Tag: bread

  • Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day

    Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day

     

    Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day
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    Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day is one of the few “mainstream” books in my library.  I heard about Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day on some cooking show, and figured it was just some “arty” book, but I leafed through it at a bookstore, and found a lot in this book that I could put to use as a prepper.

    Its no secret that I am not a talented baker – my breads tend to either – look good, or taste good, but seldom do they do both.

    I think it is because I am slightly impatient. I don’t want to wait around all day for the dough to rise and proof.

    This book takes some of the time out of the game.  Now not all of these concepts are “prepper” friendly.  A lot of this involves keeping dough in the fridge long term.

    However, it does introduce homemade bread on a daily basis, and even if some of the techniques would need adjusting in a “grid down” scenario, I believe that getting use to eating homemade bread every day, and using your stored wheat in your daily routine is priceless.

    I used the principles in the book for my no-knead sour-dough and it came out great!

    If you store wheat for a rainy day, and you so not routinely bake fresh bread, you need to read this book.

  • Kitchen DIY: Cooking Bread in a Grill

    Kitchen DIY: Cooking Bread in a Grill

    Cooking Bread in a Grill
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    One of the main reasons I write books like this is to help promote the notion that anyone can solve their problems with a little out of the box thinking. This article on cooking bread in a grill is just one example.

    Most people think you have to have an oven to bake bread – not true – all you need is a source of steady and controllable heat. Bread can be baked anywhere you can get controlled heat

    Once you learn how to separate requirements from results you will be surprised at how many ways you can see to get the job done. The big thing to remember with baking on a grill is that it is hottest near the flames, so elevate the bread (even if you need to improvise.

    Cooking Bread in a Grill
    Cooking Bread in a Grill

    A grill thermometer is adequate for a good bread Another important thing to note is that to bake perfect bread you need to be able to control both time and temperature. Since most grill have a thermometer on them, you should have it under control, but you may need to add a thermometer, or experiment until you learn just the right sized fire for your recipe.

    Depending on your grill you may need to bake on the top rack Rolls and buns will probably bake in 15 to 20 minutes and loaves will take 20 to 30 minutes depending on their size and the grill’s temperature. If you are making an entire meal – either to show off during a barbeque, or in some grid down emergency, timing is important.

    Cook the bread before the meat. This allows the bread to cool, and grease from cooking meat makes the temperature unstable, and the smoke and soot from burning grease can stain your bread. Grills don’t circulate air as well as ovens do, which can lead to uneven heating. You may need to rotate your bread halfway through baking to have even cooking.

    Grilled bread tastes wonderful There is also a tendency for flames to burn the bottom of the bread, so keep the flames low and the bread elevated on a rack.

  • Simple Recipes Using Food Storage

    Simple Recipes Using Food Storage

    Book Review: Simple Recipes Using Food Storage
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    Simple Recipes Using Food Storage gives you a doable plan to help you prepare.  For many of us, storing the food is much simpler than finding recipes that use them.

    My family uses the LDS principles of bulk food storage, and if you don’t use them on a regular basis it can be hard to make meals from wheat berries and powdered milk.

    Whether emergency strikes, your family falls on lean times, or you just need to rotate your food storage, you can use these recipes to make everything from breads and desserts to smoothies and soups.

    Having recipes that are easy and taste good – while using your food storage goes a long way to helping you use what you store.  This alone makes the book Simple Recipes Using Food Storage a worthwhile purchase.

    If you store food, you should get some cookbooks so you can follow the wisdom of eating what you store, and storing what you eat.

    This small cookbook is a good start on that wisdom.  I know that in my home, we are very busy during the week (who isn’t) and having simple recipes makes the difference between cooking and eating out.

  • Recipe: Cheesy Bread

    Recipe: Cheesy Bread

    Recipe: Cheesy Bread
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    This wonderful recipe sets the lie to the idea that you can pick any two cheap, fast, and good.  My cheesy bread is fast, good, and cheap.

    Making Cheesy Bread is simple:

    • Simply take a loaf of bread (I like the dollar loves from the bakery) and score it halfway through in 1/2 inch cross hatching.
    • Next pull the cuts apart and fill with cubed cheese.  Add Lardon (thickly chopped bacon) to the cheese.
    • Lastly I like to lightly spread chopped chives or green onion to the top of my cheesy bread.
    • To cook, just throw it in a preheated oven – I use around 425 and bake the bread for 10 minutes or so until the bread lightly toasts and the cheese melts.

    Once this comes out of the oven the boy and I tear it apart.  The cheese and bacon tastes wonderful and the bread soaks it all in.

    As I write this, I want to go make me a dose of this cheesy bread right now.

    I used this once in a casting video for a show.  It helped get me into consideration, but in the end I lost out.  I am not too disappointed because I would have had to quit my job to be on a yearlong show that only lasted 2 months.

  • How to Make Fridge Bread Pizza

    How to Make Fridge Bread Pizza

     

    Recipe: Fridge Bread Pizza
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    We fell in love with the artisan fridge bread recipe (at least until I finally broke down and bought a kitchen aide stand mixer) – it makes it so easy to make fresh bread you have to fall in love with it.

    Not being able to leave a good thing alone, I had to tinker with the recipe and the recipe uses until I came up with this Fridge Bread Pizza Recipe.

    I like big pillowy pizza crust deep dish pizza is my kryptonite.

    This is a great recipe for busy nights when you have to throw something together for a hungry family with little time and energy.

    While it is so easy you really don’t need written instructions, watch the videos a couple times and try it.  I bet you will find it as worthwhile as I do.

    The best thing is, you can make this dough when you have time, and it can sit in the refrigerator until you need it. The longer it sits in the fridge the better the dough gets.  After a week or so it makes an awesome pizza – if you can let it sit that long.

    Personally I never can wait that long.