So, you are going to do an overnight canoe trip. What food do you bring?
Well, bread is not one of those things typically on your menu as it gets squished far too easily. It just doesn't travel well. If you are Scouter Uncle Ian, you bring Ryvita Crispbread and top with cold pack cheese. A quick search on-line will suggest pita bread, tortillas, English muffins and the like, but if you dig a little further, you may read about Hudson Bay Bread. I had expected to read that it was an old Canadian recipe from the days of the fur trade, but not so. It was purportedly created in the 1960's for an Outward Bounds Camp for use on canoe trips. Some say, Sir Edmund Hillary ate a version of this in the 1950's when he successfully climbed Mount Everest. In any case, this is a high energy granola type "bread" that travels well and is quite tasty with lashings of peanut butter and jam
Well, bread is not one of those things typically on your menu as it gets squished far too easily. It just doesn't travel well. If you are Scouter Uncle Ian, you bring Ryvita Crispbread and top with cold pack cheese. A quick search on-line will suggest pita bread, tortillas, English muffins and the like, but if you dig a little further, you may read about Hudson Bay Bread. I had expected to read that it was an old Canadian recipe from the days of the fur trade, but not so. It was purportedly created in the 1960's for an Outward Bounds Camp for use on canoe trips. Some say, Sir Edmund Hillary ate a version of this in the 1950's when he successfully climbed Mount Everest. In any case, this is a high energy granola type "bread" that travels well and is quite tasty with lashings of peanut butter and jam
Hudson Bay Bread
Based on backpacking.net
Based on backpacking.net
- 9 cups rolled oats
- 2 cups brown sugar
- 1/3 cup maple syrup
- 1/3 cup honey
- 2 tsp vanilla
- 1 cup finely chopped walnuts
- 1 1/2 cups butter
- Using a blender or food processor, in batches, grind the oats into a coarse flour.
- With a mixer, cream butter with brown sugar, maple syrup, honey and vanilla.
- Mix in ground oats and walnuts
- Press dough into a 9"x 15" cookie sheet. Pack the dough down firmly
- Bake in a 350F oven for 8 minutes. Remove from oven and immediately roll the partially cooked dough with a rolling pin to compress the bread as it tends to puff up a bit during the bake.
- Return to the oven and bake for an additional 10 minutes.
- Again, once the bread is removed from the oven, roll dough again. This will help prevent crumbling later on.
- Let cool to the touch, and cut with a pizza cutter into 3 inch squares. Once cut, let the bread cool completely.
- Wrap cooled squares individually in plastic wrap.
- On your trip, slather with peanut butter and jam to serve. And bring lots of peanut butter and jam...or your Venturers will eat all of it and lick the packets clean!
- To keep fresh, store frozen until just before you head out on your adventure
- With a mixer, cream butter with brown sugar, maple syrup, honey and vanilla.
- Mix in ground oats and walnuts
- Press dough into a 9"x 15" cookie sheet. Pack the dough down firmly
- Bake in a 350F oven for 8 minutes. Remove from oven and immediately roll the partially cooked dough with a rolling pin to compress the bread as it tends to puff up a bit during the bake.
- Return to the oven and bake for an additional 10 minutes.
- Again, once the bread is removed from the oven, roll dough again. This will help prevent crumbling later on.
- Let cool to the touch, and cut with a pizza cutter into 3 inch squares. Once cut, let the bread cool completely.
- Wrap cooled squares individually in plastic wrap.
- On your trip, slather with peanut butter and jam to serve. And bring lots of peanut butter and jam...or your Venturers will eat all of it and lick the packets clean!
- To keep fresh, store frozen until just before you head out on your adventure
Relaxing in our canoes on our Adventurous Journey - August 2017
