Bread from scratch

Cocobeem · Keeper of the Holy Grail

Bread from scratch

Euphrasie · Senior Bucketkeeper

Yes. Yes.

Yes.

You're welcome.

Cocobeem · Keeper of the Holy Grail

Please post all your bread recipes using just home storage items (no fresh milk or eggs). To clarify, these are the recipes you've actually used, not just ones you've seen printed up somewhere.

Please also provide lively, entertaining stories about the time(s) you've ground your own flour and used it to make bread, preferably using the above recipe(s).

Thank you again.

palmon · Senior Member

http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,,FOOD_9936_30263,00.html

Uses flour, salt, water. Makes a crusty, chewy, fine-textured bread. And tastes really good.

Cocobeem · Keeper of the Holy Grail

Awesome!

dianoia · Senior Member

Coco, here's the one I've used for years:

2 1/2 cups of warm water
1 heaping tablespoon yeast
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup oil
1/2 tablespoon salt
@6 cups of freshly ground wheat

Knead, let double, punch down and shape into three loaves. Let double again and bake at 350 for about half an hour.

One of the secrets of working with freshly ground wheat is to remember that the bran works as a slow-acting sponge. So one technique I'd discovered on my own was to add about four cups of flour to the water and let it sit for about 20 minutes before kneading, which resulted in a much lighter loaf.

Taking my bread-making to the next level is one of my obsessions right now - I stumbled across www.thefreshloaf.com last fall, and these people are SERIOUS about their bread. There are some regulars who work only with ground whole wheat, and they have a wealth of experience.

Right now I'm experimenting with overnight soaks of my grain, better shaping of my loaves and trying a folding technique instead of kneading to really develop the gluten.

Cocobeem · Keeper of the Holy Grail

Wow! Thanks!

rayb · Hot Air Balloon

Does anyone know about the consequences of using old yeast? Anyone have any expert advice about how to keep yeast for a long time? I always get these big bricks, but takes me three to four years to go through one...

--Ray

dianoia · Senior Member

The only consequence of using old yeast is that more or all of the little guys are dead, and therefore won't do anything. So you'll have a smaller rise, or none at all. You can increase the amount of yeast you use is some are alive, but your bread will taste really yeasty.

And if you want to know to know if your yeast is still viable, you need to proof it. Proof is Latin for "hey, how are all you little guys doing in there?" To proof you put about a teaspoon of yeast in a glass of warm water with a little bit of sugar, and if they're alive in five minutes it'll be all foamy and growing.

Actually, in the past it was more difficult for manufacturers to always produce viable yeast (even now, a jar of traditional yeast will have about 25% of them dead), so proofing was considered an essential step of bread-making. Which is why older recipes will always start with the "combine water and yeast (and maybe sugar) and let it sit for a few minutes."

In terms of long-term yeast storage, just put it in the freezer - if you buy bricks, wrap them well. Three or four years in the freezer is no big.

dianoia · Senior Member

Coco, how fine you grind your wheat will have an impact on how high it rises. That's because the larger bits of bran in a coarser grind will "cut" some of the gluten strands. I grind my wheat twice to get the consistency I want. (Although eventually I'd like a Bosch grinder, because of its exceptionally fine grind and speed. Maybe someday.)

Something else to consider is that there's a substance in the germ of the wheat called glutathione, which weakens gluten bonds a bit. One way to counter this is to make your bread dough a bit more acidic, by using yogurt or buttermilk, adding a little ascorbic acid, or using a wild yeast (sourdough) starter.

Any other questions?

hiccups · Future Queen in Zion

Will you

come teach all this in person?

coolcucumbers · Senior Member

Can anyone tell me how much whole wheat it takes to make a cup of flour? I would like to grind only what I need or as close to it as possible.
Thanks!

bokbadok · Senior Bucketkeeper

good question. it probably depends on whether it's hard or soft wheat. I ground some soft white wheat, and two cups of wheat produced ~3 1/2 cups of flour. But the flour is fluffy when it comes out of the grinder... which is probably partly why bread recipes often call for a range of flour measure, i.e. 8-9 cups.

coolcucumbers · Senior Member

thanks bok!

Cocobeem · Keeper of the Holy Grail

I made the shortcakes for our strawberry shortcake last night using POWDERED MILK. Yeah, pretty much tasted the same to me.

Gonna' try it in pancakes this week and if there's no huge-ola difference, I'm switching to powdered milk for cooking and baking. Cha-ching.

bokbadok · Senior Bucketkeeper

Dude - I have a scrumptious recipe for Whole Wheat Pancakes. You'll love it:

Combine in Bowl : 1 cup milk, 1 jumbo (or 2 large), 3 Tbsp. Oil

Combine and add to above: 1 cup whole wheat flour, stirred; 1 Tbsp. Sugar; 2 tsp. baking powder; 1/2 tsp cinnamon; 1/2 tsp salt.

Mix until flour is moistened. Let sit 2 minutes.

Bake on greased griddle on medium heat. Do not turn until 2-3 bubbles pop and remain open.

One recipe makes 5-6 5' pancakes. They're really filling, so try it out once before you double the recipe. I usually make up a 4x or larger batch and keep it in a cannister in the pantry.

Cocobeem · Keeper of the Holy Grail

You keep the BATTER in a can in the fetchin' pantry??

That doens't even have powdered milk in it. Have you made it sans fresh eggs?

bokbadok · Senior Bucketkeeper

Sorry - I didn't clarify. I mix up the dry ingredients and store them in the pantry, then mix them up with milk/egg etc.

Yes, I have made this with both powdered milk and eggs. If you wanna do it with powdered milk, just put the milk powder in with the dry ingredients and mix them together, then add a cup of water with the egg. Still yummy. The cinnamon is very important.

If making it in advance in multiple batches, I would wait to add the powdered egg until you are ready to cook it. It's not truly "dry"... if you know what I mean.

arbilad · Head Chef

I need to learn how to make sourdough bread. I can get the starter going, but I need to learn how to do the sponge and other elements of a successful sourdough.
Also, I need to break my dependence on my breadmaker.

Cocobeem · Keeper of the Holy Grail

I've never used a breadmaker. I heard they're cool, though.

I knew a lady in Kentucky who was making sourdough bread from her grandma's start - like 100 years old.

Okay, I exaggerrated for the story. The start was only 12 years old and it wasn't from her grandma. I repent.

hiccups · Future Queen in Zion

That was a pretty quick turn around time from sin to repentence.

Cocobeem · Keeper of the Holy Grail

Yeah, look at that weak testimony grow and grow!

hiccups · Future Queen in Zion

Just like a Chia pet?

Cocobeem · Keeper of the Holy Grail

... and Samson's hair...

bokbadok · Senior Bucketkeeper

I had a breadmaker once. I loved it except for one thing: it only made one loaf of bread at a time.

Earthling · Newbie

This is a delicious bread recipe. You can use white flour too - just make sure the total flour equals 10 cups. It has great flavor, and uses food storage items.

Wonderful Honey Wheat Bread
About 7 cups wheat flour (5 cups wheat ground)
3 cups white flour
½ cup powdered milk
3 tbsp. instant yeast
½ cup oil
2 tbsp. salt
½ cup honey

Combine ½ cup powdered milk with cold water to make 2 cups. Stir to dissolve and then scald by bringing just to the boiling point. Combine yeast in 2 cups warm water. Let stand 10 minutes. Combine in bread mixer the scalded milk, salt, oil, honey, and wheat flour. Stir mixture just enough to cool the milk (warm temp) so the yeast can be safely added. Add the yeast mixture and 3 cups of white flour. Knead dough for 15 minutes and place in 3 large or 4 medium well greased loaf pans. Allow bread to rise until above the pans about 30-45 minutes. Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes. Lower oven temperature to 350 degrees and bake 20 minutes more. Remove bread from pans and cool on a wire rack. To keep the top of the bread from getting too brown, lay a large piece of tin foil over the top of the bread when you reduce the oven temperature.

Note: You can vary the amount of wheat and white flour ratios in this recipe as long as the total flour equals 10 cups. You can even use total whole wheat flour. Do not add more than 10 cups or the bread will be dry. As the bread kneads it will lose its tackiness and start to pull away from the side of the bowl and youll see additional flour is not necessary.

Cocobeem · Keeper of the Holy Grail

Earthling - You had me all excited and ready to go until the phrase, "Combine in your bread mixer..." I don't have one.

'Sides, how am I supposed to use electricity after the terrorists hack the grid?

bokbadok · Senior Bucketkeeper

It looks like the bread mixer was only used to knead the dough... so it is probably referring to a regular mixer rather than a bread maker. Just knead it by hand for the same time or maybe a little longer, until the gluten is developed enough to make it elastic. Should work fine.