Outdoor Learning and STEM  

Campfire Bread

And who doesn't like a nice bread ?

This is a simple  (and sometimes messy) campfire activity, that children enjoy.  

All that's required is ... 

  • 500g self-raising flour

  • 3 tbsp sugar

  • 300-500ml water or milk

  • Spoon

  • Pot

  • Wooden spoons or clean, dry branches stripped of their bark.

and the Campfire, of course !


To make the bread, Mix all the ingredients together in the bowl to create a smooth dough.   Knead (continually stretch and fold) the dough until it become 'elastic'.

(If you want to make a 'less messy' version, see the 'helpful tip' below.)

Take a small ball of the dough, and roll it onto a  thin sausage (about 2 -3 cm in diameter).

Wrap the sausage of dough around the end of a wooden spoon or a stick with the bark stripped from it.

Position the stick with dough over the hot embers of the fire or quite high above the fire so that it is not in amongst the flames, turning occasionally until the dough has baked and is golden brown, at which point remove the bread from the fire pit.


Then just take the bread from the stick, and enjoy, remembering that it will be hot !
Fair Cake Recipe
Click the image to left to see how to make bread as described above.
Photo by Alex P: https://www.pexels.com/photo/two-women-sitting-on-ground-near-bonfire-344102/ 
10 ways to cook bread over a campfire

A helpful tip !

This can be a messy task (which is part of the fun) but to save time and mess when you are out in the woods, make up batches of the ingredients in advance in sealed sandwich bags.  Once you get to wherever you are making the bread, give the bag a good shake for a few minutes, give it a good squeeze and squish, and the ingredients will turn in to bread dough.  Click the image below to see this in action !

Word of warning

Some woods are not safe to use for cooking utensils.

Safe to use are - Hazel, ash, willow, sycamore, apple, chestnut and lime.
If none of the above are available, then Birch, pine and oak and alder are fine.
DO NOT USE cherry (cyanide smell) laburnum, yew, holly, elder, douglas fir or cedar.


And some woods are better than other for burning ... 

Hardwoods burn hotter for longer.

Softwoods tend to burn more quickly and can be quite 'sparky' because of the resin in the wood.  The smoke created by the resins can also 'taint' the flavour of the food.


Whatever wood you burn on your campfire, make sure it is dry, untreated with paints or varnishes, and does not have bits of ivy stuck to it.  Poison Ivy, when burnt, can release spores which can, if you are allergic to them make you very ill !   Not all ivy's are poisonous. but there's no point in taking the risk !

Chemicals used on wood, if the wood is burnt, can release toxic fumes.

Points to ponder ...

Like many of the activities we have worked on, cooking over a camp fire does contain an element of risk, but, properly managed, there's no reason why this, like the other activities, can't be a safe and enjoyable task.

The main risk, of course, the fire itself.  To reduce this risk, you could set up a 'do not cross' line around the firepit, so that children can only cross the line if they are supervised by an adult.  You could also have an adult hold the sticks over the fire so that the children aren't having to do this bit of the task.  Alternatively, in advance, you  could arange a rack of rome kind for holding the sticks, or on which to place the dough to cook (if you choose not to use sticks).

Another risk to consider might be allergies or intolerance to certain ingredients, but it is normal practice, when working with children, to have some knowledge of allergies and intolerances so that, if necessary, the task can be adapted accordingly.

How does this activity relate to S.T.E.M ?

Some of the concepts that you might want to explore could be ...
Science.

  • Mixing of substances,

  • consistency - thin, thick,

  • Parallax error when reading scales.  To understand parallax error, try this experiment ... place the tip of your outstretched thumb against the tip of your nose, so that your outstretched index finger is pointing straight up.  Close your right eye, and take a note of whatever is 'blocked' by your index finger.  Now close your left eye only ... is the finger still 'blocking' the same thing ?  No !  Your eyes are about 10 cm apart, which means they have slightly different points of view.  Your index' finger hadn't moved, but, when you 'swapped eyes' your 'point of view' DID, and so your index finger appeared to be in a different place.  Imagine you are reading a set of scales where a needle moves over a scale marked in the viewing panel..   If you move your head to the left or right, the needle might appear to move slightly, but it's your 'point of view' that has moved.  THIS is parallax error !  It's not going to make a lot of difference to us making fairy cakes ... but the activity offers a great opportunity to introduce the concept of parallax error to children.  To learn more, watch this video.

  • The Fire Triangle - heat (or 'ignition'), oxygen and fuel.

Technology.

  • Using hand tools (kitchen utensils).

  • Using powered machines (mixer, for example) safely.

Engineering.

  • Unless the children develop some fantastic structures using the flour and egg mix, there's really not a lot of engineering principles to discuss here !

Maths

  • Measuring quantities,

  • reading scales,

  • working with numbers,

  • adding,

  • subtracting

  • multiplying

  • dividing