Bannock

Ingredients

Dough

• 400 gplain flour
• 2 tbspbaking powder
• 1 tspsalt
• 2 tbspsugar, optional
• 60 glard, butter or shortening
• about 300 ml water or milk

To cook

• oil or lard for frying
• or a hot oven, or a stick over a fire

To serve

• with butter and jam
• with stew or soup
• with berries
• as an Indian taco base, with chilli and toppings

Directions

1. Rub the lard, butter or shortening into the flour, baking powder and salt until it looks like coarse crumbs. Rubbing the fat in before the liquid keeps the bread tender rather than tough.
2. Add water or milk gradually and bring it together into a soft, slightly sticky dough. Use as little liquid as will bring it together, since a wet dough absorbs far more oil when fried.
3. Mix it only until it just comes together, and do not knead it. It should look rough and shaggy rather than smooth. Let it rest for five or ten minutes if you have time. Fried bannock is cooked in a few centimetres of hot fat until puffed and golden, and it is the most common form.
4. Heat the fat to about 175°C and test with a scrap of dough. Fry for two or three minutes a side until deep golden and puffed. Do not crowd the pan, which drops the temperature and gives greasy bread.
5. Break one open to check the middle is cooked before frying the rest. Drain on a rack rather than paper. Now baking it in a properly hot oven. Press the dough into a round about two centimetres thick and score it into wedges. Bake at 220°C for eighteen to twenty-two minutes until risen and golden.
6. Roll the dough into a long rope and wind it in a spiral around a peeled green stick. Turn it slowly over embers rather than flames, for fifteen to twenty minutes.
7. Keep it well above the coals and turn it constantly, since flames burn the outside while the middle stays raw. It is done when it slides off the stick easily and sounds hollow. Serve it warm with butter and jam, with berries, or alongside a stew or soup. It is best fresh and it goes tough within a few hours.

Technique

• Its history is genuinely contested and carries mixed associations.
• Do not knead it, since worked dough makes it tough.
• The hole in the middle lets fried bannock cook through.

Substitutions

• Butter or shortening in place of lard.
• Water in place of milk, which is the traditional choice.

Variations

• Baked in a round and cut into wedges.
• Wound on a stick and cooked over a fire.
• With berries such as saskatoons worked into the dough.

History

A simple flatbread or fried bread made from flour, water or milk, and a leavening agent, with a history in Canada split between two very different sources: Scottish settlers brought their own oat-based bannock tradition beginning in the 1600s and 1700s, while Indigenous peoples across Canada developed their own independent bread-making traditions after being introduced to wheat flour through trade with European settlers and later through government-issued rations, adapting it into what is now more specifically called Indigenous bannock or frybread. That second tradition in particular carries a complicated, painful history for many Indigenous communities, since wheat flour rations were frequently provided by colonial and later Canadian government authorities under policies tied to displacement and cultural disruption, meaning bannock today carries both everyday and difficult symbolic weight for many Indigenous Canadians.

Frequently asked questions

What is Bannock?

Bannock is a bread & pastry from Canada: indigenous fried or baked flatbread, campfire staple. A simple flatbread or fried bread made from flour, water or milk, and a leavening agent, with a history in Canada split between two very different sources: Scottish settlers brought their own oat-based bannock tradition beginning in the 1600s and 1700s, while Indigenous peoples across Canada developed their own independent bread-making traditions after being introduced to wheat flour through trade with European settlers and later through government-issued rations, adapting it into what is now more specifically called Indigenous bannock or frybread. That second tradition in particular carries a complicated, painful history for many Indigenous communities, since wheat flour rations were frequently provided by colonial and later Canadian government authorities under policies tied to displacement and cultural disruption, meaning bannock today carries both everyday and difficult symbolic weight for many Indigenous Canadians.

How long does Bannock take to make?

Bannock takes 15 min of preparation and 20 min of cooking. The recipe makes 8 pieces. It is rated easy to make.

What can I substitute in Bannock?

Yes, within limits. Butter or shortening in place of lard. Water in place of milk, which is the traditional choice.

What is the most important thing to get right in Bannock?

Rub the lard, butter or shortening into the flour, baking powder and salt until it looks like coarse crumbs. Rubbing the fat in before the liquid keeps the bread tender rather than tough.