www.raymears.com/ Ray Mears shows us how to bake bread in the outdoors over a campfire. This clip is taken from the DVD extras of the BBC series Ray Mears - Wild Food.
Bear Grylls' survival: "Lets eat worms and drink our own piss." Ray Mears' survival: "Before I tell you the specials...would you like a starter with your meal?"
This man is a reason why I become bushcraft lover, I watch him as a kid when his show was first of that kinde. Thank you Ray much love from Bosnain fan.
I think it's also because it's so timeless. Its the way bread has been baked since the iron age and passed on for generations just as hes doing. Nice sounds of birds and fire crackling in the background too
Was lucky to spend a day with Ray as a 50th birthday present on one of his walkabout events back in 2019 - extremely worthwhile and would recommend to any outdoor person. Such an interesting person with a presence that seems to connect with nature - only downside he never cooked the bread on our day 😂
Ray is very good at what he does, highly skilled and an excellent teacher. I have used many of his methods while on 2-5 day hog hunts. The hogs here are considered to be an invasive species. I just wish his DVD's would work here in the US.
We pre-mix little watertight bags before leaving. Make it so you only have to add water to it. Open up the bag, add water, close the bag, 'stir' it untill you have a good dough. Take the dough out of the bag, shape it somewhat, put it in a pan, have a fake bottom in the pan so the bread doesn't burn on the underside.
A really enjoyable film. I love the woodlands in the spring, especially the bird songs. I imagine our ancestors baked that way, not so long ago. Thank you for sharing 🌈
We make bread twice a week at my house. My mom makes the bread, I make the peanut butter, and my sister and I both make jams and jellies. I never did bread in a Dutch oven before but I go to my lake house this week and I will give it a go. Cheers for the video.
It came out pretty good. I burned it lol. On top not on bottom. My sister made a mulberry jam but she over set it. Burned bread with thick jam lol. We cut some slices and let them stale. We made French toast with a couple and I turned the rest into croutons. Very good bread for that and it would be good for stuffing as well. No preservatives so it stales very quickly.
В холодную погоду есть опасность выпадения конденсата на крышку. И тогда, вода по стенкам стекает к караваю и добыть его из кастрюли очень трудно. хлеб приходится есть ложкой. Избежать этого можно применяя крышку большего размера и щепку. Тогда конденсат будет стекать наружу. Либо, с самого начала класть угли на крышку. Это из моего опыта туризма по заполярью.
English translation In cold weather, there is a danger of condensation on the lid. In this case, water runs down the walls to the loaf and it is very difficult to get it out of the pan. You can avoid this by using a larger lid and a splinter. Then, the condensation will drain out. Or you can put coals on the lid from the beginning. This is from my experience in Polar tourism
Oh man, you're so civilized, with the carefully cutting slices with the knife and all. I couldn't wait that long, with how that bread must smell, I'd be tearing into it with hands and teeth >:3
Great! Although I would say that it appeared rather dense. When he proofed the dough in the cast iron, it seems that there isn't much space left before baking. Bread swells more when being baked as the gas released by the yeast expands and the water produces steam. Without any room to swell into, it becomes dense. Also it appears that the dough was pretty dry and hard to work with, which makes it denser (less water = less gluten and less steam).
Thank you very much for uploading this! Migh I add, that I'd love to see a "Bushcraft Techniques" DVD, where we'll be shown all those techniques for woodworking, cooking/baking, correct usage of tools and so on :-)
Great video, Ray! In the African bush, we had good results without a tripod by placing the pot directly in dying embers and covering it in the same manner.
It's really important that the science could be best understood with such resources. I saw this as fodder for choosing kit for different scenarios. Thank you brother. You made that look easy. Be good.
I like making bread. My husband makes it Irish style, without yeast in a cast iron frying pan. I make bread with yeast in an oven. Had no idea it could be made in a Dutch oven. Must give it go when Summer comes round - if Summer comes round.
TIP from someone who`s grandma did this lots of times (in an oven like thing thow) you can use an egg, or some butter(if you like that) to paintbrush the bread after baking so the crust doesn`t get so hard after cooling but that is optional :P
My DO has a lid with a more upstanding edge so i do’nt need to blow of the ashes every time i want to look at the bread. Some people take out the dough for a second time kneading. For a good temperature in the DO there is a deviding of amber under and on top of the Dutch Oven.
Bear is a sensationalist mears an realist. Every normal person can live 2 days longer in tacky situations if you have seen all of mears movies. You probably die 2 days quicker if you copy the shit bear does!
Now around this corner we have our wild bag of flour here, invasive species yes. We'll just take a few of those, now up in that tree there is a yeast branch and you can tell it's ripe because they've formed these store bought structures called sachets. Now very carefully, not to disturb them.. I'm going to nab this jar of pure granulated sugar from this couple picnicking before they notice.
These are thing he does at a fixed camp. He doesn't carry cast iron with him when he goes backpacking. Remember he isn't a survivalist, he's a woodsman. And he does pretty well with the gear he does pack when he's on foot.
In lreland we used a 'Bastable' pot just like that with the legs but could also hang from a crane over the cottage open fire. We also had hooks set in the chimney to smoke meat...usually bacon.
I missed you til now. Will start watching the videos you made. An option for the old reliable buck saw is available today. The wood that we cut for bushcraft work doesn’t need a large, heavy saw. We’re pretty much cutting something of arm thickness or less. Pruning is the type of cutting we do. A folding pruning saw is lighter, and is quicker to set to work. I use a Corona saw with a 10” blade. That will cut a log of 20” diameter. About 16” larger than needed. Coronavirus “hollow grinds” the ends of the teeth. The entire saw is just a support system for those teeth tips. All saws share that characteristic. The tips of the teeth are the sole reason for all the rest of the saw. I sought out the best teeth tips. And, there are several other brands out there too. Courtesy of Half Vast Flying
I have to give Ray credit- cooking outdoors has enough challenges. But baking is really tough because it's so critical that the temperature is consistent. Like he mentioned, just having a breeze come in from one side can drop the temp on that side of the pot. I screw up baking in the oven at home let alone on a campfire outdoors. It bums me out that his camp bread is probably better than the bread I make at home.
In rougher circumstances, you can make bread on a stick. Baking powder instead of yeast, slightly less water for a stickier (see what I did there) dough. Make it stick like a cap on the top of your stick (~2cm in diameter), and turn it over hot embers.
That as informative , thanks. Couple things you should mention you are using fast rising yeast (doesn't need a second rise) and the hard crust problem, I brush some butter on mine. Now I'm going to check my cast iron dutch oven that I could put coals on top, learned one thanks
Also look into making a wild yeast starter which will impart a delicious flavor and the yeast is basically free, floating in the air and on very ripe fruit, just make sure the fruit is organic, like berries growing in the garden, mulberries are good, etc.
This is cool... They display baking bread, and show a wood pile..... Thanks for the info Ray... I bake bread often. I have yet to do it Bushcraft style though....
I live on the road, true nomad style, once a week I bake bread to enjoy with whatever I have managed to forage. Can't beat the simple stuff, flour, water salt and I use soda rather than yeast, it means I can cook straight away wthout prooving the loave, although now and then i will treat myself to a pack of yeast ;-)
