JAMES' PRIZE-WINNING PAN DE CAMPO

4 cups flour
4 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 tablespoon salt
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup shortening
Approximately 2 cups milk

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.

Sift together dry ingredients in large mixing bowl. Stir in shortening and cooking oil. Work with hands until mixture becomes flaky.

Add 1 1/2 cups of the milk and begin stirring dough. Dough should be sticky, but workable. If dough is too stiff, add more milk. If it's too watery, add more flour. Knead hard for about 1 minute. Don't overwork dough.

Pat out or gently roll into 9-inch circle that's about 1/4- to 1/2-inch thick. Use a fork or barbecue tongs to poke holes in dough.

Place dough, hole-side down, onto ungreased baking sheet and bake 12-20 minutes.

VARIATIONS:
Another way of making it, which is trickier but yields a bread much closer to one that's cooked on a campfire, is to heat a large cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat. When oil runs freely on the skillet, it's hot enough. Place the dough, hole-side down in the skillet. Bake for 6-10 minutes, depending on thickness, then flip over and bake for another 6-10 minutes. The inside should be flaky.

For truly traditional pan de campo, use lard instead of shortening and oil, omit the sugar and use water instead of milk, to make the dough. Prepare an open fire using mesquite wood. Place cast-iron Dutch oven on top of fire, set dough, with the holes down, in the oven and set cover on top. This will likely require using a metal pole for protection from the heat. Place hot mesquite on top of cover. Check dough in about 5-10 minutes, and flip when it has cooked about halfway. Let cook another 5-10 minutes in covered Dutch oven and pull out when ready.

Source: San Antonio Express-News, January 16, 2001
From: Melissa Guerra, host of the PBS cooking show: Texas Provincial Kitchen The recipe is from her brother, James McAllen, of the McAllen Ranch in Hidalgo County. She modified it slightly for a home kitchen.