Left- White Wheat
Right- Red Wheat

As you can see from the loaves, red and white wheat bake up nearly identically except for color.  They differ quite a bit in flavor.
"50%" means that the loaf is made of 50% whole grain, and 50% all-purpose flour.

Last time you made bread, was it coarse and crumbly once it sat for a while?

If it was, you had a gluten problem.  It could be that the dough wasn't kneaded enough to form good long gluten strands, or your flour may have not had enough gluten in it to begin with.   If so, use flour with a higher gluten content next time, or add gluten itself.  Cans of gluten are often sold with breadbaking supplies. 

Another thing that makes a big difference is how finely ground your flour is: if it's coarse, gluten can't form well.  Develop enough gluten, and you have small, even air bubbles in your bread, and a chewy texture.

Why is gluten so important?  

Gluten is the main protein in wheat.  It forms tiny elastic chains that allow the dough to stretch and hold together, and that matrix forms walls around the carbon dioxide bubbles produced by the yeast as it grows.   If there's not enough gluten, the cell walls break, leaving large, unevenly-shaped air bubbles.    Gluten is activated by liquid, warmth and kneading- which is why you use as little of those three when you're making pie crust.  That's one food that you want to avoid gluten forming.  Gluten makes great bread, but tough pastry.
 
Wheat comes in different colors and 'hardness', or protein content.  You can buy "soft white", "soft red", "hard white" and "hard red".   There are even distinctions among the hard wheats- it is often labeled as "spring wheat" or "winter wheat".  Winter wheat is planted in late fall, and grows using the moisture from winter snow and rain.   Spring wheat is planted in spring, and grows through the hot, dry summer.  The more water the wheat gets, the more grain it produces, but these higher yields result in lower protein content.  So hard spring wheat, growing when it's hot and dry, ends up with a higher protein content.  (This explanation is somewhat simplified- if you like scientific details, see here.)  If you buy a bag that just says "hard red wheat", assume it's winter wheat.  Being able to label wheat as "hard spring wheat" is a selling point, and the farmers get more money for higher-protein wheat. 

This also means that if you buy the cheapest 'hard' wheat, you'll most likely have lower protein content.  Which means it's gonna take a little more effort to make it into good bread.

Red Wheat, either hard or soft, has a deeper, heartier flavor, and a reddish-brown color.

White Wheat, hard or soft, has a more delicate flavor, and a light tan color.  If you're just starting with whole-wheat bread making, this is a good one, since the flavor is more subtle.  It tastes more like 'white bread', but better!  I love the taste and fragrance of freshly-ground wheat in bread.  Hard white wheats are relatively new to the market.

Hard Red or White Spring Wheat is usually between 12-15% protein (or gluten), the best-quality ones run between 14-15%.  This is what you want for good whole-wheat bread.

Hard Red or White Winter Wheat generally contains 11- 13% protein.

Soft Red or White Wheat only has about 6-10% protein. 

The protein content can be as low as 2%, or as high as 18%.  It depends on growing conditions, what variety the grain is, and even how moist the wheat is.  And not all the protein is gluten: only the amino acids "gliadin" and "glutenin" will become gluten.  That's why oats, though high in protein, will not make good yeast bread on its own.  They don't contain gliadin and glutenin as part of the amino acid profile.  This is also why celiacs can have oats.
(see here for more info on amino acids and celiac.)
----------------------------

Soft wheat is best in quickbreads and things where you DON'T want gluten forming: cookies, pastries, cakes, quickbreads. (This also means that non-gluten containing grains and seeds are good for this group of breads.)

Hard wheat is best for yeast bread, tortillas, and pasta. When I use 100% hard wheat flour in bread,  I still have to add something to increase the dough strength- crushed Vitamin C, lecithin, dough enhancer, gluten, extended soaking, or using part all-purpose flour; see Making Bread for suggested quantities. 

See here for info about baking with whole wheat flour.

Bakeries boast if they use a brick oven for their breads.  Why? 
These ovens cook using multiple forms of heat- conduction, radiant, and direct heat.  Add some steam, and you get some seriously fabulous crust on your bread.  Pizza?  You better believe it.  You cook it at an ideal 700 degrees Fahrenheit; a thin-crust pizza is done after only 3 minutes, emerging bubbling and with a lovely smoky flavor.
Cook anything in this that you would in a regular oven.  And when it's cooled down, it can remain the ideal temperature for incubating yogurt, clear through the night.

This type of oven has the fire built on the cooking floor.  Fill the oven with wood, light it, and let it burn for 2-4 hours, until the oven walls glow white-hot.  My thermometer doesn't measure high enough to know how hot this is; it only measures to about 1400 degrees!

Scrape out the fire, quickly scrub off the oven floor, and let the heat "soak"- you're letting the temperature equalize all over the interior.  When the temperature has dropped to what you want, add some steam (for bread baking) by swabbing the oven floor with a wet cloth or mop.  Load it up with your bread, or turkey, or squash, potatoes, casserole, or whatever-- and close the oven door to bake.


It's called an earth oven because it's made using packed earth; in other words, mud.  This makes it very affordable!  I highly recommend Kiko Denzer's book, Build Your Own Earth Oven.  It was invaluable to me, and has many excellent suggestions for making do with what you have locally.  He also has a great overview on Mother Earth News, right here.
You can make a fabulous oven out of nothing but dirt, sand, chopped hay or leaves, and some bricks or tiles.  There are even simpler versions around, using just rocks and dirt. 

Since I opted for several upgrades on this oven, it cost about $200 total. 

Items I got for free:
cinderblocks (a stack was in the yard when we bought the house)
sand (huge sandbox, in the photos' background)
bricks for the oven face

Items purchased included:
bags of cement for a foundation pad
rebar for reinforcing the foundation
rebar for reinforcing the cinder blocks
cement for reinforcing cinder block construction
one used steel entry door
one circular saw blade to cut the steel entry door
about 45 firebricks
1/2 cubic yard of dirt
a couple small buckets of refractory cement
portland cement and a bag of vermiculite, for the insulation layer.
12" of 1" diameter steel electrical duct tubing
one dial-gauge thermometer
mortar, used with the oven face, and some gaps in the cinderblocks

If the pictures below seem overwhelming, here are the steps in short form- prepare an insulated base for the oven; build a sand dome on it; pack moist earth all around  the dome (thermal layer); pack insulation around the thermal layer.  Finish with a breatheable plaster, for longest-lasting results.  The doorway can be molded in as you go, or carved out afterwards.

Sorry, I didn't take any photos before this point.  I poured a slightly sloped foundation pad, reinforced it with rebar, and dry-stacked cinderblocks, leaving some slots for drainage between cinderblocks at the low part (the back) of the pad.  To reinforce the cinderblock walls, I stuck rebar down every 2-3 cells, then filled those (with rebar) with cement.  (I did this because I have roughhousing boys, and live nearby a major  fault line.)  In this photo, half of it is in shadow; the oven floor is meant to be just above waist-high.  The area under the oven is to store wood.  To support the block over the opening, I found a piece of hardi-backer (cement) board.  The top course of cinderblocks were narrower than the ones below, which gave me a spot to place some kind of support for the oven floor.  I bought a used steel entry door and a special saw blade, and cut the door to fit.  On top of that went a layer of sand, for insulation, filled even with the top of the blocks (packed really well).  Firebricks were set snugly together for the oven floor, and a circle scribed in chalk.  This would be the inner diameter of the oven.

The sand was free, but it had lots of rocks- and small toys- mixed with it.  A frame with 1/2" hardware cloth stapled to it worked well for sifting.  If you notice my expanding waist in the next photos, it's because I was 8 months pregnant when I started this project, and 9 months along when it finished.

Build a dome of moist sand; this will be your oven's hollow part later.  There's a height-to-width radio that works most efficiently, but about ratio will give you an oven that cooks. 
The pipe in the middle was to show my required finished height.  Pack the sand really well, or it won't support the weight you're about to put on it.

TIP:  this takes a TON of sand, which you'll have to scoop out later.  At about this point I started added cinderblocks and other large items to the dome. That saved a lot of scooping.  And sifting.

Once the dome is as big as you want, pack and smooth it as best you can. A little water helps, and a board to press and smooth. 
If you want a layer of refractory cement, to help hold heat and protect the inside walls, add it now.  A thin layer, 1/8 - 1/4 " thick, is all you need.

Once that's in place, mix your dirt- er, I mean 'earth'.  It needs to be moist enough to hold together, but not so wet it squishes when you pack it.  You can mix it on a tarp with your feet, or in a wheelbarrow with a shovel.  Starting at the bottom, tightly pack this earth in a layer about 4" high, and the width of your hand.  Use your closed fist to pack it, and a small bucket of the dirt to keep it handy. Spiral your way up the dome, always packing hard onto the layer below.  Don't apply any pressure to the sand dome.  Let this sit for a few days, then scoop out all the sand.

Once the earth layer is complete, add an insulation layer in the same way as the earth layer.  This makes a huge difference in how well your oven retains heat.  You can use more mud, mixed with any organic material- chopped leaves, straw, horse hair, you name it.  They will burn out when the oven heats up, leaving insulating air pockets behind.  This oven's insulation is a mixture of portland cement and vermiculite; I wanted it to be very durable.  Shape this layer with your oven door in place so it fits. 

The pipe sticking out in front of my face is a piece of metal conduit with a fitting to screw on the temperature gauge.  Next time I'll put it down close to the oven floor, which is where the bread bakes.  There's actually about 100-degree (Fahrenheit) difference between the oven floor and where the oven probe sits. 

If you want the oven to dry with as few cracks as possible, build a low fire and let it burn for several hours.

For a brick face-  a chisel and hammer yielded a really poor keystone for the arch.  Improvise to support the arch until it dries.   A bucket and cinderblock came to the rescue here.

The completed oven. 

More completed, with flagstones set around it. 

When using the oven, keep a bucket of water handy. 

I still intend to make a roof for it- Utah winters are rough on it.  There are two eye bolts embedded in the top of the oven- all it will take is a piece of sheet metal, creased at the center to make a sloping roof, and two slits cut in it to slip over the eye bolts.  Twist them, and it should stay on.

photo courtesy of photos8.com

Hi everyone,

Does it always seem like too much of your budget goes to food?  Do you wonder what amount of money is 'normal'?  If so, go to the Official USDA Food Plans pdf.

This page will give you the 2010 averages, based on nutritionally balanced diets cooked at home.  Now that you see how frugal you really are, here are some tips to help even more; pick just one or two to try so it's not overwhelming. Then all that's left is deciding how that new-found money is going to better use!

Ways to eat well on less money:

*Buy on sale and get extras so you never pay full price.

*Buy the fresh fruits/veggies that are $1/lb or less.

*Find ways to throw away less- only serve up what you will eat, save wilted veggies in the freezer for soup later, re-purpose leftovers.

*Use meat mostly as a flavoring (mixed in with other ingredients), not as its own dish.

*Buy meats that you can get for $2/lb or less, or whatever is bargain-price for your area.

*When you buy meat, get a bunch on sale, then cook it all at once.  Package and freeze most of it for future, faster, meals.

*Buy flour, sugar in bulk, make more things from scratch.

*Keep your kitchen clean so you like being there!  (You don't need to do it all yourself!  Doing dishes 'all the time' causes depression for me- once I added that to my kids' job charts, I felt much better!)

*Grow a garden where you used to have some lawn- you get the same water bill, more food.  Packets of seeds can last 4-5 years if kept cool and dark.   Or split packets with a friend.  

*Make your own bread instead of buying it.

How much can you save on bread?  Cost varies by recipe, but mine comes out to less than $ .50 per loaf ($. 42), including the electricity for baking, for top-quality whole-wheat bread.  (Well, frankly, the quality varies by week....)   If you eat two loaves a week, that saves you $200/year when compared to $2.50/loaf of bread.   We go through 6 loaves a week, so we’re saving over $600 per year.  Yes, a stand mixer and grain mill  definitely pay for themselves!  For the recipe I use, see Basic Bread on my website.
 
Yesterday the Teachers' Quorum (14-15 yr. old boys) came to my house for their weekly activity.  They've been learning about nutrition and safe food handling, so they all pitched in and cooked a meal.    Their handout included budget-friendly, adaptable, and fairly fast recipes; the kind that would be especially valuable when in college or on missions.  For these recipes, click on Quick & Cheap Meals.  The boys did great with them, I think you'll like them, too.   

Happy cooking and budgeting!

This one doesn't taste like a candy cane- though you could make it so that it does!

I just noticed that in my 'dinner rolls' post there were no instructions for making that candy cane bread.  So here they are.  Use the same technique to make cinnamon rolls, only those need sliced at the end of making the roll.

The simplest way I've found to roll a rectangle is to give the shape a head-start before rolling it out.  Pat or stretch it into an oblong shape.

Roll it out to its full finished length.  In this case, I have a pound of dough that I want to be about 8x14, so it's now rolled to be 14" long.

Then work on getting it the right width.  Eight inches is the width of my thumb to pinky, when I stretch my hand.  It doesn't have to be exact when you roll these things out; a hand width is a great measuring tool!

Spread soft butter on it, using a utensil or your hand.  If your butter is cold and hard, your hand warms it up in a hurry.  The butter prevents the dough from sticking to itself, which leaves your finished spiral open (great for letting frosting ooze into if you're making cinnamon rolls!).  This means you DON'T want to spread the butter clear to the edge; stay about an inch or two away from one long edge.

Sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar, if that's the filling you want.   I 'eyeball' this kind of thing, but this was about 1- 1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon and 2-3 Tbsp. sugar.  Again, stay an inch away from one long edge.

You can add whatever you want as filling- this one has the cinnamon and sugar, but then also has raisins, chopped toasted hazelnuts, and some chopped candied orange peel.

This flavor was the most popular with everyone who tried it this year- raspberry filling, sprinkled with little chocolate chunks, or chocolate chips.  I get the raspberry filling from the bakery at a local grocery store; it's cheaper than I can make it, plus it doesn't go runny when heated, like raspberry jam does.  Raspberry jam does have better flavor, however.

Start rolling the dough, starting with the long side opposite the unbuttered one.

This is when you'll be glad you remembered to keep the butter away from the edge.  Pinch the edge to seal.

Curve the roll into a candy cane shape and put it pinched-side down on a cookie sheet.  Butter it or use parchment paper.   When I have different flavors on the same cookie sheet, I sprinkle or spread some of the filling on top, too, so it's easy to tell them apart.   Let rise until nearly doubled, 45-90 minutes, depending on the temperature of your kitchen, and bake at 350- 375 degrees F  about 20-25 minutes, or until well browned on bottom, and a little browned on top.  It will continue to cook outside the oven for the next 15-20 minutes.  When they're cool.  Drizzle with icing, chocolate syrup, melted chocolate or white chocolate, or melted jam, and sprinkle with some nuts, cinnamon, or chocolate chips if you like.

To make 2 oz. Butterhorn rolls- start with one pound of dough and roll it into about a 12" circle.  Spread softened butter on all except the middle, leave about a 2-3" circle unbuttered so the dough can stick to itself.  With a pizza cutter or knife, cut into eight wedges.  Roll each one up, starting with the wide edge.  Pinch the point so it sticks to the rest of the roll.  Put the rolls on parchment or a greased baking sheet, point-side tucked securely underneath so it doesn't unroll during baking. Curve ends a bit, then cover and let rise.
If you're making a bunch of these, use a loaf's worth of dough (about 1 1/2 lbs), roll into a 12-15" circle, and cut into 12 wedges.

This week here  is a review of the ideal we work towards as women, and then the info from the Dinner Rolls class I held this week.

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

Have you read Proverbs chapter 31 lately?  The Hebrew word for 'virtuous' is חַיִל, 'chayil,' and means POWERFUL, STRONG, and EFFICIENT. Virtues are strengths. Excellence in particular attributes.

Who can find a powerful woman? Her price is far above the most valuable gems. 

I think most of us remember reading verse 10, but look what else it says. 

"Who can find a  virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies.  The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her, so that he shall have no need of spoil. She will do him good and not evil all the days of her life.

"She seeketh wool, and flax, and worketh willingly with her hands. She is like the merchants’ ships; she bringeth her food from afar. She riseth also while it is yet night, and giveth meat to her household, and a portion to her maidens. She considereth a field, and buyeth it: with the fruit of her hands she planteth  a vineyard. She girdeth her loins with strength, and strengtheneth her arms. She perceiveth that her merchandise is good: her candle goeth not out by  night. She layeth her hands to the spindle, and her hands hold the distaff. She stretcheth out her hand to the poor; yea, she reacheth forth her hands to the needy.

"She is not afraid of the snow for her household: for all her household are clothed with scarlet. She maketh herself coverings of tapestry; her clothing is silk and purple.

"Her husband is known in the gates, when he sitteth among the elders of the land.  She maketh fine linen, and selleth it; and delivereth girdles unto the merchant.

"Strength and honour are her clothing; and she shall rejoice in time to come. She openeth her mouth with wisdom; and in her tongue is the law of kindness. She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness. Her children arise up, and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her

"Many daughters have done virtuously, but thou excellest them all.
Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised. Give her of the fruit of her hands; and let her own works praise her in the gates."

I know that all of us can grow by picking something in those verses on which to begin-- or continue-- our efforts.  Are you ‘afraid of the snow for [your] household’?  Or are they going to be fine through lean times because of your preparations? 
​________________

For  the basic bread recipe along with these variations, see my Google Docs version  

This makes 2 dozen 2 oz. rolls (if basic shape rolls, closely spaced, they’ll fill a 12x18 baking sheet perfectly), two dozen medium-small cinnamon rolls (a trayful),  two 8x4” loaves, OR three 1-lb. ‘candy cane’ loaves.

 
Dinner Roll/Sweetbread Dough

3 cups flour to start with (5-6 cups total)
2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. yeast
¼-1/3 c. sugar
3 Tbsp. oil or butter
1 egg
2 cups hot water or milk (no hotter than 130 degrees F or it will kill the yeast)

      Mix salt, yeast, sugar, oil, water, and first amount of flour in a bowl.  Beat about two minutes with a wooden spoon.  Stir in half of what’s left, then mix in more until too stiff to stir.  Dump out onto a floured counter and knead for 8-10 minutes, adding only enough flour to keep the dough from sticking to the counter.   The dough should be smooth and elastic after kneading.  (Yes, you could use a stand mixer for this, too….)

     Cover with a kitchen towel or plastic grocery bag and let rise 1 to 1 ½ hours, or until doubled.  Punch down and shape into rolls or loaves.  Place on greased baking sheet or in 8x4 loaf pans and let rise about 45 minutes or until nearly doubled.  Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes or until the bottoms of rolls, or sides of loaves, are brown.  (Tip a loaf out of the pan to check.)  Remove from pans and cool on a rack.

 
This is my basic bread recipe with three tweaks: egg, milk, and more sugar.

The egg helps make the bread more moist, springy, higher-rising, and tender.  The white helps add strength and leavening.  The yolk adds a tiny bit of color, plus some richness and tenderness from the natural fats in it, especially from the lecithin (worth a whole blog post just for lecithin!) it contains.

Milk helps a little bit with browning, as well as making the internal structure (“the crumb”) softer and smoother.  It’s one of those things that may be harder for an amateur to notice, but it makes enough of a difference that I always use it in sweet breads for competitions.  If you have powdered milk available, just mix the milk powder in with the other dry ingredients, and use water.  For this size batch, you’ll use 6 Tbsp powder, which is just over 1/3 c.

Sugar makes a big difference in the crust browning, or ‘caramelizing’, as well as in the flavor of the bread.  Sugar can also help the yeasts grow, but it only helps to a certain point.  No-sugar-used bread will still rise, but will take twice as long.  And you can get it to brown, too, because of the natural sugars in the flour, but you have to use a higher temperature.  When I’m making bread with no sugar, I bake it between 400 and 450 degrees F, which gives a nice brown crust.  If you cook bread with sugar in the dough, if you cook that hot it will be black on the outside before the inside is done.  When baking sweetened breads like this, then, keep the temperature between 350-400; the bigger the loaf, the lower temperature.  Smaller things, like individual rolls, can still handle up to 400 degrees because the insides can cook quickly.  The other thing about sugar, helping the yeasts grow, is kind of funny.  A moderate amount of sugar is good food for the yeast, but over a certain point actually slows down its growth.  To compensate, let it rise a little longer, or add more yeast. 

from photos8.com

(originally from 6/03/10)
Have you stored water yet?  Benjamin Franklin wrote, “When the well is dry, they know the worth of water.”   Even a little bit helps.  Keep a few water-filled 2-liter bottles, or 2-quart juice containers, under the sink in the kitchen and bathrooms.  I screw the lids on REALLY tight because of my curious little ones….

These are great for when the city water suddenly goes out, or a pipe breaks in your house.  (Last winter we were out of water TWO times in two weeks because of broken pipes!)   Then figure a way to keep a lot more water stored someplace; President Hinckley told us to store at least a gallon per person per day, for two weeks.  The blue barrels are good for this, and can be kept in your garage. If you’re buying storage containers, figure a dollar for each gallon of storage capacity- $50 or under for 50 gallon barrel, $5 or so for a 5-gallon jug, etc. You can live a lot longer without food than you can without water.  If you want to have even MORE than the minimum, check out the super-size containers at http://familywatertanks.com/    Our water already has chlorine in it, so it will stay clean and safe as long as the container is closed securely.   If/when we have a large-scale disaster (remember Sister Beck told us to prepare for ‘eventualities’….) the city can get to repairing much faster if they don’t have to spend all their time hauling water around to all of us.

Here are some more applicable quotes from Franklin, enjoy!


“Energy and persistence conquer all things.
                           *
“Well done is better than well said.
                           *
“God helps those who help themselves.
                           *
“It is hard for an empty sack to stand upright.”

* * * * * * * 
 Here’s the bread recipe I’ve eaten for the last 30+ years; it’s my mom’s recipe.  The beauty of bread is that is so adaptable.  Use this recipe to make anything from white sandwich loaves, to whole wheat bread, pizza, fluffy dinner rolls or mouthwatering cinnamon rolls.   See Making Bread for these variations and more.  The bread freezes well, so I always make an oven full; it’s no more work to make six than to make two.  I keep enough in the pantry for 3 days because it is fresh-tasting for only that long; I put the rest in the freezer as soon as it's cooled and sliced.  

 -Rhonda

          Basic Bread

Six loaves:                                        Two loaves:
2 Tbsp. salt                                          2 tsp. salt
2 Tbsp. yeast                                       2 tsp. yeast     
½ cup -1 cup sugar                             1/4 -1/3 cup sugar
½ cup oil                                             3 Tbsp. oil
6 cups hot water (hottest from           2 cups hot water
  faucet, not over 130 degrees)                   
8 cups flour to start- you will             3 cups flour to start, will be 5-6
  use around 16 c. total                          total

      Mix salt, yeast, sugar, oil, water, and first amount of flour in a bowl.  Beat about two minutes with a wooden spoon.  Stir in half of what’s left, then mix in more until too stiff to stir.  Dump out onto a floured counter and knead for 8-10 minutes, adding only enough flour to keep the dough from sticking to the counter.   The dough should be smooth and elastic after kneading.  (Yes, you could use a stand mixer for this, too….)

     Cover with a kitchen towel or plastic grocery bag and let rise 1 to 1 ½ hours, or until doubled.  Punch down and shape into loaves.  Place in greased 8x4 loaf pans and let rise about 45 minutes or until nearly doubled.  Bake at 350 degrees F for about 30 minutes (or at 375 for 25 minutes) or until the sides of the bread are brown.  (Tip a loaf out of the pan to check.)  Remove from pans and cool on a rack.

100% WHOLE WHEAT BREAD-
Follow above 6 loaf recipe, using all whole wheat flour, and also add one of the following:

1/4 c. lecithin, 1/4 c. gluten, 1/4 c. dough enhancer, or 1000 mg Vitamin C, crushed or dissolved in water.  These improve texture and reduce coarseness.  Any of the variations can be made with whole wheat.

(originally from 6/17/10)
QUOTE OF THE DAY:
Ezra Taft Benson
"There are blessings in being close to the soil, in raising your own food, even if it is only a garden in your yard and a fruit tree or two.  Those families will be fortunate who, in the last days, have an adequate supply of food because of their foresight and ability to produce their own" (The Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson, p. 266).

In Google Docs there is a file with the recipes  I made for the basic-foods class today; Using Wheat Without A Mill.  It covers different ways to use your wheat (all without a mill- a grinder-), including sprouting it, cooking it whole or cracked, how to crack it in the first place, blender-wheat recipes (including a chart to help you convert your own recipes to use whole wheat with the blender), making malt, and soaking wheat before using it.  The last page also has links to some great recipes and resources for using your wheat.   These links are also listed below.
 
Please buy wheat!  You cannot beat it for price.  You can buy it by the bag at the Family Home Storage Center, you don’t have to get it in the cans. White wheat there is $5.80 for a 25 lb bag, which is about 23 cents per POUND, which is enough to make one whole loaf of bread.  You pay that much, or more, for each OUNCE of breakfast cereal.  If you don't have a grain mill (grinder), or don't know yet how to use wheat if it's not already flour, now is a great time to jump in and get some wheat anyway.  If you're worried that you won't be able to rotate/use it before it goes bad, don't let that stop you from following the commandment to build your food storage.  It lasts for a long, long time.  Decades or more, if stored right.  Get it, then learn how to use it.  It's healthy stuff to have on hand anyway! It’s also inexpensive insurance.  You'll be glad you have it, and I know you’ll be blessed for following the prophet's counsel.

-Rhonda

Notes from what we tasted and learned at the class- these and more are in the handout, link is above:

We sampled Blender Wheat Pancakes, Wheat Puree Bread, Wheat Salad with Chicken and Corn, Strawberry Nut Jello Salad (the 'nuts' are wheat), Gourmet Banana Nut Cookies, cooked wheat, cracked wheat, sprouted wheat, malt powder .  Also covered was the difference between COOKED and SPROUTED wheat, and how to make malt. 

Why  eat it:  it's CHEAP, stores a LONG time, high in fiber, high in some proteins, vitamins, minerals.

 (summary of the class):   How to eat it:  Grind in blender (2 cups for 1 ½ minutes) or food processor (the dry grains or soaked/cooked), crack in blender, cook whole or cracked, sprout and eat as kernels (as breakfast cereal, or ground beef extender, or rice/pasta/nut substitute), make malt, or sprout and eat as wheat grass or wheat grass juice.

Ways to cook wheat:  in a Thermos, rice cooker, crock pot, regular pan, use in breads (quick/yeast), cakes, salads, (including Jello).  You may cook them then freeze for later. 

Why soak grains before eating them- phytates (phytic acid, the form the phosphorus is in) are anti-nutrients, they bind with and so block absorption of minerals, especially zinc, that you need for proper growth and immune system strength. You inactivate phytates by making the grain think it’s sprouting- warm, moist. Also, soaking freshly ground grain in warm liquid also destroys the phytic acid by activating the enzyme phytase.  A diet rich in Vitamins D, C, A, and calcium help mitigate the effect of phytic acid on the body.  Sprouted wheat is a vegetable, does not lose gluten, but the amino acid profile and vitamins change and it becomes more easily digestible.

 Wheat Berries

2 cups hard red winter-wheat berries
7 cups cold water
1 teaspoon salt

Place wheat berries in a large heavy saucepan. Add water and salt.
 Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce heat, cover, and simmer gently for 1 hour, stirring occasionally. Drain and rinse. To serve hot, use immediately. Otherwise, follow the make-ahead instructions. Makes about 4 1/2 cups.                    
MAKE AHEAD TIP: Cover and refrigerate  or freeze. 
For Cracked Wheat,  put ¼ to ½ cup of uncooked wheat in a blender, run for 30 seconds or til cracked. 

NUTRITION INFORMATION: Per 1/2 cup: 151 calories; 1 g fat (0 g sat, 0 g mono); 0 mg cholesterol; 29 g carbohydrate; 6 g protein; 4 g fiber; 263 mg sodium; 0 mg potassium.
2 Carbohydrate Servings
Exchanges: 2 Starch

Ready-made toppings for your cooked wheat:
Applesauce
Pure fruit spreads
Fruit butters, such as apple, apricot, prune, pear
Marmalades, jams, preserves, conserves
Frozen berries and fruits, with or without syrup
Nut butters- peanut, almond, cashew
Lemon and lime curds
Maple syrup
Pure honey, whipped, unfiltered or in unusual flavors such as sage, lavender, or chestnut
Chocolate-hazelnut and chocolate peanut butter spreads
Sundae toppings

Making malt: http://www.dryit.com/diastaticmalt.html 

Put 1 cup of wheat kernels in a quart jar, cover with water, and let soak for about 12 hours.  Drain the water (which has vitamins and minerals- save for broth, watering plants, or making bread), rinse, and drain completely.  Rinse and drain 1-3 times a day for 2 days, until the sprouted part is about the same length as the grain. Spread on cookie sheets to go in the sunshine or warm oven or in a dehydrator; dry thoroughly but don’t heat over 130 degrees, so you don’t kill the enzymes.  Grind in a mill or in your blender.  Makes about one cup.  Store tightly covered.  This will keep indefinitely in the fridge or freezer.  Use about 1-1 ½   teaspoon (1/10 of 1% flour) per loaf of bread.  More than this will give you sticky dough and is not beneficial. 

The enzyme in malt (diastase) converts starch in the dough to sugars (maltose) that the yeast can use; longer fermentation (rising) times are needed to be most effective.   Malt replaces sugar/honey and feeds the yeast, browns the crust.  It also has lots of enzymes and vitamins, and so makes your bread more digestible and more nutritious.  The enzymes also improve the flavor, make a finer texture, and increase shelf life.  If you wanted to make malt syrup, you would slowly cook the sprouted grain to get a dark syrup.

Also see:  http://makinghomemadewineandbeer.blogspot.com/2008/05/making-malt-extract.html 

Links:

http://everydayfoodstorage.net/training-cooking/grains, http://everydayfoodstorage.net/2008/10/12/pumpkin-blender-wheat-waffles-with-caramel-sauce/food-storage-recipes Pumpkin Blender Wheat Waffles with Caramel Sauce, http://everydayfoodstorage.net/category/long-term-food-storage/grains/wheat/blender-wheat  Red, White and Blue Blender Pancakes (blender pancakes with red and blue berries, whipped cream), http://everydayfoodstorage.net/2008/04/01/food-storage-gourmet-blender-wheat-cookie/food-storage-recipes Gourmet Blender Banana Wheat Cookie, http://everydayfoodstorage.net/2008/06/24/bring-one-of-these-one-of-a-kind-salads-to-your-next-gathering/food-storage-recipes Feta Wheat Berry Salad, Wheat Berry Salad with Apples and Cashews

http://selfreliantsisters.blogspot.com/search/label/Wheat%20Berries Black Bean, Edamame, and Wheat Berry Salad, Crockpot Wheat Berries, Stovetop Wheat Berries, Pressure Cooker Wheat Berries, Carroll Shelby’s Chili, Wheat Berry Pineapple Chicken Salad, Wheat Berry Salad, Wheat Nuts (like Corn Nuts); http://selfreliantsisters.blogspot.com/2010/02/4-blender-pancake-recipes.html 4 different blender pancake recipes to try

http://www.foodnetwork.com/search/delegate.do?fnSearchString=wheat+berry&fnSearchType=site  Wheat Berry Tapenade, Mushroom Wheat Berry Pilaf, Cumin-Scented Wheat Berry-Lentil Soup, Zesty Wheat Berry-Black Bean Chili, Rice, Red Lentil, and Wheat Berry Salad, Wheat Berries and Greens (Farro e Verdure)

http://www.foodnetwork.com/search/delegate.do?fnSearchString=wheat+berry&fnSearchType=site Easter Wheat Pie (Pastiera di Grano); the same type recipe baked in a springform pan to be a cake is as http://www.celtnet.org.uk/recipes/miscellaneous/fetch-recipe.php?rid=misc-la-pastiera-di-grano

http://www.ldspreparedness.com/Files/cookbook.pdf   The “New Ideas For Cooking with Food Storage” cookbook (20 pages).  Meat substitutes and extenders, Bulgur Wheat, another Blender Wheat Pancake recipe with variation for Waffles, Chinese Fried Wheat (instead of rice), Italian Fried Wheat, Spanish Fried Wheat, Cracked Wheat Casserole (includes burger too), Popped Wheat (similar to Corn Nuts), how to cook it: stovetop, Thermos, gas range’s pilot light, crockpot, as cracked wheat.

http://www.suegregg.com/  for whole foods, including lots of blender wheat recipes

(originally from 8/5/10)
Do you have garden produce yet?  Or are you seeing it at farmers' markets?  We got the first yellow summer squash of the year yesterday.  This is exciting!  Unfortunately, we don’t have zucchini at all because one of my little people stepped on the plants just as they were coming up.  I replanted, but didn’t water well enough that first week…

Fortunately, I still have frozen zucchini from last year.  I used to shred it and freeze it in quart bags, which was the proper amount for a double batch of my zucchini bread, but didn’t like how it thawed.  It separated into water and strings of fiber.  That’s kind of baffling to cook with.  There’s a much better way-  puree it! Chop the zucchini into chunks small enough to fit down your blender, and buzz until smooth.  A bonus is that the texture of your baked goods will be smoother. 

Our favorite recipe to use it is Lemon Zucchini Bread.  It has a little more flavor if you use fresh lemons, but is still good using bottled lemon juice and dried lemon zest.  Or use your lemon-zest-sugar, (find it in the archives under 'homemade orange seasoning', in the Spices or Seasonings category, right. And FYI, Zucchini bread, since it’s a ‘quick bread’, is simply a variation on the muffin recipe.   To see for yourself, go look at the 'Anything-Goes' Muffin recipe.                                          

 *  *  *  *  * 
Now, for the thought of the week- a First Presidency message from 1984, reprinted in the Ensign last year as one of the ‘classics’- “The Celestial Nature of Self-Reliance”.  Or, ‘what does self-reliance have to do with eternal life’? Think about it: Is food/money/water storage a suggestion or a commandment?  This article has something for any of us to work on- whether you haven’t started, are a little ways into it, making a lot of progress, or have built up all your reserves.  I HIGHLY recommend re-reading the whole article, below is a condensed piece of it:

 “Since the beginning of time man has been counseled to earn his own way, thereby becoming self-reliant. It is easy to understand the reason the Lord places so much emphasis on this principle when we come to understand that it is tied very closely to freedom itself.

Now, I wish to speak of a very important truth: self-reliance is not the end, but a means to an end.

Doctrine and Covenants 29:34–35 tells us there is no such thing as a temporal commandment, that all commandments are spiritual. It also tells us that man is to be “an agent unto himself.” Man cannot be an agent unto himself if he is not self-reliant. Herein we see that independence and self-reliance are critical keys to our spiritual growth.  Whenever we get into a situation which threatens our self-reliance, we will find our freedom threatened as well.  If we increase our dependence, we will find an immediate decrease in our freedom to act.

The key to making self-reliance spiritual is in using the freedom to comply with God’s commandments.”

For the whole article, which I know can bless everyone’s life,  go to The Celestial Nature of Self-Reliance at lds.org.

If using fresh lemons for this recipe, you'll need two. 

Lemon-Zucchini Bread

1 lb. zucchini or other summer squash (4 c. loosely packed, or 2 cups pureed)
¼ c. lemon juice*
2 Tbsp. fresh lemon zest, OR ½ tsp. lemon extract, OR 1/8 tsp (16 drops)    lemon essential oil
2 c. sugar
½ c. oil
3 eggs
3 c. flour
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1 c. chopped walnuts, optional

Place lemon juice, zest, sugar, and oil in a bowl and beat.  Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each.  Stir in flour and baking powder, then add zucchini and nuts.  Pour into two greased and floured 9x5 loaf pans.   Or use three 8x4 pans.  Bake at 375 degrees about 50 minutes (40 for 8x4 pans) or until a toothpick inserted near center comes out clean.  Let cool in pans for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a cooling rack. Wrap or bag when completely cool. The flavor is even better the next day.


See the blender-mixing-method here.  

 *An acceptable substitute for lemon juice in this recipe is 1/4 cup vinegar (apple cider vinegar is better but not necessary) and a little bit extra lemon zest, extract, or essential oil.

 

Caramel Bread Pudding using leftover bread.  This batch was made from some loaves I accidentally left cooking while I went to my son's concert.  Good thing it was short!!!  I trimmed off the burnt outside, then cubed it.

For some recipes, the drier and staler your bread, the better! 

(original date: 9/10/10)


This week I’ve got a couple recipes to help you ‘re-purpose’ some of that bread that might otherwise end up in the garbage.  If it’s dry, great!  If it’s crumbling, great! If it’s stale, perfect!  The only time you don’t use it is if it’s moldy.  Even then it’s still good for the compost pile, if it’s in an enclosed container to keep out rodents.  Meanwhile, here’s some food for thought from Brigham Young, one of the most practical of people.

“My faith does not lead me,” President Young said, “to think the Lord will provide us with roast pigs, bread already buttered, etc.; he will give us the ability to raise the grain, to obtain the fruits of the earth, to make habitations, to procure a few boards to make a box, and when harvest comes, giving us the grain, it is for us to preserve it—to save the wheat until we have one, two, five, or seven years’ provisions on hand, until there is enough of the staff of life saved by the people to bread themselves and those who will come here seeking for safety. … [The fulfillment of that prophecy is yet in the future.]

“Ye Latter-day Saints, learn to sustain yourselves. …  

“Implied faith and confidence in God is for you and me to do everything we can to sustain and preserve ourselves. …  

“You have learned a good deal, it is true; but learn more; learn to sustain yourselves; lay up grain and flour, and save it against a day of scarcity. …  

“Instead of searching after what the Lord is going to do for us, let us inquire what we can do for ourselves.” (Discourses of Brigham Young, Deseret Book, 1966 ed., pp. 291–93.) , quoted in Marion G. Romney, “Church Welfare Services’ Basic Principles,” Ensign, May 1976


Today’s recipes give you a couple good ways to not waste that dried-out, stale, or crumbly bread.  We have a little problem at our house with the heels of the bread- somehow I always find a heel or two in a bag at the back of the cupboard, dried out by then, of course.  Those either get turned into croutons or French toast right away, or get stuck in my ‘old bread’ bag in the freezer.  When I have enough, we make stuffing or bread pudding.


Homemade Croutons

 Cut bread into cubes and turn it into croutons: either sauté in, or drizzle with, olive oil or melted butter (1 Tbsp. for each 1-4 slices),  sprinkle with garlic powder, onion powder, dill, oregano, parsley, Parmesan cheese, ranch dressing mix (1/2 pkgs per loaf of bread), or anything that sounds like a good idea. Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes, or until dry and crispy.  Spread on a paper towel to cool, store when cool in a ziptop bag.  They’ll keep for a good couple of weeks, if you don’t eat them first.

________________________________

The ideal bread pudding is custard-y and creamy inside with a little bit of crunch on the outside. 
Basic Bread Pudding

12 slices bread, cut in 1” squares, (the more stale, the better! – or bake them)
½ -1 cup raisins, soaked, optional
1 Tbsp. cinnamon
3-6 eggs (less makes it more dry, more makes more of a custard)
¾- 1 ½ cups sugar, to suit your tastes, white or brown
¼ cup butter, melted
2 tsp.vanilla
½ tsp. salt
3 c. hot milk- ideally half-and-half, or one 12-oz can evaporated milk and 1 ½ c. milk
pinch ground nutmeg

 Mix together the bread, raisins, and cinnamon.  Dump into a 9x13 pan.  Using the same bowl as before, beat the eggs, then stir in sugar, butter, vanilla, and salt.  Mix until sugar dissolves.  Slowly mix in the hot milk.  Pour all of this over the bread, sprinkle with nutmeg, and let sit for 5-20 minutes to soak.  Bake at 375 degrees for 25-30 minutes, until center is set and a knife inserted in the center comes out mostly clean.  If you bake this in a hot water bath, it will come out more custardy.  Serve warm.  Very nice with a dollop of whipped cream, scoop of ice cream, or a drizzle of some kind of sweet sauce (vanilla sauce, caramel sauce, rum sauce, maple syrup, etc.)

 Variations: Use any dried or chopped fruit in this, (this is a great way to use those two lonely, shriveled apples sitting on your countertop!), shredded coconut, cocoa or melted chocolate (2-4 squares), chocolate chips, pecans or other nuts, rum extract, orange extract or zest.

For the liquid, you can substitute eggnog, hot chocolate, coconut milk, and about anything that sounds good.  One great combination is shredded coconut with chocolate milk..... 

 Even if you think you don’t like bread pudding, you’ll probably love this one:

 Caramel Bread Pudding- fills a 9x13 pan

15 slices good-quality white bread, cut into 1” pieces (about 16 cups)- baked until crisp (about 10 minutes at 450 degrees)
1 ½ sticks butter
2 cups light brown sugar
1 cup heavy cream or evaporated milk
¼ c. corn syrup or honey
5 tsp. vanilla, divided
3 c. half-and-half, or use  the last ½ cup evaporated milk from your can (above),use whole milk for the remaining 2 ½ cups here.  
5 large eggs

 

Melt butter and sugar together in a saucepan on medium-high heat.  Stir about 4 minutes, or until bubbly and golden.  Remove from heat and stir in cream or evaporated milk, corn syrup, and 2 tsp. vanilla.  Pour one cup of this caramel into a greased 9x13 pan.  Set aside one more cup of caramel, to use as topping later.  To the remaining caramel, add the half-and-half (or mixture of evaporated milk and whole milk).  Beat the eggs together, then whisk in the half-and-half mixture a little at a time.  Add remaining vanilla.  Fold in the bread, and let sit until soaked through, about 20 minutes. Meanwhile, heat oven to 350 degrees. Put bread mixture into the 9x13 pan, bake about 40-45 minutes, until the top is crisp and the custard is barely set.  Serve warm, with the reserved cup of caramel drizzled on top.

 

Powdered Milk from the Home Storage Center, $1.40/lb.  The bowl holds yogurt.  You can make plain yogurt as cheap as $ .42/quart, or $ .10/serving.

 Happy Constitution Day!   It was signed on September 17 in 1787. For a wonderful article on it, see “The Divinely Inspired Constitution”, Dallin H. Oaks, at http://lds.org/ldsorg/v/index.jsp?locale=0&sourceId=729d94bf3938b010VgnVCM1000004d82620a____&vgnextoid=2354fccf2b7db010VgnVCM1000004d82620aRCRD     It has three main sections: its amazing creation and ratification, inspiration (what parts in it are divinely inspired?), and citizen responsibilities.  You’ll finish it with a renewed sense of appreciation and wonder.

 Shifting over to food now, are you finding enough things to do with all the wonderful produce right now?  I had to laugh when I saw a big, abandoned zucchini right in the middle of the road last week.  All those urban legends came to mind about people’s desperation to get rid of the squash.  (Freeze it!  Dry it!  Slice it and pretend it’s pasta in recipes!)

 I have two main recipes I make when I need to use up odds and ends:  soup, and pizza.  You can make pizza just about as fast as running down to Little Caesar’s, and it’s much better.  I make a batch of bread every week (the six-loaf batch holds us, and fills the oven), and as often as not, bread-baking day is Pizza Day.  This way I already have the dough, so it’s a no-brainer for dinner.  If you make the dough in the morning, you can keep a chunk in the fridge until almost dinner time.  If you’re making the dough that afternoon, you can let it rise, punch it down, let it rise, punch it down,….repeat until you’re ready for it!  Or even just use it without letting it rise first.   One loaf’s worth of dough (1 to 1 ½ lbs) is a good amount to fill a 12x18 cookie sheet.  To keep it from sticking to the pan, either grease or oil it, or sprinkle it with cornmeal or Cream of Wheat (coarsely ground wheat).  If you like a crispy crust, preheat the cookie sheet with 2-3 Tbsp. olive oil on it.  Or bake it on a  pizza stone.  Roll the dough out, and bake it at 425 degrees (really, any temperature between 325 and 450) until it’s just set (no longer doughy), then add toppings and bake or broil until the cheese is melted.  You can even bake some crusts ahead of time; bake for 5-10 minutes at 425, cool, wrap, and freeze.  The Basic Bread recipe is also posted on this site.
 

My basic pizza sauce is:  

one (8 oz) can tomato sauce

garlic powder (1/2 tsp.) or minced garlic (1-2 cloves)

a couple shakes of black pepper

spices: total of around 1 tsp. of whatever sounds good- oregano, basil, thyme, fennel seeds (great but go LIGHT on this one), rosemary

 
But what it really looks like, when I cook, is: open one can of tomato sauce, and to the top of the can add a couple shakes each of garlic powder and black pepper (if I feel like it), and then a few shakes each of 2-3 kinds of my ‘green spices’ (the ones listed, above).  Stir it, kind of, then spread it on the baked crust.  Sometimes I have part of a jar of spaghetti sauce sitting in the fridge.  That makes a good pizza sauce, too. So does barbecue sauce.  Or Alfredo.  Whatever you have that needs used.

 
If you have a bunch of tomatoes, you can use a bunch of them on the pizza, sliced or diced,  and skip the sauce.  You already know the standard toppings; other topping ideas are:

-       Shredded zucchini (yes, really.  Especially if it’s hidden under the cheese)

-       Shredded carrots (hides  especially well under Cheddar)

-       Chopped up spinach or chard leaves

-       Onions or green onions,  bell peppers

-       Leftover bits of meat  (whatever lonely thing is sitting around gets added to our pizzas)- ham, deli meat, bacon, summer sausage from last Christmas (those things last forever!), crumbled hamburger patties, chicken, etc.

 
And of course you can always look at your favorite pizza chain’s menu to get more topping ideas.

                                               
You can also make breadsticks or dessert sticks/pizza out of the dough.   To make simple breadsticks, roll out the dough, cut into strips with your pizza cutter.  Bake, then brush with melted butter, sprinkle with Parmesan and garlic powder.  Dip in spaghetti sauce or pizza sauce.  For dessert sticks, roll and cut them the same, but roll in melted butter and then in a mix of cinnamon and sugar.  Then bake.  Dip in applesauce or drizzle with glaze (1 cup powdered sugar, 1 tsp. vanilla, and 1-2 Tbsp. milk or water)

 

 

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Sep