Le Subtil - Logan Bread Question

“The following is the recipe you posted on Logan Bread. I am gonna attempt to make a batch on Saturday. I think I have everything ready and understand the basics, but I have one question;


Can you substitute olive oil for margarine in this recipe?

(I usually substitute olive oil for margarine for anything else like rice, or mac-n-cheese, or noodle-roni, or just about anywhere margarine or butter is called for. For some reason I think it's healthier.)



RE: Lunches-Suggestions
"INDESTRUCTIBLE LOGAN BREAD
(Adapted from June Fleming. The Well-Fed Backpacker.)
Mix together
2/3 C softened margarine
3/4 C unsulfured blackstrap molasses
2/3 C honey
2 C water
1/4 C powdered skim milk
Sift in
2 lbs. (7 C) whole wheat flour
3/4 C brown sugar
1/2 t salt
1 t baking powder
1/2 t ground cinnamon
1/2 t ground nutmeg
Stir well.
Add 1/2 C chopped walnuts and
1 C chopped dried fruit. (craisins are wonderful)
Spread batter evenly on a greased cookie sheet (10" x 14") and bake at 300oF for 1 hour. Remove from oven, cut into 1" x 7" strips or 2" x 2" squares. Return to warm oven for about 2 hours to dry, propping oven door open slightly. (Turn oven temperature to 200oF for the 2 hours.) Yield 20 strips or 35 squares. Store in ziplock baggies in the freezer. Bread will keep for weeks on the trail, as long as it stays dry.
Calories/strip: 350 73:21:6 64g Carbohydrate 8g Fat 6g Protein"
Le Subtil
05:39:09 PM
07/27/01”

“BS- sorry, but I have no idea. I'm not a good enough cook to invent deviations from recipes. On the other hand, I'm pretty sure I've used butter 'cause I don't like margarine either.

Maybe someone else will know if you can bake with olive oil.”

“You can get away with the oil I bet,you just may have a slightly different flavor as olive oil can be strong. It is actually used as a seasoning in lots of cooking verses just being oil,You could even replace the oil/butter with applesauce or prune puree...though it would reduce the caloric total which kinda defeats the purpose....”

“I made two loafs of the bread last summer for the PCT. Luckly I had tried it on some earlier hikes and made some adjustments.

I found the origional recipe to be a little too dry for my liking. I was smearing so much butter on it that I had and idea. How about putting more butter in the mix.

What I did was include 2 entire cubes of butter and more fruit and nuts. I think I might have sweatened it up a bit with a little more of one of the sweateners. The final product was awesome. I even had a wheat germ / brown sugar mix on the top of the bread.

Everyone loved the stuff on the trail, it was certainly the top choice and never got boaring.

I don't really care about useing olive oil over butter due to the fact that I'm trying to get a lot of calories packed in. Olive oil is healthier in that it is lower in fat. Thats good when your sitting at home, but for me and my skinney butt I really go throught a vast amount of food on the trail. I still lost 15 lbs on the PCT last summer.”

“Birch, thinair,
Butter and Margarine have 100 calories per tablespoon, Olive Oil has 120 calories per table spoon. I use it most recipes when backpacking because it will not spoil, and it packs more calories. And, you really can't tell the flavor difference that much.


Plus, olive oil is healthier because of the type of fat that is is: it is a mono type fat which is much better for you that the poly or saturated.

Anyway, thanks for the info. Since thinair says it's a dry recipe, I think I'm gonna go with the olive oil.

I'll let you know how it turns out.

Oh, and Le Subtil, thanks for the recipe!”

“I didn't know that, let us know how it works for you. It never spoiled before we ate it so that was'nt a prob.”

“One comment, thinair. I think this is supposed to be dry. That's why it lasts so long. The batch I shared with Birch and Nigal was over a year old! I didn't tell them that until after they ate it :-)”

“I use olive oil in bread recipes all the time. The important thing is that you have a fat, not what kind of fat. It should work just fine instead of butter/oleo.”

“I can believe Sass. I've eaten her cookies.”

“Well, I had some time this afternoon so I went ahead and made the bread. It is in the drying cycle now with 30 min. left. I had to sample it a few minutes ago. It is pretty good. I used olive oil and I don't think it affected the flavor at all. I think the mixed dried fruits I used affected the flavor more.
It is still drying so I don't know how the olive oil will affect the moisture of the finished product.

Over all I'd say it very palatable and very easy to make.

I'll give another report after it goes on a trip.

Thanks to all for the help.”

“Oh yea, one more thing, I used "NoSalt" instead of real salt with no discernible difference. The reason for using "NoSalt" is to increase the intake of potassium, which can help you keep from cramping.”

“I perfer my food fresh. I don't need it to last more than a couple of weeks since I plan on eating it on the hike. I guess if you were going on a thru hike and needed it to last a couple of months in a mail drop than you would want it dryer. How much butter do you put on it?”

“Having eaten year old logan bread I can say that its some goooood stuff!”

“I think I'm gonna be making some of this... :)”