Baking Basics
Home Production Skills
Baking a simple loaf of bread or even a pie and the ingredients they contain sets up the beginning of your food storage plan and one of your essential skills.
Pie crusts are simple. Flour, Salt, and shortening. Breads that need yeast are a little more complicated only because they need a chance to rise. There are flat breads and tortillas that can be made quickly. Quick breads such as corn bread or banana bread are more of a batter like cake and can be made in less than an hour. The ingredients for creating home-made bread should be your first purchases for the survival pantry. Although these recipes are written for a home electric or gas oven, they can be converted for use in a survival situation. Baking can be done in a stone enclosure in a fire pit. A dutch oven can be a great baking tool. Using a BBQ grill with even heat can be an oven as well. There is even a reflector oven that uses tinfoil and cardboard for cooking with the heat of the sun. The items for bread will be used throughout storage in baking and meal preparation. Flour
When storing flour think about how many ways you use it. Bread takes about 3 cups of flour. Pancakes about the same amount if you have a family of 4 or more. Coating meat or batter for fried meats and vegetables 1 to 3 cups.
It is used in gravy (1/2 to 1 cup) and thickening soups and stews (1/2 cup). Bake muffins with it (2-3 cups). With that in mind, storing 6 to10 pounds for a month for one person is not unreasonable. FOUR TIP: Flour is also good for cleaning up a grease or oil spill. Just sprinkle on the spill and sweep up. You can even put out a small fire on your stove with it. Storage suggestion: 10 pounds per person per month. Using Wheat - Personal History
When I was a teenager, my mother tried everything she could for a month to use a 5 gallon bucket of wheat. Now, mind you she was feeding a family of 8, 2 adults and 6 kids. We made everything we could think of out of it. We ground it and made flour for bread, obviously the first thing you think of when wheat is mentioned. We made cracked wheat cereal. She worked some of the flour and separated the gluten from it and made not only gluten strips, but she had bran from it as well. My sister and I used a bit of it like popcorn where we fried it and popped it in butter. After a month, we still had a 1/2 bucket left. Really think about this -what you store you will want to learn to use. If you don't want to let something sit and go bad it's best not to store large quantities of that food. Find a good use for it and start melding your storage foods into your regular diet.
Wheat Gluten & BranGluten is the elastin substance in wheat. It is also the thing most people who are allergic to wheat products are sensitive to. Bran is the fiber. Be sure your family can tolerate whole wheat products as they can irritate a sensitive digestive system. Using your wheat in meals to desensitize you to its affects. Crash diets on wheat can cause extreme discomfort and possible health issues if a family member cannot process it. You have to gradually add it to your diet before you are having to depend on it for a food source!
Separating Bran and Gluten From Wheat Flour. Take a 5 gallon plastic bucket and fill it with about 2 gallons of fresh water. Add 3 cups of fresh ground wheat flour and let it sit for about 2 minutes. You are going to stir the flour with your hands and keep kneading it until you have rinsed the bran out of the flour. The bran will float to the top. When you have a ball about the size of a baseball you may pull it out of the bran liquid. Flavor the gluten using bouillon or a TVP*. It is a good meat substitute for emergency rationing. Wheat has a high amount of protein and that is found in the gluten. Bran The bran maybe sifted out of the water by pouring through cheese cloth in a strainer. Take your time so you aren't losing any of the bran through an overflow on the strainer. Scrape the cheesecloth with a spatula to remove drained bran and spread it onto cookie sheets. Bake in oven at about a 300 degree heat setting until bran is dry and cereal flake consistency. About 20 minutes? Bear with me I am writing this from memory it has been years since I did this.... Keep an eye on it so you don't over cook it. You want the liquid to bake out of it. The layer of bran should be very, very thin. I* you do NOT layer it paper thin you will need up with bran bricks that are too tough to eat but maybe be reground on a cheese grater or a food processor. It can still be used where you would use wheat germ or as an addition to any recipe using flour. Add raisins! =) |
Baking IngredientsUse the baking basics list below to start gathering for your food storage. You will have to find substitutions for butter. Butter can be kept in the freezer for about 6 months. There are butter powders on the market and you can use butter-flavored shortening products. They do keep for sometime but must be rotated to keep fresh. Alternatives are a milk cow or a goat. Make butter out of the cream produced at the top of the milk. It's a lot of work but fresh butter is really tasty! A mason jar can be used to churn butter. It takes a couple of hours for it to solidify though. A lot of effort goes in to fresh butter. Oil and shortening goes rancid after about 30 days after opening. Purchase containers that you will reasonable use in a short time. It is more economical in the long run than buying a huge container and having to throw it away because it didn't keep. Eggs only keep for about 3 weeks so finding a good egg powder to use in cooking is a smart choice. Better yet, if you are zoned for it, get a couple of chickens! A good hen can lay eggs regularly for the first year. After that they aren't as plentiful. Yeast needs to be kept in a cool place. When using it in a recipe, leave it out until it is at room temperature. It gets a little fussy. Using it cold may cause your bread to not rise as much as if you let it warm up. Holiday Season is a great time to not only use and share your baking goodies, it is a great time to rotate and restock. Most baking ingredients are on sale at that time of year so go get those bargains! 
Baking Basics List
For additional items to add to your baking list search out family favorite's. Add to this the ingredients you might want to make cakes and other baked desserts from. Items such as spices, flavorings, or food colorings are not included here but are suggested if you want to add them. Basic bread ingredients list. Flour assorted grains (White Flour, Cornmeal, etc) Salt iodized / kosher / rock salt / sea salt Yeast packets / containers Water Milk fresh / powdered/ instant / evaporated / condensed Oil vegetable Sugar - white/ brown Honey Molasses Eggs fresh / powdered Baking Soda Baking Powder Shortening Butter margarine Vanilla Cocoa Powder Assorted Nuts: Walnuts Pecans Sunflower Seeds Fruits Apple Sauce Pumpkin, canned Raisins |
Simple Bread Recipes And Basic Baking
Basic Bread
Ingredients:1/2 C Water
1/2 C Milk
2 T Vegetable Oil
2 T Honey
2/3 t Salt
3 C Bread Flour
1 1/2 t Yeast
(substitutions may be made w/ the oil for shortening or butter, honey for sugar. You have to feed the yeast some sugary substance or it will not rise)
Directions:
Dilute yeast in 1/4 C water and add 1 T of the honey (or sugar) set aside.
Combine the flour and the salt in a large bowl. Slowly add the oil and the other liquid ingredients until dough is moistened.
Add the yeast mixture. Knead (rub some oil on your hands to keep dough from sticking!) until ball forms. Let rise, covered with a cloth until doubled in
size (about about 1 hour). Punch down dough and place dough in a greased pan. Cover and let rise till doubled again.
Place in preheated oven 450 degrees. Bake for about 40 minutes or till top is golden brown and springs back when touched.
Let cool before slicing.
1/2 C Milk
2 T Vegetable Oil
2 T Honey
2/3 t Salt
3 C Bread Flour
1 1/2 t Yeast
(substitutions may be made w/ the oil for shortening or butter, honey for sugar. You have to feed the yeast some sugary substance or it will not rise)
Directions:
Dilute yeast in 1/4 C water and add 1 T of the honey (or sugar) set aside.
Combine the flour and the salt in a large bowl. Slowly add the oil and the other liquid ingredients until dough is moistened.
Add the yeast mixture. Knead (rub some oil on your hands to keep dough from sticking!) until ball forms. Let rise, covered with a cloth until doubled in
size (about about 1 hour). Punch down dough and place dough in a greased pan. Cover and let rise till doubled again.
Place in preheated oven 450 degrees. Bake for about 40 minutes or till top is golden brown and springs back when touched.
Let cool before slicing.
Biscuits
Ingredients:
2 C flour
1 T baking powder
1/2 t salt
1/4 C butter (or shortening)
2/3 C milk
Directions:
Combine dry ingredients. Cut in butter. Mix until mixture forms small beads. Add milk and mix till a ball forms. Mixture will be sticky. Oil your hands before moving dough to knead on a floured surface. Roll out 1/2" thick, then cut out circles or shapes of your choice. Drop on a cookie sheet and bake for 10-12 mins until golden brown. Serves 12.
Simple Homemade Bread and Grain Goodies!
Tortillas
8 c flour
2 t salt
1 T baking powder
1 1/4 shortening
This mixture creates a batch of tortilla dough that can be kept in a sealed container until use. Break it down into small portions for use and store in fridge. Combine dry ingredients. Cut in shortening until blended.
Use the mix as follows (Makes 9 small tortillas)
2 1/2 c tortilla mixture
1/2 milk
Take the amount of mixture you need for serving and slowly add the milk until dough forms. Scoop a 1/2 cup of dough and roll into a ball. Using a rolling pin slowly flatten on a floured surface until thin. While rolling out rotate the dough so the tortillas are even. Brown lightly in a greased pan over medium heat such as you would pancakes. Tortilla will fluff up slightly.
Garnish and serve!
2 t salt
1 T baking powder
1 1/4 shortening
This mixture creates a batch of tortilla dough that can be kept in a sealed container until use. Break it down into small portions for use and store in fridge. Combine dry ingredients. Cut in shortening until blended.
Use the mix as follows (Makes 9 small tortillas)
2 1/2 c tortilla mixture
1/2 milk
Take the amount of mixture you need for serving and slowly add the milk until dough forms. Scoop a 1/2 cup of dough and roll into a ball. Using a rolling pin slowly flatten on a floured surface until thin. While rolling out rotate the dough so the tortillas are even. Brown lightly in a greased pan over medium heat such as you would pancakes. Tortilla will fluff up slightly.
Garnish and serve!
Cornbread
(Adapted from the Deseret Cookbook)
Ingredients:
1 C Cornmeal
1 C Flour
1/2 t Salt
1/2 t Baking Soda
1 t Baking Powder
1/4 Sugar or Molasses
1 egg beaten
1 C sour milk or buttermilk
2 T melted butter or margarine
Directions:
Sift together dry ingredients. In a separate bowl mix eggs, buttermilk, butter, and molasses (if used). Pour liquid ingredients mixture into dry mixture and blend no more than 25 strokes with spoon. Batter will be slightly lumpy. Fill greased muffin tins 3/4 full or pour into greased 8 x 8 x 2" baking dish. (TIP: If using a baking dish heat in oven for about 5 minutes then fill. Be careful handling hot dish.) Bake at 400 degrees 20 to 25 mins. in baking dish OR 15 to 20 mins as muffins. Insert toothpick in center. If it comes out clean cornbread is ready.
Add extra egg for a more sturdy cornbread.
Yield 12 muffins or squares
Ingredients:
1 C Cornmeal
1 C Flour
1/2 t Salt
1/2 t Baking Soda
1 t Baking Powder
1/4 Sugar or Molasses
1 egg beaten
1 C sour milk or buttermilk
2 T melted butter or margarine
Directions:
Sift together dry ingredients. In a separate bowl mix eggs, buttermilk, butter, and molasses (if used). Pour liquid ingredients mixture into dry mixture and blend no more than 25 strokes with spoon. Batter will be slightly lumpy. Fill greased muffin tins 3/4 full or pour into greased 8 x 8 x 2" baking dish. (TIP: If using a baking dish heat in oven for about 5 minutes then fill. Be careful handling hot dish.) Bake at 400 degrees 20 to 25 mins. in baking dish OR 15 to 20 mins as muffins. Insert toothpick in center. If it comes out clean cornbread is ready.
Add extra egg for a more sturdy cornbread.
Yield 12 muffins or squares
My Favorite Banana Bread
Recipe can be adapted to use any kind of fruit.
Substitute banana for applesauce, pumpkin, or whatever you come up with! See: Fruit Page |
Pie Crust
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Pancakes
Ingredients:
1 1/4 C Sifted Flour
1 T Baking Powder
1 T Sugar
1 t Salt
1 Egg beaten
1 C milk
2 T Veg Oil or melted shortening
Sift together flour, salt, baking powder, and sugar. Combine milk, egg, and oil in separate bowl. Combine all ingredients stirring until just moistened. Bake on hot griddle oiled over medium heat. Pancakes will bubble on top when ready to turn. Flip pancake and fry until golden brown.
TIP: sprinkle a couple of drops of water into oiled pan when heating up. When the water starts to sizzle your pan is ready for cooking.
Yield 8 - 4" pancakes or 16 silver dollar sized ones (my favs)
If butter milk or sour milk is substituted add 1/2 t baking soda and reduce baking powder to 2 t.
Adapted from Deseret Cookbook
1 1/4 C Sifted Flour
1 T Baking Powder
1 T Sugar
1 t Salt
1 Egg beaten
1 C milk
2 T Veg Oil or melted shortening
Sift together flour, salt, baking powder, and sugar. Combine milk, egg, and oil in separate bowl. Combine all ingredients stirring until just moistened. Bake on hot griddle oiled over medium heat. Pancakes will bubble on top when ready to turn. Flip pancake and fry until golden brown.
TIP: sprinkle a couple of drops of water into oiled pan when heating up. When the water starts to sizzle your pan is ready for cooking.
Yield 8 - 4" pancakes or 16 silver dollar sized ones (my favs)
If butter milk or sour milk is substituted add 1/2 t baking soda and reduce baking powder to 2 t.
Adapted from Deseret Cookbook
