Bread The Staff Of Life

[huntinlever]

Yes sir. Been a lot of years and we still like each other.

At that centralmilling link, found a steel cut multi-grain mix that will probably do good as an adjunct in breads.

Not used it but that blend looks great. Good quality across the board with them, in my experience.

[farmbif]

we got one of those bread machines for Christmas. I was floored when trying to buy rye flour and buckwheat. you cant hardly find either anymore and when you do the prices are crazy like $5/lb or more.

[huntinlever]

we got one of those bread machines for Christmas. I was floored when trying to buy rye flour and buckwheat. you cant hardly find either anymore and when you do the prices are crazy like $5/lb or more.

I actually buy 50 lb bags from Central Milling, but I've done a lot of baking to justify the shipping. I also mill with locally grown-grain for all my whole flours (Central Milling offers flours that are somewhat lighter in their bran content, e.g., their medium rye or "Type 85" wheat flour. These pretty closely emulate German "T110" flour or French "T85" flours, which I use). Even so, say, 10 lbs organic (2 bags) to me is $36, or $3.60/lb. If you can swing with more, say, 20 lb rye, you're at $3/lbs shipped, etc.

[bedbugbilly]

Hardtack - simple to make - been used for centuries - will last indefinitely if kept dry in a sealed container. May not be soft bread, but if too hard for your chompers, it can be utilized in a variety of ways.

[Good Cheer]

A wonderful thing for wheat is how long it stays fresh when properly stored. And, that after years in storage you can still sprout the grain to develop additional nutrition.

[huntinlever]

A wonderful thing for wheat is how long it stays fresh when properly stored. And, that after years in storage you can still sprout the grain to develop additional nutrition.

One of the reasons I love sourdough, especially whole grain or heavy whole grain % of the total flour (and of this, especially good, dark, sour German or German style rye breads), is just how fresh the loaf remains. Most of my sourdoughs are as fresh one week later as they are the day they're baked. Pretty great.

[huntinlever]

[Good Cheer]

One of the reasons I love sourdough, especially whole grain or heavy whole grain % of the total flour (and of this, especially good, dark, sour German or German style rye breads), is just how fresh the loaf remains. Most of my sourdoughs are as fresh one week later as they are the day they're baked. Pretty great.

Wonderful stuff!

[Chena]

Leavening: sourdough starter is easy to make at home using potato water.

[huntinlever]

Leavening: sourdough starter is easy to make at home using potato water.

Yep. Crushed unsulfured grapes are good as well. Though to be honest nothing more than flour and water, temp and time is fine. The first several stages stink, but that's just good yeasts and bacterias competing with the early species. One method I no longer use, as I go really simple and now maintain just a liquid rye starter(hydration = 100%), is a French method method.


This is stage "A" from the table below.




This is developed starter at end of stage "A":



And just a couple loaves from mature starter:



Table:



The "malt" is an active-enzyme malt flour. You either grind up some brewing barley malt or use a bought barley-malt flour. I use this: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

The use of salt is to inhibit unwanted species.

You don't need to use this scale. There's a theory of baking that states this large a mass is needed for a proper population mix of species, buut I've never noticed any difference and cut all amounts by 75%.

The "Mixed Flours" is a blend used by the late French baker Gerard Rubaud, whose starter method this is. The blend is 70% white bread flour, 18% whole wheat, 9% spelt and 3% rye flours. You don't have to do that - whole wheat would be fine for this, so in this case Stage "A" would be 100 grams white flour, 100 grams whole wheat flour. (Again, that's 25% of the table amounts).

Stages A, A1 and A2 Aare 24 hours at 78F.
Stage 3 is repeat until the starter triples in size within 7-8 hours or so.

[edit - I put up a German translation of the table, which I did for an online baking community I'm part of). The table seen is an English translation I did from the French.

[BadgerShooter]

They don't advertise much, but at least around here, there are a number of Mennonite run stores that have bulk grain and many other useful things. I buy, wheat, beans, salt and other stuff. Just started a sourdough culture and have been using fresh ground wheat. Massively more usable nutrition than purchased flour. I'm amazed at how sustaining this bread is compared to modern "bread"

Sourdough products do not seem to affect the diabetes as bad as conventional flour products. Still not ideal but at least there are some positive nutrients.

I also grow sorghum and hominy corn which can both be made into flatbreads, tortillas, cornbread and other things. Did a bunch of experimenting with field corn this year. After boiling it with pickling lime and grinding, it makes great food in many forms. I was able to glean enough out of a picked cornfield to make a lot of food.

[huntinlever]

They don't advertise much, but at least around here, there are a number of Mennonite run stores that have bulk grain and many other useful things. I buy, wheat, beans, salt and other stuff. Just started a sourdough culture and have been using fresh ground wheat. Massively more usable nutrition than purchased flour. I'm amazed at how sustaining this bread is compared to modern "bread"

Sourdough products do not seem to affect the diabetes as bad as conventional flour products. Still not ideal but at least there are some positive nutrients.

I also grow sorghum and hominy corn which can both be made into flatbreads, tortillas, cornbread and other things. Did a bunch of experimenting with field corn this year. After boiling it with pickling lime and grinding, it makes great food in many forms. I was able to glean enough out of a picked cornfield to make a lot of food.

Great story. Good for you.

[huntinlever]

This is "Hefezopf," a traditional braided bread common in Germany, Austria and the South Tyrol. It's a great easter bread. Definitely special occasion as it's rich and sweet, with eggs and cream or milk. I also included some finely grated lemon zest and vanilla, along with pearl sugar for sprinkling. Egg yolk wash.

[huntinlever]

Here's a much easier sourdough starter. Comes from Jeffrey Hamelman's book, Bread.

Day 1. Initial mix

Whole rye flour: 1.5 cups
water: 3/4 cups
honey: 1 tsp
Cover with plastic and keep in a warm (75-80 F) place x 24 hours.

(Total is 11 oz).

Day 2, two feedings

Initial mix: 5.5 oz (1/2 of initial mix)
Whole rye flour: .5 oz (3/8 cup)
White Flour*: .5 oz (1/4 cup)
Water, 90F: 3 oz (3/8 cup)

Total: 10.9 oz

* Unbleached bread flour, 11-12% protein. I use King Arthur AP (red label, not their bread flour, blue label). It's 11.7% protein.

Cover with plastic and keep in a warm place (75-80). Do 2 feedings (each feeding, take 1/2 or roughly 5.5 oz of the working starter, and repeat as above), ideally 12 hours apart.

Days 3,4 and 5: Two feedings

Starter from above: 5.5 oz (1/2 of above)
white flour: 2.4 oz/ 1/2 cup
water: 3 oz (3/8 cup)

Total 10.9 oz.

Do same as on day 2. Cover with plastic, keep warm. remove half, feed as per above. Likely strong enough to use by day 6, but I let it go a few days more, usually up to 10. This develops not only the fermenting yeast, but the bacterias which largely give complex tastes.

Lots of ways to do it, and to tweak amounts and temps, for different results. Lots of storage regimes and feeding schedules. Too much for here, but I have a lot of experience so if anyone has questions or wants an area covered more, glad to share.

[huntinlever]

Heading out for the 4th, baking some rye for my father-in-law and Estonian mother-in-law. This is a "Bayrischer Doppelpfünder," a pretty straightforward sourdough "Bavarian 2 pounder". The only thing somewhat unique about it is that it does have a bread spice blend called "brotgewürz," fairly common to the alpine regions of Germany and Austria. I use whole-seed caraway, anise, fennel and coriander and mill it fresh in a spice blender.

[gishooter]

huntinglever,
Thanks for posting. Will definitely try some of those out.
I have a Country Living grain mill. Works well.
Here is a few of the recipes we've tried. Still learning.
https://theprovidentprepper.org/incr...alt-and-water/

[huntinlever]

huntinglever,
Thanks for posting. Will definitely try some of those out.
I have a Country Living grain mill. Works well.
Here is a few of the recipes we've tried. Still learning.
https://theprovidentprepper.org/incr...alt-and-water/

The Country Living mill is a fantastic, old-school mill - good for you. Yes, I feel the same way about bread. It really can't get simpler than that and pretty rewarding to feed family off of whole grain milled at home.

This is a "Saftiges Graubrot," which literally translates as a "juicy gray bread" but the meaning is sort of lost. Basically a really moist, great breakfast or everyday bread. Moist because you make a porridge - I used rye flakes and water, boiled and stirred to a pudding-consistency, then the starter, porridge, bit of inactive barley malt syrup, touch of dry yeast salt and cool water is mixed together with whole rye flour and some medium-sieved wheat flour. Same old rye starter I always use.

[barnetmill]

If we are talking about survival the aztecs and just about everybody else in mexico did quite well with corn and beans. I have never liked cornbread but would eat it if I had to.