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Showing posts with label Wheat. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Wheat. Show all posts

Saturday, August 17, 2013

25 year old lids get brittle

We bought a lot of wheat in buckets in 1987.  In the last few years we have found that the slightest touch or weight will shatter the lids.  They have become very brittle, so we have to keep replacing them.

This photo should also serve as a warning not to ever stack buckets on top of each other!  Maybe these lids would have held up another bucket when they were new, but not when they were older.

(Note: If I want to stack two buckets, I put a board in between them.  The sides of the buckets seem  strong enough to bear the weight if it is spread out on a board.)

Monday, July 11, 2011

Sandwich Style Whole Wheat Bread

(Kimberly Bloomfield sent me this email.  Thanks, Kim, for permission to put it on my blog.)




Hi Amy!

I saw on your blog that you are in search of some sandwich style whole wheat bread.  I'd love to bring one of my loaves over (I'm baking today) for you to try.  With all the work you do for our ward, it's shameful I haven't done it yet.  It's soft and perfect for sandwiches.  Not a hint of crumbles. I got the recipe from a friend who's a professional baker.  I'm going to send the recipe in this email, both with cup measurements and with weight measurements. 

 I purchased a kitchen scale a while ago when I started doing cakes for Sally and then I converted my bread recipe to weight measurements.  The difference has been night and day with consistency from batch to batch.  A pound and a half of flour is always a pound and a half of flour but you can't say the same for a cup of flour!  Plus, you just measure everything into the mixing bowl and don't get any measuring cups/spoons dirty.  I taught Jenny M. how to make it and she's had great luck.  Hopefully these directions will seem pretty straight forward - I love non-complicated recipes.  If you want, you can come over any time and see the process in action, just to get a feel for what stuff should look like.

Another note - I buy vital wheat gluten at amazon.com in their grocery section.  I get eight (small) boxes at a time and signed up for their auto-shipping option and saved 15% on top of their low prices.  It ends up being the best price on the internet.  And since the gluten doesn't really go bad, I don't worry about getting 8 boxes at once.  I bake so much bread with it that I generally go through a case every 3-4 months.

Another note - I prefer red wheat in this recipe.  I love white wheat for other baking things (cookies, pancakes, waffles, etc) but the red wheat seems to give me more consistent results and better flavor.  The white wheat is still great, it's just my back-up when I run out of ground red wheat and don't feel like getting everything out.

Another note - the amount of powdered milk I used is the amount that the package says will yield two cups of milk.  Check your label if you think yours is different.

Dan's Whole Wheat Bread (cup measurements)

5 cups whole wheat flour
1/3 cup Vital Wheat Gluten
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup butter or margarine
1 1/2 T salt
2 T yeast (instant active)
2/3 cup powdered milk
2 cups slightly warm water

Dan's Whole Wheat Bread (weight measurements)

1 1/2 lbs whole wheat flour
60 g Vital Wheat Gluten
58 g brown sugar
1/4 cup butter or margarine
25 g salt
22 g yeast (instant active)
46 g powdered milk
2 cups slightly warm water

Directions:

1)  Put all ingredients in your mixing bowl.  Mix until everything is just combined.  The dough will be shaggy and there will be pieces of butter that aren't fully mixed in.  This is okay.  They will knead together beautifully later.
2)  Cover the shaggy dough with saran wrap and let it rest for 30 minutes (this gives the wheat a chance to absorb the liquid so that when you start kneading, you can judge if it needs more liquid).
3)  After 30 minutes, knead for 12 minutes (I use a KitchenAid, Jenny uses a Bosch and it seems to be consistent between the two mixers).  The dough should be smooth and elastic.  If, after a minute or two of kneading, there is still flour left in the bottom of the bowl, add water a teaspoon or two at a time.  When I use the scale measurements I'm almost always exactly perfect with the moisture level.
4)  Form a ball with the dough, cover the bowl with saran wrap or damp towel and let rise for one hour or until just doubled in size.
5)  Punch dough down and divide into two equal pieces (when I use my scale, it's just over 700 g per loaf.)
6)  Shape into two loaves and place in bread pans.
7)  Let rise until double or tripled in size (takes between 1 and two hours depending on how warm your house is.  for me, in the summer, it's about an hour.  Winter, it's longer).
8)  Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes, until the crust is a beautiful deep golden brown.  I go closer to 30 minutes but have noticed different pans cook differently.
9)  Immediately turn out on to cooling racks to cool.

This slices and freezes beautifully.

Sunday, July 10, 2011

Brigham Young commenting on Gold and Wheat

“Were I to ask the question, how much wheat or anything else a man must have to justify him in letting it go to waste, it would be hard to answer; figures are inadequate to give the amount. Never let anything go to waste. Be prudent, save everything, and what you get more than you can take care of yourselves, ask your neighbors to help you. 


There are scores and hundreds of men in this house, if the question were asked them if they considered their grain a burden and a drudge to them, when they had plenty last year and the year before, that would answer in the affirmative, and were ready to part with it for next to nothing. 


How do they feel now, when their granaries are empty? If they had a few thousand bushels to spare now, would they not consider it a blessing? They would. Why? Because it would bring the gold and silver. 


But pause for a moment, and suppose you had millions of bushels to sell, and could sell it for twenty dollars per bushel, or for a million dollars per bushel, no matter what amount, so that you sell all your wheat, and transport it out of the country, and you are left with nothing more than a pile of gold, what good would it do you? You could not eat it, drink it, wear it, or carry it off where you could have something to eat. 


The time will come that gold will hold no comparison in value to a bushel of wheat. Gold is not to be compared with it in value. Why would it be precious to you now? Simply because you could get gold for it? Gold is good for nothing, only as men value it. 


It is no better than a piece of iron, a piece of limestone, or a piece of sandstone, and it is not half so good as the soil from which we raise our wheat, and other necessaries of life. The children of men love it, they lust after it, are greedy for it, and are ready to destroy themselves, and those around them, over whom they have any influence, to gain it” (Journal of Discourses, 1:, p.250).

Thursday, July 7, 2011

How to make bread just like store-bought

http://everydayfoodstorage.net/2009/03/11/making-homemade-bread-the-food-storage-recipe-challenge/food-storage-recipes

Crystal Godfrey made two videos, teaching you how to make bread that is just as squishy as store bought bread, and that doesn't crumble or fall apart when you make peanut butter sandwiches.  (I hope it works for me.)

Monday, June 6, 2011

Wheat: Doing poorly all over the world according to Bloomberg.com

Here are excerpts from an article which was published on Bloomberg.com today.  News like this makes me want to go to the cannery and buy more wheat.


http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-06-05/wheat-fields-wilt-in-drought-as-parched-earth-spreads-from-china-to-kansas.html


Wheat Fields Wilt in Drought as Parched Earth Spreads From China to Kansas

Monday, March 14, 2011

Biscuits on My First Try

Confession:  I have always made biscuits from a poppin-fresh can.  Today I changed my ways.

I told my family that we are going to eat "from scratch" foods from now on, so I can learn to use my food storage.

Today I wanted to bake something, so I opened up a cookbook and decided to try biscuits.  I changed the all-purpose flour to freshly ground wheat flour (white wheat), and I changed the milk to powdered milk powder and water.  I have found that when I am using powdered milk or powdered eggs in a recipe, just add the dry ingredients with the dry, and the water with the wet.  It is MUCH easier than trying to reconstitute the milk or eggs before using them.




Biscuits Supreme- Using food storage
2 cups whole wheat flour (I used white wheat)
4 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 Tablespoons powdered milk powder
1/2 cup shortening
2/3 cup water
Stir together flour, baking powder, sugar, cream of tartar, salt, and milk powder.
Cut in shortening (with a pastry cutter or whatever its called) until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
Make a well in the center; add water all at once.  Stir just until dough clings together.
Sprinkle some flour on a clean surface, dump the dough on it and put flour on your hands.  Knead the dough gently for 10 or 12 strokes.  Roll or pat to 1/2 inch thickness.  Cut, dipping cutter in flour between cuts.
Bake in 450 degree oven for 10-12 minutes until golden.  Makes 10-12 biscuits. 
(I adapted this recipe from the book “Better Homes and Gardens All Time Favorite Bread Recipes”.)



When the biscuits came out of the oven, Wayne and Zac crowded around and started gobbling them down, saying they were the best biscuits they ever had.  I asked it they could tell I made them from wheat flour, and they said no.

Then I went on to make the rest of the meal out of food storage, just a silly recipe that my mom used to make.  

"Peas and Tuna on Toast" (only this was on biscuits).

1 can condensed cream of chicken soup (leave it thick, don't add water.)
1 can tuna
1 can peas.

Heat it and put over bread, toast, or biscuits.

As the "coup de grace" we also had dessert straight from food storage.  Our dessert was eating the rest of the biscuits with canned butter*, and honey.

It was a 100% from food storage meal.  I felt proud.


*I bought Red Feather brand canned butter in 2009, in 12 oz. cans,  and we opened a can last week to see if it was still good.  It is delicious!  Tastes exactly like fresh butter.  However, the cost is very high.  I would rather learn to can my own butter instead of buying any more of that.  But it definitely is delicious.

Monday, March 7, 2011

Whole Wheat Pecan-Onion Bread recipe


I have been trying out new bread recipes.  In the last couple of weeks I have made Cinnamon Bread (not enough flavor) and Garlic-Herb Bread (good) and Whole Wheat Pecan-Onion Bread (DELICIOUS!, pictured below.  It tasted fantastic as a tuna sandwich!



Whole Wheat Pecan-Onion Bread


This is from the book "Master Bread Making Using Whole Wheat" by Diana Ballard.
( a 2 lb. loaf made in a bread machine)

1  1/4 cups scalded warm milk
1/4 cup softened butter
1 Tbsp. sugar
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup chopped onion
3 cups wheat flour
3 Tbsp. gluten flour
2 tsp. instant yeast
3/4 cup chopped pecans

Measure ingredient into the bread maker in the order listed, except the pecans.  Set the machine on the raisin bread cycle.  When the bread maker beeps, add the pecans.




Whole Wheat Pecan-Onion Bread, changed by Amy


I changed the recipe a little, to use more food storage ingredients.
I showed the changes I made in bold.


(This is a 2 lb. loaf made in a bread machine)


1  1/4 cups hot water  
4 Tbsp. powdered milk
1/4 cup softened butter 
1 Tbsp. sugar
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup reconstituted dehydrated chopped onion
3 cups wheat flour (I used white wheat flour)
3 Tbsp. gluten flour
2 tsp. instant yeast
3/4 cup chopped pecans

Measure ingredient into the bread maker in the order listed, except the pecans.  I didn't have a raisin bread setting on my machine, so I set the machine on the basic setting, and added the pecans after the first rise, at the start of the second knead.

Friday, February 11, 2011

Crystal Godfrey's Bread recipe

http://everydayfoodstorage.net/2011/02/07/bread-runs-in-my-genes-well-that-and-food-storage/food-storage-recipes

On Everydayfoodstorage.net,  Crystal Godfrey teaches about dough enhancers and how you can make your own out of regular kitchen ingredients.  And there is a video to watch, and her bread recipe.  I am ALWAYS trying to find my perfect bread recipe so I am going to try that one soon.

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Breadmaking: Dry ingredients pre-bagged

Our son is not happy with me, because I told him I'm not buying bread anymore.  I figure that I will never become a good breadmaker if I don't do it consistently, and the only way I bake bread is when we are out of it.  Therefore, no more running to the store when we run out of a loaf.

I learned to make Heidi C.'s whole wheat bread recipe (see post of Nov. 9, 2010) in November, and really like it.  There are a lot of ingredients, so to make it easy, I pre-made some baggies containing all the dry ingredients.



Now when I want to make this recipe, I just have to add the water, yeast, honey, oil, and the freshly ground whole wheat flour.

Now that I am making bread on a more regular basis, I realize that I use these things a lot:

Plastic bags (gallon-size) with twist ties from Walmart, 100 for about $2.50
honey
wheat
wheat grinder
my Bosch mixer
bread pans
yeast (keep it in the fridge or freezer)

You may need to add those to the items you want in your food storage.

Sunday, January 2, 2011

Old Can of Wheat



Some people who were moving away in 1982 gave us this wheat. It was already old then.

I have just opened it (it needed a crowbar to open it, the lid was like a paint can, very annoying) and have started using it. It is still good.

Friday, December 31, 2010

Many natural disasters, and record wheat prices in London

Here are some of the headlines on the internet yesterday:  Flooding in Australia, snow in Phoenix, hurricane winds in Los Angeles, blizzard in North Dakota, water pipes frozen in Northern Ireland, and an earthquake in Indiana.

Any one of these things in our area would cause us to use our food storage and emergency preparedness supplies.  Do you have yours?

Here is another headline:
"London wheat price hits record £200 a tonne". 

http://www.agrimoney.com/news/london-wheat-price-hits-record-3200-a-tonne--2657.html

Wheat harvests are poor in many parts of the world, you may want to do an inventory of what you have and see if you need more.

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Manual Grain Mill on sale

There are at least two websites selling the WonderMill Junior Deluxe Manual grain mill for the cheapest I have seen it.  And shipping is free on both sites.

Millers Grain House:
http://www.millersgrainhouse.com/store/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=18&zenid=599cca3e5c1c7072fc133ae926ff4428

and Food Storage Made Easy:
http://foodstoragemadeeasy.net/products-we-recommend/grain-mills-wheat-grinders/

The price right now is $199.95 and is shipped free.

You may be asking, why in the world would I want a manual wheat grinder?  (I am using the words "wheat grinder" and "grain mill" interchangeably.)

My advice is to get an electric one first.  The chart below will tell you the which ones are the best.  The Wondermill electric  and NutriMill electric are always rated the best, they seem pretty equal from what I've read.

The Wondermill electric is $239.95 right now, with free shipping, on Food Storage Made Easy.  Sorry, I don't know the price of the NutriMill right now.

I am buying a manual grain mill for a backup, because we don't know if we will always have electricity.  I think getting a manual one is just one more way to make myself feel more prepared.

Plus, there are several grains and nuts I cannot grind in my electric wheat grinder.  With the manual one, I will be able to grind popcorn to make cornmeal, and peanuts to make peanut butter.  I am happy to get those capabilities.



Here is the link to see the Grain Mill comparison chart.  It rates this manual grain mill very highly.
http://www.millersgrainhouse.com/store/index.php?main_page=page&id=4&zenid=599cca3e5c1c7072fc133ae926ff4428

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

White Wheat not Red Wheat

I attended Heidi's class last Thursday, and discovered that all her delicious recipes are made with white wheat. It hardly tastes like wheat at all. She makes cookies with white wheat, and they are wonderful.

I am heartbroken, because I have a year's supply of red wheat. And it DEFINITELY tastes like wheat. (Cookies made with red wheat are awful.) So now I am going to have to buy white wheat from now on.

Heidi taught us Breadmaking





From Heidi:

Hi Ladies,

We had a GREAT time baking bread last Thursday! Thank you to all who came out. I know many of you wanted to come but couldn't. Here are the recipes from the evening:

----------------------------------------------------------------------
No Knead Artisan Bread:
(This is Jim Lahey's recipe which was published in the NY Times)

3 cups all-purpose or bread flour
1/4 t. active dry yeast
1 t. salt
1 1/2 c. warm water

(My additions: 2 T of sugar and 2 T vinegar)
(Google "No-knead bread" to find many other variations to this recipe such as adding rosemary, sunflower seeds, etc.)

Combine and cover with saran wrap and let stand overnight or 8-12 hours. Stir down, dump onto a floured surface, pat with flour, and shape into a ball. Let it rise 1 1/2 - 2 hours in a skillet sprayed with PAM. Preheat a covered Dutch oven (preferably porcelain-lined) in a 450 degree oven (my oven is a little hot so I bring my temp down to 400). When the temperature of the oven hits 450, lift the lid of the Dutch oven and dump in the dough. (It will be a sticky blob.) Bake covered for 30 minutes. If you want the top to be more golden brown, remove the lid after 30 minutes and continue baking 5-10 more minutes. Remove from oven and let cool slightly before slicing.
---------------------------------------------------------------------

Heidi's Whole Wheat Food Storage Bread
(all of the dry ingredients can be replaced with the equivalent real product such as 1 T egg powdered = 1 egg)

3 1/2 c. warm water
3 T instant dry yeast
1/2 c. white sugar
1/4 c. powdered honey (or wet honey)
1/4 c. powdered butter (or wet butter/margarine)
1/4 c. canola oil
1/4 c. powdered milk (or wet milk)
1/4 c. instant potatos (not reconstituted)
3 T. dry whole egg powder (or 3 eggs)
2 T. wheat gluetin (can purchase at Walmart)
1 T. salt
5-6 cups freshly ground white-wheat flour

Combine all ingredients except for 2 c. of flour. With paddle on Kitchen Aid Mixer, mix on medium high for 10 minutes (this gets the gluten going). Replace paddle with dough hook and add remaining flour 1/2 c. at a time until it comes to the right consistency (should still be sticky but the sides of bowl should be clean). Pour out on floured surface and knead into a ball. Cover and let double in size (1 hour). **You may skip this first rise but it will make a fluffier loaf if you let it rise twice). Punch down and divide into 3 equal parts. Roll dough into loaves and drop into a greased bread pan. Cover and let rise until about 1 inch above pan (abt 1 hour). Preheat oven 350 degrees. Bake for 30 minutes.

Variations: You may skip the powdered milk and instant potatoes although this is just a good way to get through some of your food storage. Also, you may use half white all-purpose or bread flour and half wheat flour (if so, you may omit the extra gluten). You may also add/remove some of the sugar in case you'd like to make it even more healthy.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Heidi’s Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies:

(Corrected March 30, 2011)

½ c. butter or margarine
½ c. white sugar
½ c. brown sugar
1 egg
½ t. baking soda
½ t. vanilla
½ t. salt
1 c. whole wheat (I use freshly ground white wheat)
1 c. old fashioned oats
1 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips

Combine and place on cookies sheets. Bake at 350 degrees for 12-13 minutes or until the sides start to get slightly brown. Remove from oven and let sit for another 2 minutes before you remove to cooling racks. Variations: Replace chocolate chips with raisins or add walnuts.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Food Network’s Whole Wheat Pumpkin Cookies:

1 c. unsalted butter
1 c. white sugar
1 c. brown sugar
2 eggs
1 t. vanilla
1 c. canned pumpkin puree
3 1/2 c. white wheat flour
2 t. baking soda
½ t. salt
1 t. ground cinnamon
½ t. ground ginger
¼ t. ground nutmeg
¼ t. ground cloves
2 c. semisweet chocolate chips

Spray cookie sheets with PAM. Combine ingredients. Drop on cookie sheets. Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes.

Saturday, October 9, 2010

Wheat Grinders - Comparisons

I have always called them wheat grinders, but of course they are really called grain mills, because they grind all grains, not just wheat. I will use both terms interchangeably.

Click on this website http://www.millersgrainhouse.com/store/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=18
to check out all the different electric grain mills or the manual grain mills. Then on the right of the page, in the second box down ("Important Links") you can click on "Mill Comparison Chart" to see it all in a chart.
Top Photo: Nutrimill



I listened to a podcast given by Donna Miller, the owner of the MillersGrainhouse business, and she said the top two best electric grain mills are the NutriMill and the WonderMill. Both run about $239-$269. They both have very good guarantees.




Bottom Photo: Wondermill

The manual grain mills are also listed and described on this website. I own what she called the economy model, the cheapest hand grinder, the one she sell is called "Back to Basics" (I bought mine on Emergency Essentials, they just call it a Hand Grain Mill). It isn't rated too highly, and it takes a long time to grind wheat with it, and a lot of muscle power. But it only costs between $50-$75, depending if you can get it on sale. The rest of the manual wheat grinders cost a lot more than that.

Sunday, September 5, 2010

#7 Presentation at MV Ward-Wheat Grinders, Cannery, Gardens


Part 7- Presentation given by Amy at the Morrisville Ward, North Carolina, combined RS/Priesthood, Aug. 29, 2010. I will post the rest of the presentation in the next few days.

We're still talking about Long Term Storage.

What is the point of having wheat if you have no way to grind it? YOU NEED TO BUY AN ELECTRIC WHEAT GRINDER. Save up for this, it is important. Some good wheat grinders can be around $240 and up.

ALSO, YOU NEED TO BUY A HAND WHEAT GRINDER. It is very likely that someday you won't have electricity, but you will still need to grind your wheat. Hand wheat grinders are around $60. If you have to buy only one, buy the hand wheat grinder, and save it for an emergency. Use your visiting teacher's electric wheat grinder until you can save up to get your own electric one.

My son and I did an experiment the other day. We used the electric wheat grinder, it made about 8 cups of wheat into 14 cups of flour in about 1-2 minutes.

Then we used our hand grinder. It made my arm very tired, it took 10 minutes of pushing the crank around and around for it to produce 1 cup of wheat flour. My 16-yr-old son said it didn't make his arm tired when he did it for 10 minutes, but I don't know if I believe him.

I bought a hand grinder like this in 2009 for my daughter-in-law from Emergency Essentials when it was on sale for $50. Now it is $67, but maybe they will have a sale again sometime.



Anyway, a hand wheat grinder is not worth using when you have electricity, it takes too long. BUT YOU STILL NEED ONE. This may be the difference between food and starvation someday. I feel very strongly about this, you can make it a point to save up $67 to get one of these.

QUESTION: Why can't I grind several months' worth of wheat flour at once?
ANSWER: Wheat flour goes rancid quickly. Only grind the amount you can use within or month or so.

Another thing to think of, is buying a bread machine. It is so easy to bake bread in one, and you will start incorporating wheat into your daily diet.

Even a college student can do it. I have a son in college, and his roommate at BYU bought a 50 lb. bag of flour, made bread with his bread machine almost every day and used the whole bag in one school year.


PRICES FOR LONG TERM FOOD
The very best prices for these bulk long term food storage items are from the "cannery" (the correct name is Family Home Storage Center.)
We want to form a cannery co-op, and babysit for each other while we have regular trips to cannery.

The price list is on ProvidentLiving.org for the Family Home Storage Center.

Wheat #10 can packed by customer= 5.8 lbs for $2.70.
For 3 months for 1 person: 75 lbs.
Cannery price: 13 cans = $35. Lasts 30 years.

Beans #10 can packed by customer =5.2 lbs for $4.65.
For 3 months for 1 person: 15 lbs.
Cannery price: 3 cans= $14. Lasts 30 years.




VEGETABLES
If you are wondering how to get vegetables and fruit into your food storage, most of us will probably buy canned vegetables and fruit. However, the prophets have repeatedly told us to learn to garden. This will be another way to supplement your food storage if there comes a time when you don't have access to grocery stores.

This was my second summer to have a garden. I never touched dirt in my life until last summer. If I can do it anyone can do it. Later, probably in Feb or March we will have a class in RS on gardening, and also sprouting.

“We encourage you to grow all the food that you feasibly can on your own property. Berry bushes, grapevines, fruit trees—plant them if your climate is right for their growth. Grow vegetables and eat them from your own yard.” (President Spencer W. Kimball, Ensign, May 1976, p. 124).