BANNOCK - SCOTTISH

      Title: BANNOCK - SCOTTISH
  Categories: Canadian, Bread
       Yield: 6 Servings
  
       1 c  Whole wheat flour
     1/2 c  All purpose flour
     1/2 c  Rolled oats
       2 tb Sugar, granulated
       2 ts Baking powder
     1/2 ts -Salt
       2 tb Butter, melted
     1/3 c  Raisins; optional
     3/4 c  -Water; approx,
  
   "Bannock, a simple type of scone was cooked in pioneer days over open
   fires. Variations in flours and the additional of dried or fresh
   fruit make this bread the simple choice of Canadian campers even
   today. Oven baking has become an acceptable alternative to the cast
   iron frypan. McKelvie's restaurant in Halifax serves an oatmeal
   version similar to this one. For plain bannock, omit rolled oats and
   increase the all purpose flour to 1 cup.... One of the earliest quick
   breads, bannock was as simple as flour, salt, a bit of fat (often
   bacon grease) and water. In gold rush days, dough was mixed right in
   the prospector's flour bag and cooked in a frypan over an open fire.
    Indians wrapped a similar dough around sticks driven into the ground
   beside their camp fire, baking it along with freshly caught fish.
   Today's native _Fried Bread_ is like bannock and cooked in a skillet.
      Newfoundlander's _Damper Dogs_ are small rounds of dough cooked on
   the stove's dampers while _Toutons_ are similar bits of dough deep
   fried. At a promotional luncheon for the 1992 Inuit Circumpolar
   Conference, Eskimo Doughnuts, deep fried rings of bannock dough, were
   served. It is said that Inuit children prefer these "doughnuts" to
   sweet cookies.
      Red River settlers from Scotland made a frugal bannock with lots of
   flour, little sugar and drippings or lard. Now this same bread plays a
   prominent part in Winnipeg's own Folklorama Festival.
      At Expo '86 in Vancouver, buffalo on bannock buns was a popular
   item at the North West Territories ' restaurant. In many regions of
   Canada, whole wheat flour or wheat germ replaces part of the flour
   and cranberries or blueberries are sometimes added. A Saskatchewan
   firm markets a bannock mix, and recipe books from coast to coast
   upgrade bannock with butter, oatmeal, raisins, cornmeal and dried
   fruit."
   
   Stir together flours, oats, sugar, baking powder and salt. Add melted
   butter, raisins (if using) and water, adding more water if needed to
   make sticky dough. With floured hands, pat into greased pie plate.
   Bake in 400F oven for 20 to 25 minutes or until browned and tester
   comes out clean. Cut into wedges. SERVES:6 VARIATIONS: In place of
   raisins add chopped dried apricots or fresh berries.(Blueberries are
   terrific if one is camping in northern Ontario in August.)
   
   SOURCE: "The First Decade" chapter in _A Century of Canadian Home
   Cooking_
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