Bannock Two Ways

While researching bannock (a pan-fried, biscuit- or scone-like quick bread), we came across a fantastic online resource called Bannock Awareness. Put together by Michael Blackstock of the Kamloops Forest Region, it describes a history of bannock within First Nations’ pre-contact culture, offering a different story than that which suggests bannock arrived exclusively with Scottish traders. Before wheat flour arrived, wild plants, corn, and nuts were ground into a sort of flour and then cooked in ways that could be considered an early form of the bread-like staple. Here we’ve provided two recipes for our favourite kinds of bannock. The first (our go-to while camping) comes from Greg Mazur and is more of a drop biscuit style. The second is a rolled version and comes from Doreen Crowe, a restaurant owner in the Alderville First Nation in Ontario. Our friend Chris went to her restaurant almost daily with his parents, and grew up with this bannock.