Friends! Thanks for joining us tonight for Camp Joy! Join us live on Zoom as I talk about the new zine and baking bread for and at camp!
I’ll be making Tin Can Cheddar Potato Bread which, admittedly, is an ambitious thing to make while out in the woods camping, but is a cheeky thing to make if you want to stay in your air conditioned home and act out the old Girl Scout glory days.
I’ll also be making a quick and easy Tin Can Cornbread that can easily be made at camp and I’ll give you my best tips and tricks for cooking cornbread over coals.
The Camp Joy zine will be available for purchase in mid June! You’ll receive a recording of the class after the class concludes and a free downloadable PDF preview of the book in a few short weeks!
CAMP JOY: Tin Can Cheddar Potato Bread
Ingredients
For the Rolls:
- 2 ½ teaspoons (1 pack) active dry yeast
- 2 tablespoons warm water (about 105 degrees) (cooled water that the potatoes were boiled in if possible)
- 1/3 cup (65 grams) plus a pinch granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature and lightly beaten
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature and cut into cubes
- 1 cup (175 grams) unseasoned warm or room temperature mashed potatoes, lightly packed (about 1 medium to large potato)
- Scant ¾ cup lukewarm water
- 4 ¼ cups (520 grams) all-purpose flour
Instructions
- First cook the potato. I find it easiest to peel, quarter and boil the potato to softened. Remove the potato pieces and mash while still warm. Alternately, if you’re at camp – use any leftover potato you have.
- To make the roll dough, in large mixing bowl, stir together yeast and warm water with a pinch of sugar. Allow the mixture to sit for 5 minutes until the yeast foams and froths.
- Once the yeast mixture has risen add eggs, 1/3 cup sugar, salt, butter cubes, mashed potatoes, water, and flour. Whether bringing together on a mixer or by hand, roughly combine the ingredients with a spatula.
- If using a mixer, place on low speed and knead together. If mixing by hand, begin to knead the dough until all the ingredients are cohesive and the dough begins to smooth. The dough should be soft, pliable, bounce, and rather smooth. If there are a few potato bits or chunks in the dough, don’t worry – they’ll bake to smooth. Add more flour to make a cohesive dough ball though the dough will still be a bit sticky.
- Place the dough in a large, lightly greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap and allow to rest until doubled in size, about 60 minutes.
- Place the dough on a clean counter, gently deflate, and divide the dough into 6 dough pieces. Roll each dough ball into a small round.
- Place rolls in a lightly greased 15 ounce tin cans. I added long strips of parchment inside the cans to make the bread easier to remove. Lightly cover the rolls with a clean kitchen towel and allow to rest for 20 minutes while you preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
- ** To bake the rolls at camp, make hot coals or burn a campfire down to hot embers. Place a grate over the coals. You’ll want a larger can to bake the smaller can in. Fill the bottom of the large can with 2 inches of sand or dirt. Place the bread can in on top of the dirt and cover the whole deal loosely with foil. Pierce a few holes in the foil. Bread baked on the coals takes longer than the oven so give it 30-40 minutes, peaking into the foil after 25 minutes or sos.
- Bake rolls for 20-25 minutes in the oven until domed and golden. Remove from the oven, allow to rest for 10 minutes before turning running a butterknife around the bread in the can and removing.
- Serve rolls warm or at room temperature.
