Cinnamon Monkey Bread

Readers are cautioned that the overwhelming majority of cinnamon on the retail market which is labeled as "cinnamon," is in fact NOT "true" cinnamon.

As such, they contain, inter alia, coumarin, a toxic substance which is banned as a food additive, but not regulated in terms of its content in cinnamon.

Among the most common types "cinnamon" are:

1) Cassia, from the bark of Cinnamomum iners from Arabia and Ethiopia.

2) "True cinnamon," C. verum (also called C. zeylanicum) from Sri Lanka (former Ceylon). It is also found on the island of Madagascar.

3) Malabathrum or malobathrum, several species including C. tamala from the north of India

4) Serichatum, C. cassia from Seres (China).

Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinnamon#Adverse_effects

Readers who want to safely season their food should use organic C. verum (a/k/a C. zeylanicum) from Sri Lanka (former Ceylon). It is available on Amazon from several suppliers and other websites.

For more information, please read:

FREE full text http://www.vkm.no/dav/271c242c20.pdf

Risk assessment of coumarin using the bench mark dose (BMD) approach: children in Norway which regularly eat oatmeal porridge with cinnamon may exceed the TDI for coumarin with several folds.

Fotland TØ1, Paulsen JE, Sanner T, Alexander J, Husøy T.

1Norwegian Scientific Committee for Food Safety, P.O. Box 4404 Nydalen, NO-0403 Oslo, Norway.

Food Chem Toxicol. 2012 Mar;50(3-4):903-12.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.fct.2011.12.005

Abstract

Coumarin is a naturally occurring flavouring substance in cinnamon and many other plants. It is known that coumarin can cause liver toxicity in several species, and it is considered a non-genotoxic carcinogen in rodents.

By using the bench mark dose approach we re-assessed coumarin toxicity and established a new TDI (tolerable daily intake)for coumarin of 0.07 mg/kg bw/day. Oral intake of coumarin is related to consumption of cinnamon-containing foods and food supplements.

Cinnamon is a widely used spice in Norway, and can be used as topping on oatmeal porridge. Based on analyses of coumarin in Norwegian foods, intake calculations for children and adults were conducted, and a risk assessment of coumarin in the Norwegian population was performed.

Intake estimates of coumarin show that small children eating oatmeal porridge several times a week sprinkled with cinnamon could have a coumarin intake of 1.63 mg/kg bw/day and may exceeding the TDI with several folds. Adults drinking cinnamon-based tea and consuming cinnamon supplements also can exceed TDI.

The coumarin intake could exceed the TDI by 7- to 20-fold in some intake scenarios.

Such large daily exceedances of TDI, even for a limited time period of 1-2 weeks, cause concern of adverse health effects.

I'm confused – what's the 1.3 Evernew Ti Pot used for?

Are the 1" balls of dough squished together into a single mass in the 5" pan for cooking?

Stuart….Let me see if I can help you with your two questions;
"I'm confused – what's the 1.3 Evernew Ti Pot used for?"
The Flat Daddio's 5" round pan that contains the 6 equal sized balls (~1-inch) that sits in the 1.3 Evernew as show in the picture. The 1.3 Evernew Pot rests in the Trail Desighs Sidewinder Ti-Tri or Flat Cat It’s a Snap Windscreen.

"Are the 1" balls of dough squished together into a single mass in the 5" pan for cooking?"
You place the 6 equal sized balls (~1-inch) in the Flat Daddio's 5" round pan WITHOUT squishing them (just place them in a random order) and they will join in the cooking process as show in the above picture.

Hope this helps….

Is this a "steam bake" or a "dry bake" ?

If the latter, is there a separator between the two pots?

Greg…This is a "Dry Bake" with NO separator between the two containers.
At one time I did experimented placing carbon felt strips between the two pans as in the picture below, but concluded after many bakes they were not needed to make the baking product or produce a better end product.

I have found that adding 1 tsp of water to the bottom in the 1.3 L Evernew pan that the Flat Daddio's 5" round pan sits into seems to improve end product,though it is NOT necessary.

A helpful procedure in the preparation that I did not include was to oil liberally the inside edge surfaces of the Flat Daddio's 5" round pan. Oil the bottom of the pan & oil a piece of parchment paper on both sides that has been cut into disk the same size as the bottom of the pan (inside). This allows makes it SUPER EASY to remove the bread.

Congrats on winning the contest. I have followed your recipe and it taste great on the trail. I see that you have found a great way to keep your granddaughters interested in backpacking!

Thanks for elaborating on cooking. Wondering have you ever cooked it just in the 5" round pan and not used the double-boiler method? And with esbit tablet do you light and trust the temp is ok, check it at all?
Dana

Dana….To answer your questions:

"Wondering have you ever cooked it just in the 5" round pan and not used the double-boiler method?"

NO, In fact I just started the Flat Cat baking procedure within the last two years to give my granddaughters who I take backing packing with the wife a "new" cooking method for the "goodies" they like and to expand their outdoor cooking knowledge.

"And with esbit tablet do you light and trust the temp is ok, check it at all?"

When I start on a new recipe I will check around the 30min mark, but normally now I let her burn AND then set for additional ~10min before opening. I like to let breads and cakes cool a bit before releasing them from the pan ……the wait time is aided with the oiled bottom parchment paper. Also at times when I was making sure that the release of the item I was baking from the pan would come out clean without issues, I placed an additional oiled parchment around the circumference in addition to the bottom oiled parchment paper. This I rarely do now.