This Bread recipe could be the difference between starving/eating in the times ahead.

Have posted this on other sites with such a huge response that I thought I would try a thread here and see if there are enough people that want to continue and contribute to a thread on home made, natural recipes that can be used not only now, but most importantly, when the SHTF!

Discuss yeast cultures, natural and alternative, grains, flours, sugars etc...

It's also good to try it out now. I am a professional baker and can tell you that it works, it's easy and tastes like bread should!

I like to experiment with adding herbs to the dough like garlic and onion powder, oregano, basil, thyme etc. Tried raisins and cinnamon...fantastic!

Have also made this in an outdoor clay oven and yay!

* 1 1/2 tablespoons yeast
* 1 1/2 tablespoons salt coarse salt.
* 3 cups water
* 6.5 cups flour ( I like 1/2 and 1/2 white and cracked wheat), more for dusting dough.
* Cornmeal

1. In a large bowl (I use a pail and a loosely applied lid), mix yeast and salt into 3 cups warm water. Add flour, and stir to combine completely. Let dough rise in a warm place for at least two hours, until it rises and collapses (up to 5 hours – or even overnight won’t hurt it). The dough may be baked at this point, or refrigerated for later use.

2. Cover dough, but make sure it is not airtight – gases need to escape – and place in fridge. When you are ready to use it, throw a small fistful of flour on the surface and use a serrated knife to cut off a piece of the size you desire. (recommend a 1 pound loaf – which means cutting off grapefruit-sized piece of dough). Turning the dough in your hands, stretch the surface of the dough and tuck in under. The surface will be smooth, and the bottom with be bunched.

3. Dust a pizza peel (or any flat surface – I use a rimless cookie sheet) with cornmeal. (This prevents sticking, and adds a nice, rustic crunch. You can use flour instead, but you’ll need to use a very generous dusting). Allow dough to rest in a warm place for 40 minutes – longer (up to an hour and a half) if you use some whole wheat flour in place of the white, or if you make a larger loaf.

4. Twenty minutes before baking, preheat oven to 450 degrees with baking stone (or overturned baking sheet) inside on the middle rack, plus a shallow pan on the top rack. Throw a small fistful of flour over the dough, slash it 2-4 times with a serrated knife (in a cross, a tic-tac-toe, or a fan), and slide it into the oven, onto the baking stone. Throw 1-2 cups of tap water into the shallow pan, and quickly shut the oven door to trap steam inside. Bake for 30 minutes, or until crust is well browned and bread sounds hollow when you knock on the bottom.

With credit to:



Thought I would add a pemmican video as well. Can't say enough about this stuff. High on protein, vitamins and very filling. Keeps well and easy to carry:




Next:

Ok,

Here is my #1, most delicious, fantastic, mouth watering, make you wanna pee it's so good bread!

Grab a pail!

Literally, just throw in:

8 cups white flour
4 cups multigrain flour
1.5 tsp yeast
.5 tsp course salt (table salt will do)
.5 tsp sugar
1 tbsp each garlic powder, onion powder, basil, oregano, and rosemary.

mix all dry ingredients in the pail

add 6 cups warm water and mix until combined, no more. I use my hands.

cover with the pail lid, but NOT TIGHT or it will explode when the yeast acts up.

Leave it over night.

In the morning divide into 4 equal parts without kneading. It will be sticky and goopy. That's ok!

DON"T add more flour!

I coat 4-9 inch cake pans with flour tho you can use bread pans too.

Sprinkle corn meal on top and put in a preheated 400 degree oven. Bake 25 mins, turn the oven down to 350 and bake for an additional 25 mins. Rotate the pans at the midway mark as ovens have weak and hot spots.

My ovens are professional convection ovens so you will have to experiment on yours but trial and error will produce fantastic results!

An outdoor oven can cut the baking time in half depending on the style.

If only a good loaf of plain bread is desired, leave out the spices. Also works great for a raisin bread or anything else you want. Experiment!

Makes 4 loaves.

Good luck!

Going to try this out, I'm more of a farmer than a cook, but I guess growing food wont save me if I cant cook it XD
Thanks for the info

Now I know a lot of people like the clay oven approach but I have tried the cob style with great success. Here is an example:

reply to post by DigitalControl


You will find so simple that it will become second nature.

I mix everything in the pail in the evening, leave it overnight and bake in the morning. No skills necessary and delicious!

Most important thing....don't over handle it. LEAVE IT ALONE!

Good luck.

My wife likes to make bread but I can't eat it, I can't stand crusty bread, I don't even like supermarket breadcakes (rolls/buns) that feel slightly crusty as it just reminds me of stale bread.
Do you have any cheap easy recipes for soft bread, I wouldn't mind even having a pop at making some myself.
It must be very soft because I also have kids who don't like tough crusty bread.
Cool thread btw.

Most important thing to remember is that these recipes are NO-KNEAD Bread Recipes. If you over handle the dough, it WILL NOT work.

Good Luck!

Here's another good one:

reply to post by keepithush


Very simple,

Don't bake with high heat, don't add water for steam and the best thing I have found...when you take it out of the oven, lightly brush with (I like Butter) marg or olive oil immediately. This will give you a soft, delicious crust.

Before it gets to the point, I know there will be a lot of people asking about natural yeast as it will be needed in hard times. I will post more of my techniques but in the meantime, just know that it is possible.

Try this:

reply to post by jude11


Thanks will try that.
I will try butter first, margerine is actually non-existent in the UK now, not a lot of people know that, something to do with fat content laws or something.
Will post in this thread in a couple of days, going to give it a shot tomorrow if I have the time.

reply to post by keepithush


For flavor, Butter.

I have moved to olive oil, canola oil etc. Sometimes I have tried peanut oil and sesame oil but it's all a personal choice.

As long as you do it as soon as it comes out of the oven. Check it just as it is almost cool and add a little more if necessary.

From a fellow bread lover:

ALMOST NO-KNEAD BREAD (aka Crusty Beer Bread)
The original recipe calls for mild-flavored lager and white vinegar. Any beer and any vinegar works. This is a rustic great tasting bread. Easy to make.

3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon instant yeast
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
scant cup water, room temperature
6 tablespoons (3 oz) beer
1 tablespoon vinegar

Stir flour, yeast and salt in a large mixing bowl. In a 2-cup measuring cup, combine the water, beer and vinegar and add to the flour mixture. Stir until mixture forms a shaggy ball and incorporates all the dry flour. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let sit at room temperature for 8 to 18 hours, as your schedule permits. (perhaps overnight)

Lay a sheet of parchment paper in a 10 inch skillet and spray with cooking spray. Transfer dough to a lightly floured work surface and knead 10-15 times. Shape dough into a ball by pulling edges to the middle. Transfer the dough to the parchment lined skillet and cover loosely with plastic wrap. Let rise at room temperature until dough has doubled insize and does not readily spring back when poked with finger, (about 2 hours). Just before placing in overn cut a 1/2 inch deep slice on the top down the middle of the dough.

About 30 minutes before baking, place a 6-8 quart covered Dutch oven into oven and preheat to 500 degrees. Once preheated, using the parchment paper, lift the dough and place it in the Dutch oven. Cover. Reduce the temperature to 425 degrees immediately. Bake covered for 30 minutes. Uncover the pan and continue to bake for another 15-20 minutes until bread is golden brown. Remove bread from pan and cool on a rack.

And the most basic in times of need:

Bannock!

Recipe #1 Simple bannock

2 ½ cups of flour
2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
3 tblsp lard
1 cup cold water (approx)
Let's not forget the all time easiest campfire bread....BANNOCK!

Mix the dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Add the lard and mix in thoroughly. Gradually add the water (you may not need it all) and mix until the dough is thoroughly dampened, but not sticky.
Knead the dough on a floured board for 30 seconds. Flatten the dough to 1/2" thick. Cut into 8 pieces, and fry in a lightly greased frying pan, on medium heat, for 12-15 minutes each side.


Recipe #2: Bannock for six

3 cups of white flour
2 cups of whole wheat flour
½ cup of bran
½ cup of wheat germ
2 tbsp of baking powder
1 tsp of salt
2/3 cup of shortening
2/3 cup of milk powder



Tips for making Bannock
Tip #1

There are no rules. As you can see, the two recipes listed above are quite different. Bannock is usually made from whatever ingredients you have on hand. The recipe will be altered to create the type of mixture you require, for whatever method you are cooking it. Minimum ingredients would include some type of flour, and a liquid to bind the flour together. I have eaten bannock made from just flour and water, cooked on a hot rock, in an open fire, and I found it to be delicious. However, if you took the same two ingredients, and mixed in too much liquid, you will create a great glue for paper mache. In order to make great bannock, you must practice, practice, practice. Typical bannock recipes might include ingredients from the following categories:

Flour
white all purpose, whole wheat, cracked wheat, etc…
Exotic types of flour could include flour made from the roots of plants, and the inner bark of trees.
Rendered Fat
butter, margarine, cooking oil, bacon grease and lard are among the modern favorites

Baking Powder
nice if you want the bannock to be fluffy and light in texture.

Salt
a pinch will help bring out the flavors

Sugar
brown is my favorite.

Tip #2

Always thourally mix the dry ingredients, then add the fat and mix again until it is all absorbed. Lastly add the water, a little at a time, until you have a dough of the right consistency for your cooking method.


Tip #3

There are many things you can add to Bannock to alter it's taste.


* flavored instant oatmeal can change taste and texture
* milk, either powdered or dry, will cause the bannock to brown when baked
* adding cornmeal, or rolled oats can change the texture
* any sweet liquid can be a substitute for both sugar, and moisture.
Some examples are corn syrup, maple syrup, honey, orange juice, Baileys, etc…
* add instant coffee, or cinnamon
* try adding candied fruit, brown sugar, and cinnamon for a dessert style bread.


Tip #4

Cooking methods can change both taste and texture

* Baking in an oven usually produces a light, airy type of bannock
* If you roast it over, or in an open fire, the bannock will pick up some of the smoke flavor of the fire.
* It will absorb the flavor of any type of fat you fry it in.
* If thinned out, and poured into a hot, dry skillet, you will have hot cakes
* You can steam raw dough on top of any type of stew to create dumplings.


Tip #5

Experiment with different combinations of ingredients and cooking methods in order to discover which work best for you. To help you along, try some of the recipes listed below.

Australian Damper

Mix up your favorite Bannock recipe.
Add dried fruit. Wrap and seal in foil,
Bury it at bottom of fire for about half an hour. Extract cooked fruit bread from foil.
The outside will probably be burned, and can just be committed to the flames.
The centre can be removed, smothered with butter, and enjoyed.

Bannock on a stick

When in the bush, this is probably one of the easiest ways to cook bannock, and there are no dishes to clean. You should use a green stick. The bark can be left on, or taken off, as desired, but you should try and find a stick that does not have a bitter taste to it, or the bitterness will be absorbed by the bannock. Just take a strip of bannock and wrap it around the green stick, so it looks like the stripe on a candy cane. Set up a rest so you will not have to hold the stick over the coals.

It is not very difficult to master the art of cooking this way if you remember one simple thing. The heat has to have time to penetrate inside whatever you are cooking. If you have your food too close to the fire, it will burn on the outside, and still be cold, or raw on the inside. Rule of thumb tells you to keep larger items farther away from the fire, so they will cook slower and more evenly than smaller items.

reply to post by jude11


Great thread! starred, flagged, and saved under my favorites so I can come back to this thread easily lol, I love cooking!

Sorry for my ignorance but what do you mean by "when the SHTF". I literally came across this site only a few days ago when I decided to join and am still getting down the many acronyms of ATS lol.

Thank you very much for this recipe. I have been dehydrating fresh veggies when on sale at the store. Each week I spend end extra 5 dollars on sale items only to be stored away. This week with my 5 dollars I bought 2 pkg egg noodles (99 cents each, should be approx 10-12 srvngs per pkg) carrots 1.09 (to dehydate), 6 pkgs ramen noodles 1.87 Total came to $4.94 plus tax. Wish my budget allowed more but I do the best I can.

reply to post by Nastradamus


S%^£
Hits
The
Fan

double post glitch

Originally posted by Nastradamus
reply to post by jude11

 

Great thread! starred, flagged, and saved under my favorites so I can come back to this thread easily lol, I love cooking!

Sorry for my ignorance but what do you mean by "when the SHTF". I literally came across this site only a few days ago when I decided to join and am still getting down the many acronyms of ATS lol.

edit on 20-3-2011 by Nastradamus because: (no reason given)

When "The ##it hits the fan"

You can fill in the blanks...lol

Funny i was just talking to my wife yesterday about making our own bread as it seems the local grocery stores don't have very good bread. You may have just saved my stomach and wallet!
In very hard times you can substitute acorn flour for wheat or mix with whatever flour you have on hand. To make acorn flour use white oak acorns (chestnut oaks produce the best acorns) if possible as they have less tannins in them than the black or red oak varieties.
Lightly roast the acorns, crush and remove hulls. Put the acorn flour in a cloth sack and soak overnight in several changes of fresh water or boil and change water until it is no longer discolored. Whenever changing water be sure to put acorns into hot water, if you put them into cold water it will "fix" the tannins inside. The tannins leave a very bitter taste and are very astringent. You can use the boil water after cooling for a wash for poison ivy.
After boiling simply spread the flour on a tray and dry in a fire, oven or the sun. Sun drying can be speeded up by using an emergency space blanket to reflect extra sunlight.

You can also make flours out of various grasses and weeds - Amaranth, Lamb's Quarter's, Phragmites, Bamboo, etc. Do not use any seeds that are black or purple, There are very, very few poisonous grasses so you don't have to worry about that. Black or purple seeds can be indicative of a toxic fungus however, something you definitely don't want.

Thanks for the recipes! I have especially concerned about trying to create yeast in a survival situation. Once I can make bread I"ll have to figure out how to make cheese, butter and ice cream
Oh right, that wouldn't be survival anymore would it?

I forgot to add that pine and cattail pollen as well as the ground, dried tubers of cattail can also be used for flour.
The whitish coating you see on blueberries and juniper berries is yeast. I'm going to try her recipe with those to see if I can make usable yeast that way.

I post this info on other sites. Here is a post from another forum I post on:

I keep a yeast starter 'sponge'.

While I currently keep it in the ice box, feeding it every 4 days, one can keep it on the counter and feed it daily.

At this point it has soured slightly, making for a sour-dough starter. this added flavor makes it wonderful.

I captured the yeast years ago from grapes from our own grape vines, the sponge is 4 nearly 5 years old now.

Every feeding I add 1/4 cup flour (wheat, can be white or whole wheat) and 1/4 cup warm water. When I keep it on the counter during the winter months, every couple three days I have enough starter to make English muffins:

I use:
1 3/4 cups starter + 1/4cup flour
2 1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup cornmeal
1 tablespoon oil (or unsalted butter, depending on what I have)
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
and a tad bit more oil or butter for the pan.

I proof the sponge by adding the sugar and flour about an hour before keeping the starter in a warm place in the room. In about an hour the starter is all nice and bubbly nearly doubling in size.

Then I add the starter and 2 cups of the flour, the oil and salt, mixing as I go then kneading the dough for 12 minutes Mind this is a wet dough mix and its more or less beaten with a wooden spoon more then kneaded. I add a tad of flour as needed until I get the right consistency (usually about 1/4 cup more).

When the dough can be pulled and spring back, and is slightly stringy when pulled apart, set it in a greased bowl covered with a towel and let it double in a warm place (usually about 60 minutes).

Cut the dough into even sized pieces, usually one can get a dozen small muffins, or 8 larger muffins. Let 'rest' for 30 minutes OR you can cook immediately.

Flatten and dip both sides in the corn meal, transfer to the heated skillet and cook on each side for about 5 minutes or until golden brown, flip and cook an additional 5 minutes.

For bread, you can use the same recipe, adding a bit more flour to get a more solid mass. Pop into a loaf pan after the first rise, let it double then bake at 350-375F for 35 minutes or until it has a lovely brown crust.

Recently I have started adding a egg, and 3 tablespoons sugar, increasing the flour about another 1/4 cup, after the first raise split the dough in half, roll and pull out into long 'ropes' then braiding the rope the baking on my stone. Adding a bit of steam to the environment an one gets a tougher, harder crust and a very soft crumb. The bread can sit on the counter without being put in plastic, of course if you have a bread box it can sit in there. Very tasty.

reply to post by Asktheanimals


Thank you for the info!

Appreciate any more you can contribute.

Jude11