Camping and woodcraft - Scoutmastercg.com

350 CAMPING AND WOODCRAFThas said ' it requires a running start of thirty-six hours.'Two days' souring is better. Do not be dismayed by theodor. The woods axiom is, the sourer the ' better,' and itwill not be at its best the first few days. Its great advantagefor campers lies in the fact that it will raise eitherbread or pancakes in any temperature above freezing." Pancakes should be set in the evening. Beat untilsmooth ; water and flour in proper proportions for batter.Stir this into the sourings ' ' in the sour dough can. Thisrises overnight. In the morning the amount of batternecessary for breakfast should be taken out, leavingenough A^east for the next day. Into enough batter fortwo we stir two tablespoons of molasses, one teaspoon ofsalt, and one half teaspoon of soda, the last two dissolvedin hot water. Then, small cakes are better and moreeasily handled than those the size of the frying pan." A quick, hot fire is necessary for pancakes, although,when frying in a pan, care must be taken or they willburn. Once a cake has burned to the pan you may as wellstop and clean the pan thoroughly or every succeedingcake will be spoiled." Uneaten pancakes should be broken up and droppedinto the sourings. It improves the cakes. Some woodsmenare almost superstitious about the mixture, and, withthem, the sour dough pail rivals the garbage can as a receptaclefor uneaten foods. When the yeast loses its sournessfrom overwork a tablespoon of vinegar will revive it.'The sourings can be carried ' in a pail or in a push-toptin. If you use the latter be sure to allow plenty of roomfor expansion. VVe still carry '^n a blanket evidences oftoo active sourings.' "'To Raise Bread in a Pot.— Set the dough to riseover a very few embers, keeping the pot turned asthe loaf rises. When equally risen all around, puthot ashes under the pot and upon the lid, takingcare that the heat be not too fierce at first.Lungwort Bread.— On the bark of maples, andsometimes of beeches and birches, in the northernwoods, there grows a green, broad-leaved lichenvariously known as lungwort, liverwort, lunglichen,and lung-moss, which is an excellent substitutefor yeast. This is an altogether differentgrowth from the plants commonly called lungwortand liverwort — I believe its scientific nameis Sticta pulmonacea. This I'chen is partly madeup of fungus, which does the business of raising