The quest for the perfect camp biscuit!

May 07 2017

I was on a search for a way to make a biscuit while backpacking. I have seen many ways of baking but most used expensive pots or combinations of expensive pots to dry bake there food. I want to use what I have until I can get better and more updated gear.

To skip to the meat of it, scroll down.

I have a mess kit, an old Boy Scout mess kit. I know it is old because it was mine when I was in Boy Scouts 30 years ago.
Since I already have the mess kit, I think I can use it to do what I am trying to do, make an oven.
The kit has, as many know, a pan, a plate and a pot with a lid. I need a way to get the pot off the bottom so I can have air all the way around the biscuit, instead of direct heat on the biscuit.

I made a trivet. I had an old Coleman toaster that I never used and I cut a circle out of it that loosely fits into the pot of the mess kit and added some brass wire to stand it off of the bottom to allow for air flow. I wanted to make the trivet to fit so I could close the mess kit, this did the trick. I also wanted clean-ish so I intended to fit parchment paper for baking.

Happy with the fit I had to see if it would even work the way I wanted so I baked a biscuit on the stove first and boy did I make enough dough!! I made a monster but it came out perfectly cooked! The picture doesn’t do as much justice as it could but it was the full size of the mess kit pot! This thing tasted great too! I ate it with butter and figuring that I would be making another shortly, this was my dinner!

Next try was on my canister stove to see how well that worked out. I couldn’t have been happier. The bottom was a bit overcooked but overall it was delicious.

Time for a real world trial and the ultimate attempt. I cut out a few pieces of parchment paper and set off for a shelter near by that I knew had a fire pit. I cut some parchment and packed some Bisquick into a bag and headed off in the rain to the shelter.
Here is the short end of the story now, the mess kit worked as an oven.

The meat of it.

1.) used Bisquick and put some in a baggie. I didn’t measure it, I will in the future.
2.) added water slowly to the baggie, removed the air and mixed it in the baggie.
3.) lined the pan with parchment paper and added the dough to the pot.
4.) covered the pot and closed the mess kit around the pot with the pot on the trivet.
5.) buried the mess kit under the coals for 10 mins.
6.) uncovered the mess kit and let it sit raised above the coals for 20 mins, rotating once at the 10 min mark.
7.) I ate that wonderful tasting biscuit!