Campfire Bread & Sweet Bun on a Stick à la Carelia Grill
Looking for easy and tasty picnic food cooked with real fire? Campfire bread and/or sweet bun on a stick are delicious for gourmets of all ages and sizes. The dough can be conveniently pre-made and put in food storage containers, making them easy to take to the summer house or to your own backyard barbecues.
The preparation is overall very simple. The ingredients are exactly the same as if you were about to bake them in the oven, but, the secret here lies in the cooking process, which is characterized by the unique taste of real fire. These delicacies are best enjoyed outdoors - and in good company, of course. The search for roasting sticks in the forest can be, at its best, a fun adventure for the whole family.
For example, a tasty compound butter (aka herb butter) is an awesome accompaniment to the bread. Sweet berry jam, silky custard, and melted chocolate match just perfectly with the sweet buns. These are easy to dip, even though it might get a bit messy... We’re sure your family will love these! 😋
Garlic Herb Butter
INGREDIENTS
120g salted butter
2 garlic cloves
1 tbsp finely chopped, fresh chives
1 tbsp finely chopped, fresh parsley
INSTRUCTIONS
Chop the herbs and garlic cloves. Slightly soften the butter (but do not let it melt!) in the microwave. Mix all the ingredients together with a fork until smooth.
Spoon the finished butter mixture onto a sheet of wax paper and roll into a log. Close the ends of the paper tightly, for example with rubber bands. The butter can be stored in the fridge for up to 2 weeks, frozen for up to 6 months.
Campfire Bread
6 servings
INGREDIENTS
100 ml water + 25 ml milk (the mixing ratio can be applied if desired, as long as the total amount of liquid is 125 ml)
2 tsp instant yeast
½-1 tsp salt
1 tsp honey
200-250g wheat flour (if you wish, you can substitute a third with rye flour / oatmeal / bran for a more nutritious bread!)
1 tbsp melted butter / vegetable oil
INSTRUCTIONS
Heat the water-milk mixture to at least 42°C, but no more than 50°C. Mix instant yeast with 50g of wheat flour, sieve into the liquid and stir. Add salt and honey, and gradually sieve in the remaining wheat flour. Add butter/oil and knead the dough until it has formed a ball and clears the sides of the bowl.
Cover the bowl with a kitchen cloth and leave the dough to rise for at least half an hour, but preferably for 1-1 ½ hours in a warm, draft-free place (e.g. in an oven with just the lights on).
In the meantime, you can make the dough for the sweet campfire buns! (The recipe for the bread continues in the next section, the preparation of sweet campfire buns.)
Sweet Campfire Buns
6 servings
INGREDIENTS
125 ml whole milk (you can also try cooking cream instead!)
2 tsp instant yeast
40g caster sugar + 2 tsp vanilla sugar
½ tsp salt
2 ml cardamom
200g wheat flour
1 tbsp liquid margarine / melted butter
INSTRUCTIONS
The instructions here are the same as for making the bread dough: first, heat the milk to about 42°C. Mix the instant yeast with 50g of wheat flour, sieve into the liquid and stir. Add the sugars, salt, and cardamom, and gradually sieve in the remaining wheat flour. Add the margarine / butter and knead the dough until it has formed a ball and clears the sides of the bowl. Let the dough rise in a warm place for ½ to 1 ½ hours.
TIP: You can make these taste like cinnamon buns by adding a cinnamon-butter-sugar filling (4 ml cinnamon, 1 tbsp butter, 3 tbsp caster sugar). After the rising time, add the filling ingredients to the dough while kneading it.
ANOTHER TIP: For extra sweetness and caramel flavour, use brown sugar for the cinnamon bun filling instead of caster sugar.
When both doughs have risen to somewhat double in size, roll them thin, and cut into even pieces. Twist each piece individually around the roasting sticks. We’ve learned by experience that it's best to do the rounds widely apart, as the dough will puff up a little during cooking. This will also make sure that the bread/sweet bun on a stick will be cooked thoroughly 😊
Hold the sticks at a convenient distance from the flames. Frequently rotate the sticks so that the bread and buns are cooked evenly. It takes about 15 minutes to cook, depending on the heat. However, you can see that they’re cooked when they come off the stick easily and no dough remains on the stick. Spread homemade garlic herb butter on the fresh campfire bread and dip the sweet buns in berry jam, custard, and/or melted chocolate. Enjoy!
