Monday, January 5, 2009

burned bread

I am happy we are getting a good discussion going on my last post. Discussion is good, we get to swap info and learn from each others experience.

In my efforts of being a good prepper, tonight I attempted to bake bread again. Too bad I'm so smart I can be dumb. I figured that the higher in the oven the better the bread will cook (That's smart). Too bad I had a classic boneheaded maneuver and forgot bread rises as it cooks and it got stuck on the top element. (That's dumb)
I preped up some spices tonight. I got some fresh bulk containers at BJ's over the weekend, and put them in pint jars and sealed them up with my foodsaver. I love that thing. I got me some basil and oregano this trip. Next will be cumin, cilantro and black pepper. Salt doesn't need any preservation, but the rest needs vacuum to keep all the goodness inside. The white things on top of the spices are little circles of paper towels, this is to prevent the spices from being sucked up into the vacuum pump.

Although considered a "comfort" item by many, I feel that a wide variety of spices are an absolute necessity if you are living off your preps. Otherwise, you will get tired of eating the same boring stuff day in and day out. It's one of the reasons I refuse to buy MRE's, - a 5 gallon bucket of spackle tastes better. (Except for the peanut butter, which is quite good, so long as your forget it's supposed to be peanut butter!)

Well time to thump the bottom of my bread again to see if it's done. Good luck out there, and let me know your thoughts on the ammo post. There will be a time, I fear, where such discussions will be yelled from burning wreck to another on why Bob forgot to bring a few extra mags when MS13 is trying to take out your little neighborhood.

3 comments:

Ryan said...

Don't kick yourself too much. Last week I messed up stew which should be idiot proof. There is a reason they call it trial and error not trial and immediate success. Keep on baking.

Western Mass. Man said...

Just curious Nat,
Are you using store bought flour or grinding your own?
I was banging my head against the wall with my stone ground flour when making bread.
I still have much to learn with it. I seam to have no luck on the second rise on the dough. It raises fine on the first rise, than when I form loaves for the second rise they just sit there and I end up with a loaf of bread that, is very yummy, but looks like a firebrick. DOH!
Back to the drawing board.

Natog said...

I'm using store bought whole wheat flour. I'm noticing the second rise isn't as good for me, either.

I guess that is why most recipes call for a lot of white flour with the whole wheat. Last batch was a solid mass with the consistency of plaster. I am trying to avoid white flour because it's bleached and processed and won't be available if the poop hits the fan.

I'll try the bread I baked tonight. The burned one is kinda crappy, but the other loaf came out looking sweet!