We pack a lot into the pages of every issue of Kayak, but there’s always more great stuff we just can’t fit in. So join Teeka and Beau, our otter mascots, to find out more about the theme of each issue, or just pick up some random bits of Canadian history.

History is Delicious!

Make Your Own Bannock

First Nations people used to make a kind of bread from ground-up nuts and seeds. Scottish fur traders brought flour, which they mixed with water, salt and sometimes animal fat and baking powder to make a dough. Cooked over a fire, it came to be known as frybread or bannock. It’s very easy to make, so why not give it a try? You can watch a video to see how we did it.

Bannock
500 mL (2 cups) all-purpose flour
15 mL (3 teaspoons) baking powder
2.5 mL (½ teaspoon) salt
250 mL (1 cup) milk or water (or 125 mL [½ cup] milk and 125 mL [½ cup] water)

In a medium-sized bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder and salt. Make a hole in the middle of this mixture and pour in the milk or water. With a fork, stir it together gently. (If you mix too hard, the bannock will be tough.) As quickly and gently as you can, pat the dough into a circle.

Ask an adult to help you heat up a pan with vegetable oil poured in to cover the bottom. When it’s hot, gently slip the bannock into the oil and cook for about three or four minutes until it is golden-brown in places. Have the adult help you turn it over gently so you don’t splash hot oil on yourself. Fry the dough for another three or four minutes, until both sides are golden. Ask the adult to take the dough out and put it on a paper towel to drain off the oil. Cut it into wedges and spread with jam, honey or butter. Enjoy!

Other recipes use lard or shortening, and call for you to bake round pieces of the dough in the oven. Try different versions to see which one you like best!