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Bread on a stick

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George

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I’ve noticed in several period journals that bread was very important to them, the longer they stayed out, the more so. They complain of having no bread on the trail and describe how good it was to them when they reach civilization again. There is much discussion about flour in the journals of Nicholas Cresswell and James Nourse, Sr., as they travel the Ohio to early Harrodsburg, spring of 1775. Everybody had a share, it was lost, stolen, damaged, and used up so it had to be rationed, no bread could be made, the flour had to be saved to thicken their soup. Wm. Calk mentioned eating with no bread numerous times in his short journal that same spring, en route to Harrodsburg by way of the Wilderness Trail with Richard Henderson.
James Nourse mentioned cooking bread on a stick in his Journal, and I’ve been wanting to try that. I did a short outing yesterday, and did just that.

I brought along flour with proper salt added in a small gourd and water in a gourd canteen. I mixed them in a gourd bowl to a thick dough, formed it into a long roll and wound it onto a stick with the bark peeled off. When the fire burned down to appropriate coals I nursed the bread over them for 20-25 minutes, until it was well browned but not burned.
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I was surprised how well this worked. The bread was dense, as you would expect from bread with no leavening, but it was a bit aerated, was tender and very tasty.
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I can easily see that this would be a satisfying item for men on the trail for a long time, and what could be more simple?

Spence
 
Very nice Spence. I have long made bread using only flour water and salt, usually a flatbread. If you can pack a small skillet, you can make a nice flatbread. If you have a little oil it makes an even nicer bread.

P.s Your photo reminds me of one in my ole boy scout manual I'd have to look it up but I think it was called Bannock on a stick.
 
Just flour & salt? No leavening?
Yes. I was trying to replicate a quick...non-yeast...bread that would have been cooked in about 1775, and none of our modern leavenings were available then.

Ash cakes, fire cakes were done that way, too.

Spence
 
cullen 1780, here's a short video about cooking ash cakes using dough made this way.



Spence
 
Very nice Spence. I have long made bread using only flour water and salt, usually a flatbread. If you can pack a small skillet, you can make a nice flatbread. If you have a little oil it makes an even nicer bread.

P.s Your photo reminds me of one in my ole boy scout manual I'd have to look it up but I think it was called Bannock on a stick.
I remember a photo in that book showing mixing the dough in a canvas flour bag with a wooden stick.
 
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Yes. I was trying to replicate a quick...non-yeast...bread that would have been cooked in about 1775, and none of our modern leavenings were available then.

Ash cakes, fire cakes were done that way, too.

Spence
I don't know about 1775, however I recall that 49er's sometimes carried a pouch of sour dough around their middle to keep it warm and maintain active fermentation. I have made all sorts of things from sour dough including pancakes, crumpets and bread. It would do fine on a stick also.
 
Crumpets are the perfect vessel for sipping melted butter. English muffins are a close second.:D
 
Spence, years ago when I was a boy I tried making "twist bread" like yours, mine never turned out that nice. :thumbs up:
 

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