You'd have to call me a minimalist camper. Traveling on an ATV (all terrain vehicle), quadbike, there's limited space and load carrying capacity in the trailer that carries my camp.
So here's how to make a loaf of fresh bread when camping way out in the outback, the arid region of South Australia, with a minimum of equipment and fuss.
There are four ingredients in a bread recipe: flour, water, yeast and salt.
First up, get the campfire burning and put a billy of water on. Collect your ingredients and a bowl, cup, spoon, bread board and oil. You'll need a tent peg or sturdy stick to place the camp oven in the coals and remove it when the bread is done.
For a small loaf, here's my method:
Two cups of plain flour, most of a tea spoon of yeast and half a teaspoon of salt. Give these a bit of a dry mix and then add two thirds of a cup of tepid water.
Being under equipped, I use a breakfast bowl which means I'm hard pressed to mix the dough very well in the bowl.
Get the mixture onto the floured board. Flour your hands and get the ingredients mixed into a ball. The bread dough should be dry enough that, without the constant use of extra flour, it doesn't stick excessively to the board or your hands.
Knead the bread dough for about ten minutes by folding, turning and pressing.
Sounds easy enough, huh! Well, with a bowl and a board that are too small and kneeling in front of a box for a table, it's not hard to make a bit of a mess. A few practice runs at home under more ideal conditions will pay off.
Pat the bread dough into a ball and place in the well oiled camp oven, placing the lid on, and put it near the campfire to keep warm. Keep an eye on the camp oven, turning it often and checking the cast iron with your hand to see it doesn't get too hot.
Rising may take up to several hours and will be adequate when the volume of the bread dough has doubled or more.
Carefully remove the risen dough from the camp oven and place it on the floured bread board. Known as knocking down, the bread dough is kneaded for about five minutes. It will shrink back to it's original size and should be patted round again.
Then place the bread dough back in the camp oven near the campfire and allow it to rise once more to double its original size or so. Maybe another hour or two.
The fire should be mainly coals, but be sure not to let it go out or you'll be sitting in the dark and cold, later on.
Scrape a flat spot in the coals, more or less down to the hot sand or ash. Too much heat under the camp oven will burn the bottom of your bread.
Cover the sides of the camp oven with coals and get a few more coals on top. A shovel is handy, of course, but you may have to use a couple of sticks for tongs.
Avoid flame on the camp oven; just coals.
The bread may take about fifteen or twenty minutes to cook, depending on the heat of the fire. There's a bit of bush craft involved here, but a good guide is that when you can smell the aroma of fresh bread, it's about ready to remove from the fire.
The fresh, hot bread should come easily out of the camp oven, but it's a bit of a battle with the camp oven quite hot, to avoid dropping your hot bread in the ground. I generally use my leather gloves for this; the ones I wear when riding the motorbike. A tent peg is handy, too.
As soon as the bread is cool enough to handle, cut off a thick slice. It will have a crisp crust and be so light inside, steaming and aromatic.
Smother your slice of bread with margarine and devour. As the margarine runs down your chin and drips onto your fingers, wipe and lick it up. Oohh! Nothing like fresh, hot bread made in the camp oven and eaten by the camp fire.
I can demolish the big half of such a hot loaf while still hot. The rest serves as lunch for the next day, spread with home made raspberry jam.
A cut lunch is great when I'm traveling because once I pack my camp to move, I can't get at the tucker box till I make camp again that evening.
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