BREAD! Wheat: Red Hard or White Hard or White Soft... and other thoughts.

[Rmplstlskn]

I have been getting convicted of my LACK of serious kitchen experience with my stored wheat grains, so lately I have been making efforts to "use what I store," which in the case of BREAD, is not usually a "store what I eat" situation (store-bought breads). And just like gardening, weapon use, and other survival skills, success only comes from PRACTICE and doing it LEARNING.

I store in super-pails three different wheats:
1. Red Hard Winter Wheat (bulk majority due to availability and long storage life)
2. White Hard Spring Wheat (somewhat shorter storage life)
3. Soft White Spring Wheat (only one pail ~ much shorter storage life)

I use a WONDER-MILL electric grain mill (awesome tool!) It puts out beautiful flour...

Here is what I have learned so far...

Red Hard Winter Wheat makes a DARK brown bread that is very dense and does not rise as well as other wheat flours and processed flours (store bought). People who screw up their yeast rises often call this bread "BRICKS" due to the dense nature of the bread. It has the strongest wheat taste of all the other varieties. It is very tasty when done correctly (well mixed, sweetened with honey, good yeast rises), but nowhere near the type of bread my family is used to, so it tends to not get eaten as quickly (in good times).

The keys I have found (I am still learning with this grain) are additives (honey, even yogurt) and letting the yeast work (minimum two rises and then a pan rise before baking). When done right, you can smell and taste the NUTRIENTS and HEALTHINESS of this bread. But for a more enjoyable eating experience, the real key is MIXING GRAINS...

After several loafs of good, thick, dense, red winter wheat bread, I have decided that some HARD WHITE and SOFT WHITE is needed to temper the "put hair on your chest" red wheat bread.

I will post further in this thread as I experiment with different ratios, and I plan on some videos once I find a recipe I like and get more organized (not look like a kitchen idiot)... But I do see where I will be adding much more HARD and SOFT WHITE wheat to my storage inventory...

Rmpl

[Benn Gleck]

I'm interested in your experiments as I've been stocking Red Hard Winter and White Hard Spring wheat.

I'm in the process of getting a grinder.

[crossbow]

I stick with hard white all the way, when the SHsTF, we'll make breads,cakes,flapjacks, gravey and everything else out of it.the hungrier people get the better things will taste. I do have a few hundred pounds of hard red in mylar and pails buried somewhere in the back row, but when the time comes, we'll just use it up the same way.

[Rmplstlskn]

OK, I finally got a chance to do another bread test... This time I used 60% hard red winter wheat and 40% soft white winter wheat mix. Since manually making bread is very time consuming I used our bread maker instead. I made a Whole Wheat Yogurt Bread and put it on video.

My suspicions were correct... Mixing the heavy, dense red winter flour with a lighter soft white flour did indeed improve the non-SHTF, normal life quality and palatability of the bread. This loaf came out DELICIOUS! Hard, crunchy crust with a richly smooth and soft interior...

What does it all mean? Add some soft white winter wheat to your storage to compliment the hard red winter wheat so commonly used in long-term storage... You and your family will be glad you did!

Look for more experiments to come... Go directly to YouTube by clicking on the YouTube logo for video text and the recipe...

PART 1

PART 2

[Bearman202]

Good video! Thanks for making the effort. Nothing like actually DOING IT to find out what works and what doesn't, eh? :-)

I make mine from Hard Red, and use the mixer. I don't add yogurt, although I could see how that would smooth out the texture a bit. Also, a friend uses oatmeal in his, and that improves the texture a bit also. I don't use butter or milk in mine either, and usually use honey rather than brown sugar, although I would use brown sugar if I didn't have honey. The recipe I use is directly from Laurel's Kitchen Bread Book. The recipe makes two 1 pound loaves. I make two, stick one in the freezer, and eat the other one right away. One thing I did notice is that if I put the loaf in a bread bag immediately out of the oven, the steam from it will result in a softer crust. If you do that, take the loaf out the next day and put it in another bag or it will tend to mold really fast. The frozen loaf tends not to mold as fast. I guess the freezing kills some of the mold spores, but I don't know that for certain. I have also noticed that if you make your own bread, and get into the habit of eating it, the store-bought starts to taste fairly nasty, so be warned.

Glen: When you're looking for a mill, spend a little more and buy a good quality one. I bought a Grizzly Corona type, and it doesn't grind the wheat fine enough. It does great on corn and beans, but the wheat just isn't fine enough. I think that's because it's the steel plate type, rather than the stone type. I put the wheat through three times, and it's still not fine enough. Better to find the money to do it right than find more money to do it over, eh?

All in all, I highly recommend making your own bread. It's really satisfying to slice off a chunk of bread that you made with your own hands, that you KNOW doesn't have a load of preservatives, rat poison, other additives in it.

Again, thanks for the video!

[Lowdown3]

Excellent thread- five stars!

[Rmplstlskn]

I have been doing more bread experiments and I took the advice of others in various forums about the "Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day" technique and bought the book on Amazon. Read it...

I was skeptical as it was so freakin' simple that surely there had to be a catch, so I put my wheat grinding aside for a time and began using the unbleached, unsifted, all-purpose white flour (hard white winter wheat) that the primary recipes in this book call for.

What intriqued me about this method is the obvious SHTF potential such an EASY bread making technique could hold. Basically, all you do is dump in the ingredients, mix with a spoon till all flour is wet, let rise 2 hours, then refrigerate over night and store in fridge for up to 10 days (it never lasts that long, as I am finding out, as I use it all before then...) Obviously the refrigerator part could be an issue in a SHTF event, so I plan to experiment without cooling...

But anyways, all I can say is WOW!!!!! This recipe makes the best darn bread I have had since who knows when... Below is the recipe to try out. If you like it, buy the book, it has a lot more recipes and details...

We sure are enjoying fresh baked bread!!!!


Boule Loaf: 3 cups lukewarm water, 1-1/2 TBSP granulated yeast, 1-1/2 TBSP kosher coarse salt, 6-1/2 cups unsifted, unbleached, all-purpose white flour, cornmeal on bottom so loaf doesn't stick. That's it... But the real secret is the technique...

Have warm water in a big 5q. plastic or glass bowl, as the dough will expand in this bowl. Bowl needs a lid but must allow gases (fermentation) to escape. Add yeast and salt to water. Mix in flour with a strong spoon. DO NOT KNEAD! Mix till... all flour is wet without dry spots. STOP. Cover & allow to rise in room temperature for 2 hours or so (time no critical). It should have doubled or so. With lid on (allow gases to escape), put in the fridge overnight. Use it the next day by dusting with flour on top and pulling out a 1lb or so chunk. Use flour to keep hands from sticking and smooth the dough out from top to bottom in a ball, making a smooth gluten cloak. Rest the dough for 40 min. 20 min before dough ready, turn on oven to 450*. Have the bread pan go in the middle and have a broiler pan below. When you put bread in to oven (oven will still not be up to full temp), pour 1-1/2 cups water into broiler pan and close oven door quickly. The STEAM will do wonders with the crust... After 30 minutes the bread should be done. Let it cool and enjoy! Do not hold me responsible for the pleasure your mouth will experience... LOL!

Rmpl

[Klayton]

Awesome thanks for the recipe and the pic.

Has anybody found a reliable source for data on refrigeeration after SHTF?
I mean, I know there are propane refrigerators. But do they run 100% on propane? How much propane? If I have a large propane tank dedicated to a propane refrigerator, whats the length of time after SHTF can I expect to keep using this baby?