Buttery Rosemary Bannock | 迷迭香無酵母班諾克麵包

Bannock is the staple food for Aboriginal people in Canada.  It is a form of unleavened bread that has a firmer texture.  Traditionally, bannock is made of lard, wheat flour, and water, but I replaced the lard for butter in this recipe since butter is more obtainable and healthier.

In this recipe, I will show you how to cook bannock in a kitchen with a non-stick pan.  In fact, you can apply this exact recipe to outdoor cooking and cook the bannock on a rock over an open fire. 

My husband and I enjoy cooking bannock when we go hiking.  It is the food that can be easily prepared ahead of time and pull it out to cook at the site.  All you need is to place the dough onto a rock (I assume you will set up a fire).  After the long hike, a hot meal composed of some nicely roasted bannock and hot soup is just so satisfying.  One time, we even got lucky enough to find some juniper berries growing right beside the fire, and we added it into our bannock dough.  The taste was remarkable.

  I hope you will enjoy this recipe.

Buttery Rosemary Bannock

班諾克無酵母麵包 

INGREDIENTS:

Rosemary Infused Brown Butter (recipe on the bottom; it takes only 15 minutes to make)

Bread Flour

Water

Salt

材料：

迷迭香牛油 (食譜在最下面；約時15分鐘)

高筋麵粉

鹽

水

METHODS:

1. In a large bowl, combine all the ingredients.  Mix it to combine and roll it into a dough.  The dough should be slightly sticky but can be handled without sticking to your hand.  Add more flour if needed.

2. Heat up a non-stick pan over medium heat.  At the same time, pull out a piece of dough and roll it into a flat circle shape.  Place the dough in the pan carefully.  Fry both sides of the dough until slightly brown; about 4-5 minutes each side.  Transfer to a serving plate.

做法：

1. 在一只大碗中加入所有材料，拌勻揉成麵糰。麵糰應稍黏黏，但不需要用手粉。如麵糰太濕，加少許麵粉調節。

2. 用中火預熱易潔鍋；同時間取一小入麵糰搓成圓餅狀。把其小心放到預熱了的平底鍋中，烤至兩邊微金黃；每邊若4-5分鐘。

Rosemary Brown Butter 迷迭香焦化牛油

Brown butter is actually an intensified aromatic butter after a browning process.  Through melting, the water in the butter evaporates out and leaves the butter fat and milk solids behind.  It has a sweet and complex mix of nutty flavour that can be used in cooking and baking.  

There are three types of brown butter: golden brown, brown-brown, and nearly black.  The longer the browning time, the deeper the flavour and the darker the colour the butter will become.

The rosemary brown butter in this recipe belongs to golden brown. Increase the cooking time if more intense flavour is desired.

焦化牛油其實是以溶化的過程提高天然奶香和焦香的牛油。熱力把牛油內的水入蒸發掉，剩下全脂肪和凝固成顆粒狀的奶脂。

焦化牛油有三種：微金黃、啡色，和深啡。牛油越煮得久，味道越濃和色澤越變深色。

這個迷迭香焦化牛油是微金黃色；如想更濃口味，可增加烹煮時間。

INGREDIENTS:

1 tube Butter, unsalted

2 sprigs Rosemary

材料：

1 條 牛油，無鹽

2 束  迷迭香

METHODS:

1. In a sauce pan, add the butter and rosemary.  Melt the butter over medium-low heat.  It is normal if there is lots of foam at the beginning.  Reduce the heat if the butter bubbles too much.

2. When the bubbles subside, the brown butter basically is ready.  Remove the rosemary.  Then, pay attention to the butter.  You can choose to continue the browning until the butter reaches the desired colour and flavour.

Note that it can happen very quick, especially from "brown-brown" to "nearly black" stage. When the butter nearly reaches to the desired colour, remove it quickly from the heat and transfer the butter to another container.  The remaining heat in the butter will continue the browning process while cooling.

做法：

1. 在一小鍋內放入牛油和迷迭香，以中小火熱溶牛油。白色泡沫會開始形成。若牛油過熱，把火調底。

2. 當泡沫消失，焦化牛油基本上已完成。拿掉迷迭香。若想牛油更濃味，繼續烹煮牛油。

3. 要注意把牛油由"啡色"煮至"深啡"的過程很易焦掉。當牛油快變成理想顏色，迅速離火倒入另一器皿內。牛油內的高溫會繼續烹煮過程。

Curly Dock Seed Bannock - Wild Edible Flour Substitute | 皺葉酸模薄餅 - 野外採食篇

Mature dock seeds in both photos.

Curly dock is a well known wild edible plant and it is also one of the early perennial plants that comes in spring.  The rosette of this plant has a subtle citrus flavour that I love to add in tofu soup. As the plant matures, usually when the stem starts to grow from the middle, the leaves will be too tough to eat.  Then, my attention will drift to their seeds.

The immature seeds are green in colour and start to form around early July.  The mature seeds are reddish-brown colour. 

Immature dock seeds in both photos

Although curly dock seeds belong to the buckwheat family, their taste is nothing similar to buckwheat at all.  In fact, dock seeds have little taste.  To me, I prize their fibre content and their abundance in nature.

I like to use grounded dock seed powder to make bannock; it brings a crunchiness and also gives a very nice colour to it.  However, I will not call it a flour substitute as many others refer to it for.  Because dock seeds actually don't have any binding agent and you will really need to combine them with flour to form a dough. 

There are many insects, especially spiders, that like to hide among curly dock seeds.  Prior to grounding, I highly recommend you strip the seeds, rinse them under running water, and let them to air dry.

Air drying the curly dock seeds

After the seeds are dried, you can process them into powder.  My blender is not a powerful one, so it couldn't process the tiny seeds into powder.  You can always achieve a finer texture by using a mortar though.

Curly Dock Seed Bannock | 皺葉酸模薄餅

INGREDIENTS:

1.25 cups All Purpose Flour

1/4 cup Curly Dock Seeds，grounded

1/4 cup Butter, melted

1/4 cups Water

1 tablespoons Baking Powder

1/3 teaspoon Salt

材料：

1.25 杯 麵粉

1/4 杯  皺葉酸籽，磨碎

1/4 杯  牛油，熱溶

1/4 杯  水

1 湯匙  泡打粉

1/3 茶匙  鹽

METHODS 做法：

1. In a mixing bowl, combine all the ingredients.  Roll it into a dough; the dough should be moist but not sticky.

1. 在一只大碗內加入所有材料。拌勻並揉成麵團；麵糰應該稍為濕潤，但不黏手。

3. Reheat a non-stick pan over medium heat.  Roll a small portion of dough into a flat circle and place it in the pre-heated pan.  Cook each side until slight brown; about 3-5 minutes each side.  repeat it until all the dough is finished.

3. 預熱一只易潔平底鍋。取一小份麵糰，然後揉成塊狀。把並放上預熱了的平底鍋中。兩邊各烤約3-5分鐘。重覆步驟直至完成麵糰。