Homemade Bread Recipes, Tips, and Supplies To Store

Winter decided to come the last week .  The cold shorter days are the perfect time to make bread.  

The raised bed garden

Perfect day to stay inside and bake some bread.  Loving my grinder.  I have an electric K Tec grinder but wanted a hand grinder just in case we were in a no power situation.  

  My sweet heart of a husband motorized the Country Living Grain Mill and built a stand for it.  It's on wheels and can be wheeled in the pantry or used in the pantry.
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The motor is from an old cement mixer.  Add a few pulleys and you get the 60 revolutions/minute that are recommended.

I love this mill.

Tips for making delicious yeast breads:

• Add the least amount of flour possible for moist whole wheat bread. 
• Instant yeast can be added directly to the recipe without proofing in water.
• Active yeast must be proofed in water before being added to the recipe.  Water that is too hot will kill the yeast.
• Gluten flour is made from high protein hard wheat.  It is important to keep bread moist and elastic to reduce crumbling, and extending the shelf life of bread. Whole wheat flour can also be used.
• If using a mixer with bread hooks, add only enough flour until the dough pulls away from the bowl.
• If mixing by hand add only enough flour so the dough does not stick to your hands.
• Knead 6-8 minutes before shaping into loaves. 10 minutes if kneading by hand.
• Lemon juice acts like a dough enhancer and give bread a light, fine texture. 
• Dough enhancer has a shelf life of around 3 years

Fresh from the oven

Supplies to store to have one loaf of bread per day for one year:

• 300-350 lbs. wheat
• 61 cups gluten flour or whole wheat flour
• 4 gallons of oil I like avocado or olive oil
• 46 lbs honey or sugar
• 8 one pound packages of instant yeast
• 8 lbs of salt
• 4 qts of lemon juice or 4 cans of dough enhancer

This is from the book Emergency Food Storage in a Nutshell and is a good estimation but amounts may vary depending on your recipe.

2 or 3 Loaves (4x8)
1/3 cup oil
1/3 cup of honey or 1/2 cup sugar
1 Tbs salt
3 cups warm tap water 
1/4 times cup gluten flour or 1 1/2 Tbs of Vital Wheat Gluten (optional)
1 1/2 Tbs dough enhancer or 1 Tbs lemon juice per 3 cups of flour 
1 1/2 Tbs Saf instant yeast
7-8 cups of flour

4 or 5 loaves depending on pan size
2/3 cups honey or 1 cup of sugar
2/3 cup of oil
2 Tbs salt
6 c warm water
3 Tbs. dough enhancer (optional)
1/2 cup high gluten flour or 3 Tbs Vital Wheat Gluten
3 Tbs instant yeast
14-16 cups flour

Combine the oil, honey, salt, and water in the mixer.  Add 7 cups of flour and mix.  Add 1-2 more cups of flour and the gluten flour, dough enhancer, and yeast.  Mix together. At medium speed add enough of remaining flour just until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl.  Knead for 6-8 minutes.  Divide and shape into loaves and put in oiled pans.

Let loaves rise on counter or preheat oven for one minute and turn off and let loaves rise for 35 minutes in a warm oven.  Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.  Cool for 10 minutes and remove from pan.

A warm slice of bread with homemade jam is wonderful on a cold winter day

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These recipes can be used with white or whole wheat flour be sure to use high gluten flour and white bread flour if you want to make white bread.  If using whole wheat you can substitute a couple cups of different whole grain flours.

Try some delicious homemade jelly on your bread.  Here's some of my favorites

 Jostaberry Jelly

 Concord Grape Jelly 

Pomegranate Jelly 

Preparing the Homestead for Winter

A snowstorm in Feb 2013

With colors turning and leaves falling in the wind, it's time to prepare the homestead for winter. Before long we will have weather like the picture above.  Preparing now means that you can rest for a season this winter.  Just kidding when do homesteader ever rest!

Preparing the Garden for Winter:

Dig up any potatoes and cure them in preparation for storage.  Curing allows the skins to harden and bruises and small cuts to heal.  This can be done in your garage or under a porch if it is not too cold. Do not wash the potatoes just brush dirt off after curing.

Diggin Potatoes

Harvest any remaining winter squash and pumpkins. If there are nicks or unripe squash or pumpkin they go in the pig pile.  They love any treat from the garden.

Gathering the last pumpkins, squash, and dried corn used for cornmeal.

The pig pile of nicked or under ripe produce.

Squash

Winter squash will keep til spring with very little preparations.  Start by picking and storing mature squash.  The squash is mature if the skin cannot be pierced by you fingernail.  Always leave the stems on.

Curing squash

During the curing process moisture is lost and the skins harden. Acorn squash should not be cured and likes lower temperatures than other squash. They prefer temperatures of 45-55 degrees anything over that and they become stringy and dry.  A green skinned acorn squash should stay green.  There are orange and white skinned varieties.  The white skinned do not store as well and should be eaten first. 

Other winter squash should cure for 10-14 days.  They can be stored on a porch with temperature 55-60 degrees and brought in if a freeze is expected. 

Storing Squash

Squash do not like temperatures below 50 degrees.  They can be stored in a side room, basement, or a pantry that is not too warm.

Pumpkin are treated just like squash but do not store as long.  When storing both squash and pumpkins do not pile them but leave space between and do not store them on a concrete floor.

This is a great rack for storing squash.  It allows for good air circulation and can be put in the coolest room in the house or in a garage.

Pull up all garden plants.  I make two piles.  One goes to the burn pile or dump.  This includes all tomatoes, squash, and any plant that is disease prone.  By the seasons end there may be mildew and blight on these crops and I don't like to put them in the compost pile.  The second pile includes garden plants that are going on the compost pile.  This include corn stalks, not used for decorating, and disease free plants.

The burn pile.

The start of the debris going on the compost pile includes both green and brown material.

Weed one last time.  Any perennials weeds you leave are sending energy down to the roots to get ready for next spring.  Disrupting those plans will make spring weeding easier.

Put a layer of compost on top of your soil.  I don't like leaving bare ground.  

Leave cover crops to winter kill and incorporate into the soil in early spring 

Install any low tunnels on the fall garden boxes.  Be prepared to double lay when a freeze approaches meaning you will lay a row cover directly on the plants under the low tunnel.

Gather and preserve any herbs.

Drain and store  your water systems if necessary.

February 2015 snow storm.  The raised bed gardens.

The Goat Barn

One last cleaning of the stalls is in order before it gets too cold.

After the stalls are clean I lime (purchase agricultural lime at the feed store) the stalls by sprinkling lime on the floor of the stall and lock the goats out for a day.  The lime helps to kill bacteria by lowering pH and if done through the spring and summer kills fly larvae.

After a day or two, I put down pine shavings or straw, and happy goats can return to their comfy stalls in the barn. I prefer straw it seems to last longer.

Some of the 2015 spring kids.

Fresh bedding is always appreciated.

Have the kidding pen prepared and heat light ready for kidding if needed.

The buck barns get a layer of straw for the winter.

The buck barns.

Put electric water buckets in the stalls.  These are one of a homesteader's best investments.  It beats trying to dump out a bucket of frozen solid ice and hauling water for the winter.  It also gives them access to water continuously.

A view of the goat barn.

The Chicken Coop

One last cleaning of the coop and hauling all manure and bedding to the compost pile

Spray the nesting boxes and perches with pyrethrin and neem oil for pest control.  I use the same one I use in the garden.

I like using straw (weed free) in the chicken house it seems to last longer. Weed free means less weed problems with your spring compost.

If you want eggs through the winter have a light inside the coop. 

Heat lamps are not necessary as long as the coop provides shelter.

Have electric water buckets ready to plug in for freezing nights

The Duck Pen

 Provide an area for them to get out of the weather.  Large dog houses work great or a small duck house.  I actually house the chickens and ducks together.

Put an electric water bucket in their pen. 

I let my ducks roam the field garden during winter and early spring.  That allows some grass to grow back in their pen and they are great at hunting out hiding pests.

Don't Forget the Canines and Felines

 Although I no longer have dogs, I do still have cats. Provide a place to get out of the weather. Dog houses with a welping pad that heats when pressure is on is a great idea or a warm spot in the garage.  The water for my dogs and cats is a bucket system.  We have one in the garage that goes out in the morning and the frozen bucket goes back into the garage to thaw.  The cats have a couple cat houses to keep warm.

I am smiling! This IS my happy face!

Belle, the lab, is the best bed warmer.  The cats love her.

Clean Out the Freezer

Make room for the fresh pork of your fall butchered  pigs or beef or lamb.

Landscape Trees

Continue watering your trees as needed until they lose their leaves.

Pines and evergreens should get a good watering up until Thanksgiving or when the ground freezes.  They continue to transpire through the winter and need an occasional watering.  

The Orchard

I'm going to refer you to a previous post on fall orchard care. 

Fall Orchard Care and Disease Prevention 

The two most important things to do are your fall spray when 1/2 leaves drop and a cooper spray at leaf fall.  

The second thing is to paint trunks and lower scaffold branches if snow and sun scald is a problem.  Use an indoor latex paint.  Dilute it with 50/50 with water and you can add a little Neem oil to the mixture.

Berries

I wait for spring to do any pruning

You can spray a horticulture oil at leaf fall if disease or overwintering pests are a concern.  Cooper can also be used to help prevent disease, but only if you are concerned about an disease you have had trouble with.  

General Preparations

Get a load of wood and have it chopped and stacked out of the weather.

Roll up and store hoses that are not in use

Gather any tools you have in the fields or garden and store out of the weather.

Drain and cover swamp coolers

Check the strength of you antifreeze in your vehicles and add winter washer wiper fluid

Wash and get out winter gear:  Carthart overalls, coats, gloves, hats, boots etc.

 Take inventory of your garden and orchard sprays and fertilizers.  Winter is a good time to purchase these.  Organic fertilizers are fine to store and do not good bad. Chemical fertilizers do not store long term.

Get a a supply of hay for the winter.  Don't run low on any feeds in case weather prevents you from traveling to the feed store.  Feed is so important to help your animals stay warm so be sure to always feed regularly and have a few extra bags on hand.

There are things I love about each of the four seasons.  I hope you find beauty even in the winter. 

 

Easy Artisan No Knead Bread

 This artisan loaf recipe and technique allows you to make 4  one pound loaves.  You can double it or half it. Best of all the dough can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 14 days allowing you to bake a fresh loaf when you need to.

This free form loaf is call the French boule (boule means ball).  It is easy to handle and reliable when baked without kneading. A gluten cloak takes the place of kneading.

Recipe:

3 cups lukewarm water

1 1/2 Tbs granulated yeast or 2 packets

1 1/2 Tbs kosher or other coarse salt

6 1/2 c unsifted, unbalanced, all purpose white flour using scoop and sweep with a knife method

Cornmeal for pizza stone

Mixing and Storing the Dough

1.  Warm the water slightly.  It should feel a little warmer than body temperature 100 degree. Warm water will rise the dough to the right point before storing.  You can use cold water but the first rising will take 4 hours.

2.  Add yeast and salt to the water

3.  Mix in the flour-  kneading is unnecessary.  Add ALL the flour at once.  Use a dry ingredient measuring cup, scoop the flour and sweep the top level with a knife.  Don't compress flour.  Mix with a wooden spoon or a stand mix with dough hooks.  You are done when everything is uniformly moist. It should only take minutes.  Don't over mix or knead.

4.  Allow to rise.  Cover with a lid or plastic wrap.  Allow to rise at room temperature for 2 hours.  Allowing to raise up to 5 hours will not harm anything.  You can use a portion of the dough after this first rise. It's easier to work with if you refrigerate the dough overnight or at least 3 hours before shaping a loaf.

On the Day you bake:

5.  Shape a loaf in 30 to 60 seconds. First prepare a pizza peel by sprinkling it generously with cornmeal to prevent sticking when sliding into the oven.

Sprinkle surface of refrigerated dough with flour and flour your hands.  Pull up and cut around one pound about the size of a large grapefruit..  Hold in your hands and stretch the surface of the dough around to the bottom on all four sides, rotating as you go.  The bottom of the boule will be rough looking but no worries.  You could also shape using the same method on the counter.  This should be done in 30 to 60 seconds.  No kneading.

6.  Rest the loaf and let it rise on the pizza peel for about 40 minutes.  No need to cover.  You will not see a lot of rise in older dough but it will rise in the oven.

7.  Preheat oven for 20 minutes at 450 with the baking stone place on the middle rack.  Place an empty broiler pan below the pizza stone

8.  Dust and slash dough.  Dust the boule with flour so your slashing knife won't stick.  Slash a 1/4" deep cross, scallop or tic-tac-toe pattern on top.  You can use a serrated knife instead.

9.  After the 20 minute preheat you are ready to bake.  With a quick jerk slide the loaf off the pizza peel onto the pizza stone in the oven.  Add 1-2 cups of water to the broiler pan.  Bake for 30 minutes or until the cut is nicely browned and firm to touch.  Allow to cool completely on a rack before slicing.

10.  Store your remaining dough in the refrigerator cover but not airtight and use over the next 14 days.  Storage improves the flavor and texture of the bread.

Herbed Variation:

Follow the direction for mixing the Boule dough and add 

1 tsp dried thyme or 2 tsp fresh thyme

1/2 tsp rosemary or 1 tsp fresh rosemary