BARBECUED BANNOCK BISCUITS

Bannock, a staple of Indigenous cuisine, is often cooked over an open fire. This recipe lets you make fluffy bannock-style biscuits in a cast iron skillet on your barbeque. The brick placed between the pan and the grill gives the biscuits some distance from the heat and keeps them from overbrowning.

Yield: Makes 12.

BARBECUED BANNOCK BISCUITS

Ingredients

  • 3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
  • 4 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 cup salted butter, chilled and cubed
  • 1 1/2 cups buttermilk
  • 3 tbsp maple syrup, divided
  • 1 brick
  • 1 tbsp whipping cream
  • 1 tbsp canola oil

Directions

  1. Combine flour, whole wheat flour, baking powder, salt and baking soda in a bowl.
  2. Cut in butter with a pastry blender until mixture is crumbly.
  3. Whisk together buttermilk and 2 tbsp maple syrup until blended.
  4. Add buttermilk mixture to flour mixture and stir just until combined.
  5. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead dough gently and shape into a log. Cut log into 12 pieces. Roll each piece into a ball and set aside.
  6. Place brick on natural gas barbecue grid. Set a 10 inch cast iron frypan directly on top of brick. Heat frypan over medium-high heat for 5 minutes.
  7. Meanwhile, whisk together remaining 1 tbsp maple syrup and cream; set aside.
  8. Using a heatproof brush, brush oil in frypan.
  9. Carefully place dough balls in frypan. Brush tops with cream mixture. With lid down, bake biscuits, rotating frypan after 15 minutes, until lightly browned, about 30 - 35 minutes. Serve warm.
Nutritional analysis per biscuit:

246 calories, 10.8 g fat, 5 g protein, 32.7 g carbohydrate, 1.4 g fibre, 469 mg sodium