On a cold damp morning there is something special about a couple of slices of eggy bread and a hot drink. It is camp comfort food and can be eaten on its own or as part of a larger breakfast. We have been known to plan in eggy bread as a breakfast if there is the possibility of passing a farm shop the evening before, as it pairs so well with bacon, sausages, and baked beans.

After trialling this recipe a fair few times, it is more effort than pancakes. We think you should be aware of this, but sometimes it is definitely worth it!

Ingredients

There are not many ingredients for this recipe. The mixture scales well and will work as well for one person as it will for 100.

Core ingredients

The core ingredients are bread and eggs. The ingredients given are for two people.

4 x Slices of Bread - A dense bread works best. If your bread is not sliced then you will also need to cut it into slices for this recipe.

Equivalent of 2 x eggs in Powdered egg - An ingredient that has a bad reputation in the UK, but we have found it a brilliant ingredient for adventure cooking. It gives good fluffy pancakes and is a lot less messy than carrying fresh eggs.

1 Tablespoon Sugar - Simple granulated sugar works well here.

2 Tablespoon Powdered Milk - Another ingredient that has a bad reputation in the UK, but is fantastic for bringing on expeditions.

1 Tablespoon Vegetable Oil - We tend to use vegetable oil, but any oil suitable for frying will do. One word of warning - if you use a more flavourful oil, that flavour will be imparted into the final dish. We have had some interesting experiences with using olive oil, so recommend a neutral oil (or butter if you have any).

Optional Ingredients

Now this is where you can start experimenting. Some ingredients we have found that work well are:

Cinnamon - This can add a little flavour and make a nice change.

Nutmeg - This can add a little flavour and make a nice change.

The rest of a full English breakfast - enough said.

Cooking equipment

This is one that you can easily do in the wild.

Camping stove - Something that has a controllable heat is preferable. Although possible over a spirit burner it is a bit more of a challenge to not weld food to the bottom.

Frying pan - A well seasoned or nonstick pan will make this a lot easier.

Whisk or mixing spoon - something to mix the ingredients is needed, and a whisk does make it a lot easier to avoid a lumpy batter, but you can make do with a spoon or spork.

Shallow bowl or pan - something to mix the liquid part of the dish, as well as dip (or dredge) the slices of bread in.

Fish slice or flippy stick - You will need a utensil to get under the bread while it is in the pan.

Method

This method is a simple one but there are two key parts: getting the consistency of the batter right, and the time in the frying pan. Once you get these two bits sorted you can crank out as many rounds as you need. Believe it or not we have cooked eggy bread at an event for over 300 people in the past!

Mix your powdered egg and powdered milk in your shallow bowl.
Add water and whisk to make a light batter. You want the consistency to be thin enough to get into the bread's interstices (little holes), without being so thin that it all just runs off.
Heat your frying pan up on the stove, add a teaspoon of oil. You want the pan hot enough to fry in but not smoking.
Dip a slice of bread into the batter and give it a little smush so that when the bread bounces back it sucks up a bit of the batter.
Flip the bread over in the pan to ensure both sides are covered.
Place carefully into your frying pan.
After about 20 seconds, flip over the bread in the frying pan to cook the other side. If you have timed it right the bread should be a wonderful golden brown.
After about 20 seconds, remove bread from the pan.
Sprinkle granulated sugar or other toppings of choice over the top to taste.
Repeat until you have used all the bread and batter.

Trail tips

If you have stale bread then this is also a cracking way of using it while you are out on the trail. Even if the bread has dried out, or is no longer rectangular, it doesn't matter. You can rehydrate the bread with the batter, and mush it back into a respectable shape.

The second slice almost always turns out better than the first. You may also need to play with the temperature of the stove to find the “just right” setting. Robert has done this so many times with our MSR Dragonfly and Primus frying pan he can find the right temperature setting on the valve by the sound the burner makes. We call this the “eggy bread” position.

If you are making many rounds of this and want to serve them all at once, then a nice way of keeping it warm is popping it into a pot with a lid on. Putting a woolly hat over the pot will also keep the heat in.

If you have leftover batter then on the last piece of bread just pour the remaining batter over the top of the bread whilst it's in the pan. This creates a crispy skirt around the bread and does not waste the calories.

Egg-cellent Eggy Bread