully by someone else.
 
When I was High School Senior, Date Squares or as we called them Date Bars taught me my first economic lesson. I played high school basket ball for a small town school in northern Minnesota. I was not very good, but if you could walk and chew gum at the same time you could make the team. I was six foot one inch, the tallest boy in the school so I got to play first string forward. After each practice or home game I would go to to the local cafe to eat two or three Date Bars and a bottle of grape soft drink. The owner of the cafe let us run a tab, so I ran up a big one. Shortly before i graduated, the owner took me aside, asked if I was going to leave town after graduation and stiff him on my tab. I said no, that I would never do that. Well I did not have any income. What to do, what to do? As luck would have it my relatives sent me congratulations on finishing high school along with varying amounts of money. I was able to just to pay my debt to the cafe the night I graduated. That was the first and only time in my life I was in debt. If I could not pay for things I saved until I could, I never borrowed money or got a loan from a bank. At some point in my life I gave up grape soft drinks for coffee, but I still love Date Bars. For tripping I prefer homemade ginger snap cookies, they hold up well in a pack. I can remember many tough portages that have been completed because of a ginger snap cookies covered with peanut butter, topped with a Hershey Bar. Wish I had some right now, date bar or ginger snap cookie.
 
As I think some of you know (since I did post on it here), I built a ginormous reflector oven. I take it on my multi-day trips and while it is a PITA to fit in my canoe, the fresh baked good that come out of it make it worth bringing. Blueberry muffins, even using store bought mix, are great. And recently I made a yeast bread from a super simple recipe that required no kneading and very little clean up. It was a butt-ugly free-form loaf that nevertheless tasted amazing! Fresh, hot baked goods while camping are a huge comfort. I may build another, smaller reflector oven since my trips are usually just me or one other guy and the oven I built would easily provide baked good for a group of 4-6.

Here's the ugly duckling cooking away. Trust me it was delicious.
fullsizeoutput_f76.jpeg
 
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good God alsg you are the devil incarnate for me.. My carb cravings love you. I want to kill them.

OMG Piggly Wiggly Mike? Sounds like Southern Fat Heaven.
 
As I think some of you know (since I did post on it here), I built a ginormous reflector oven. I take it on my multi-day trips and while it is a PITA to fit in my canoe, the fresh baked good that come out of it make it worth bringing. Blueberry muffins, even using store bought mix, are great. And recently I made a yeast bread from a super simple recipe that required no kneading and very little clean up. It was a butt-ugly free-form loaf that nevertheless tasted amazing! Fresh, hot baked goods while camping are a huge comfort. I may build another, smaller reflector oven since my trips are usually just me or one other guy and the oven I built would easily provide baked good for a group of 4-6.

Here's the ugly duckling cooking away. Trust me it was delicious.


That is tripping!! I have a small foldable defector oven, but it is too small for our family and extended family while on trips! I need to find a way to build a large collapsible one!! Plans anyone?
 
That is tripping!! I have a small foldable defector oven, but it is too small for our family and extended family while on trips! I need to find a way to build a large collapsible one!! Plans anyone?

I used Gil Gilpatrick's "Building Outdoor Gear" which has plans for 2 different size ovens. This is the big one. But it isn't collapsible. Before I built it, I searched high and low for plans for a collapsible one. I didn't find any that I found acceptable. There are several commercially made large reflector ovens that are collapsible, but I wanted to make my own.
 
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We have a Sproul Baker campfire reflector oven from www.campfirecooking.com. It is very well designed and made. It collapses easily and neatly. We love it!

That link doesn't work for me... but I did end up finding that oven thanks!! A bit small. I have the Svante Fredn and it is about the same size... I guess I could make one myself!!
 
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alsg - Any links to the bread recipe you mentioned? I'd seriously be interested in that if you're willing to share it.

That's all for now. Take care and until next time...be well.

snapper

Here it is:

In large bowl combine 2 cups all purpose flour and 1 cup bread flour (can use 3 cups all purpose if you don’t have bread flour), 2 teaspoons sugar, 1 teaspoon salt and one package instant yeast. Add 1 to 1&1/2 cups hot (not boiling) water and stir until you have a big sticky mess. Cover and let rise, preferably in a warm spot, for at least an hour. An hour and a half is even better. Grease a baking sheet, hold the bowl just above it and invert, shake until the dough splats
on the baking sheet. Bake until it starts to brown. That recipe is plenty for 4-6.

When sliced, the bread has the texture, taste and look of focaccia So I am naming it Fauxcaccia.
 
Thanks Al, that no-knead bread is indeed delish'. I found it last year on the net, called elsewhere "shaggy bread", although proofing (rising/resting) varies with each baker. I think I prefer your name Fauxcaccia. Another name you might like involves nearly the identical ingredients as your Fauxcaccia, except our delicious additions of pitted olives, garlic, roasted red peppers, rosemary and coarse sea salt, called Provençal Fougasse. I've been making this for years and it's a hit every time it arrives at the table. And when I'm asked what it is I say FOUGASSE!! like I'm swearing. I think if you can bake good bread then you should get a Michelin star of your very own.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fougasse_(bread)
 
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Thanks Al, that no-knead bread is indeed delish'. I found it last year on the net, called elsewhere "shaggy bread", although proofing (rising/resting) varies with each baker. I think I prefer your name Fauxcaccia. Another name you might like involves nearly the identical ingredients as your Fauxcaccia, except our delicious additions of pitted olives, garlic, roasted red peppers, rosemary and coarse sea salt, called Provençal Fougasse. I've been making this for years and it's a hit every time it arrives at the table. And when I'm asked what it is I say FOUGASSE!! like I'm swearing. I think if you can bake good bread then you should get a Michelin star of your very own.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fougasse_(bread)

I was planning on trying garlic and rosemary and I agree olives or roasted red peppers would be good, too. A lot of the no-kneading recipes on the net that I’ve seen advise letting the dough rise for 12-24 hours and require cooking in closed casserole dish This one is a lot quicker and can be cooked on a baking sheet. I’ve made it a half dozen times at home in a regular oven and did it while camping in my reflector oven. It’s really too simple to screw up.
 
I did my version of Fauxcaccia bread in a Dutch oven lined with parchment paper, after it had rested a few hours. Overnight would have been stupid hungry torture. Which is why the more I made it the less time I left it to rest. Ha.
Being impatient and a little traditional I've stuck to bannock whilst tripping. (Sorry for the pun.) Seeing your reflector in action fully loaded with a shaggy loaf is inspiring. Consider yourself Michelin starred Al.
 
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alsg - Thanks so much for sharing your recipe. I got a reflector oven as a gift and haven't tried it out yet. This will probably be my first attempt at baking with it; I'll probably do this in our woodstove oven as well from time to time over the course of the winter.

That's all for now. Take care and until next time...be well.

snapper
 
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