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Frying-Pan Biscuits
Mix up biscuit dough. Pat or roll it out 1/2 inch thick and the diameter of your frying pan, being careful not to handle it too much or press out the bubbles. Have frying pan well greased and hot, but not smoking. Lay dough in pan, set it in hot embers, or hold it over fire and shake once or twice very gently to make sure it doesn't stick. When bottom is set, remove bread very carefully and prop it up before the heat until top side is done and well browned, turning to brown the other side if necessary.
Or leave in pan with cover on, bury in hot embers, heap hot embers on top, and bake. If live coals show in the embers put a thin layer of ashes over them. After about 8 minutes, take a peek under the cover to make sure biscuit is not scorching. After another 2-3 minutes it should be done. Try with splinter test.
A single large pan biscuit — closer to a bannock or soda scone than to a tray of cut rounds — baked in the ashes of a campfire. The dough itself is assumed knowledge here, so start from a standard baking-powder biscuit recipe.
- The doughAny plain baking-powder biscuit dough works: roughly 2 cups flour, 1 tablespoon baking powder, 1 teaspoon salt, 3-4 tablespoons fat cut in, and about 3/4 cup milk or water. The instruction not to press out the bubbles is the hinge — handle it as little as possible or the leavening is wasted and the round bakes dense.
- Pan size and thicknessA 10-inch skillet gives a biscuit that serves four to six, cut in wedges. Keep to the 1/2 inch called for; thicker and the outside chars before the middle sets.
- "Hot but not smoking"Smoking grease is already past its useful point, and the temperature at which that happens depends on the fat: butter well under 350F, bacon fat and lard somewhat higher. Aim for the point where a drop of water dances rather than instantly vanishes.
- Embers, not flameEmber baking wants coals that have burned down to a grey coat; the heat is uneven and not usefully expressed as an oven setting. The layer of ashes over live coals mentioned in the recipe is a real insulator -- skip it and the top of the covered pan turns to charcoal.
- The propping methodRemoving the half-set round and standing it on edge facing the fire works on the same principle as a reflector oven. It works, but a lifted biscuit is fragile; slide it onto a plate first, then tilt it against a stone or a green stick.
- The splinter testA clean sliver of wood pushed into the centre should come out dry. A metal skewer or a thin knife does the same job and is easier to read.
- TimingThe 8 minutes plus 2-3 given here assumes a well-banked fire. Field conditions vary enough that the test, not the clock, decides; check early rather than late, since a scorched pan biscuit cannot be rescued.
- IndoorsThe same dough baked as one round in a greased skillet at 425F for 15-18 minutes gives essentially the result, without the ash flavour that is half the point outdoors.