I finally got through to Lehman's on the phone! I bought wheat and a grinder, and now I need a simple recipe for making bread under primitive conditions, with limited ingredients.

-- Pearlie Sweetcake (storestuff@home.now), December 12, 1998

Answers

from a post forwarded from http://www.cookingpost.com/recipe.htm#breads:

Fry Bread

4 cups white flour 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 tablespoon baking powder

Combine all ingredients. Add about 1 1/2 cups lukewarm water and knead until dough is soft but not sticky. Shape dough into balls the size of a small peach. Shape into patties by hand; dough should be about l/2 inch thick.

Make a small hole in the center of the round.

Fry one at a time in about l inch of hot lard or shortening in a heavy pan.

Brown on both sides. Drain on paper towels and serve hot with honey or jam.

-- Karen Cook (browsercat@hotmail.com), December 13, 1998.

Karen,

Great recipe...I am (no offense intended ) a hillbilly by blood and my mom used to do this when we had no money and we eve ate it with peanut butter. Dag, it was good stuff. Also can fry up the left over mashed potatoes this way and they are good too., slip in alil garlic salt and pepper into the tato flakes, add flour and egg to hold 2 together and fry away.

PS thanks i printed this out... Was wondering how i could eat spam with no bread....u b the lifesaver.

-- consumer (private@aol.com), December 13, 1998.

Thanks for the recipe, Karen, but I was hoping for something I could bake, maybe in a dutch oven in the fireplace.

-- Pearlie Sweetcake (storestuff@home.now), December 13, 1998.

"Making the Best of Basics" by James Talmadge Stevens has an entire chapter dedicated to wheat and its various uses/recipes. Aside from the recipes its a great book to have anyway. You can order it from Amazon - the order form says it takes about 4 to 6 weeks for delivery, but I received mine within a week.

-- Christine A. Newbie (vaganti01@aol.com), December 13, 1998.

Basic Wheat Bread: 2 tsp yeast 1/2 c very warm water 1 c. milk 4 tbsp butter/oil 2 tbsp sugar/honey 2 tsp salt 1 c water 6 1/2 c flour dissolve yeast in warm water. Scald milk, add butter, sugar and salt, add 1 c water. Cool until lukewarm. Add milk mix to yeast. Stir in 3 c flour, stir until smooth. Stir in enough remaining flour to make proper consistency. Knead dough 5 min. Place in bowl, cover. let rise @ 1 hour. Punch down, divide in half. Let dough rest 10 min. Form 2 loaves, place in 2 loaf pans, melt remaining butter and brush tops of loaves. Cover. let rise @ 1hour. Bake for 30 minutes at 400 degrees. About as easy as you can get for yeast breads, but maybe a daily staple could become something like flat breads-chapatis, tortillas. These can be made with flour (equal amounts approx. of flour and water), water, and a little oil to stick together. Roll out with a pin, then throw on a griddle or frying pan and cook. Very easy, very filling. Can accompany all meals like bread, and then you can make yeast breads every week or two as a treat. Just an idea.

-- Damian Solorzano (oggy1@webtv.net), December 13, 1998.

4 tsp dry yeast 1/4 cup honey 2 tsp salt 3 c. hot water (125 F.) 61/2 to 71/2 c. whole wheat flour Add in order then add the flour 1 c. at a time. After the 5th c. beat thoroughly with wooden spoon. Knead with next cup on kneading board. Continue to add flour just untill it does not stick to the board. Knead for another 15 min. Oil all surfaces cover and allow to rise untill doubled. Punch down and knead gently, divide into 3 loaves. Grease pans etc. Allow to rise again. Start in a cold oven set to 375 and bake for 40 min.

Youll have to experiment to do this in a dutch oven but the ingredients are about as simple as they come and the bread tastes wonderful. Youll have to practice the procedure with your mill etc as there are many variables to deal with untill you get it right. You almost can't knead it enough. It's hard to mill the wheat fine enough.

Good luck. LM

-- LM (latemarch@usa.net), December 13, 1998.

http://members.tripod.com/~docrob/bread.html

-- flierdude (mkessler0101@sprynet.com), December 13, 1998.

Here's the simplest bread known to humankind:

Take the leftover soup from today -- make sure it has plenty of well-cooked veggies and grains (rice, barley, etc) in it, but remove all visible pieces of meat. Put about three cups of the soup, with liquids, in a bowl, and stir in your freshly ground flour. Keep adding flour until you have a slightly sticky dough -- then, knead for 5-10 minutes until everything is well mixed. If you want, add a tsp of salt. For three cups of soup, you'll need 6-8 cups of flour, more or less.

Shape the dough into a loaf or a round on a flat, oiled pan. Cover with a clean towel to keep critters off. Place in a warm spot -- such as a warming oven above your wood cook stove, or in a pilot-light lit gas oven, or in your dutch oven set near the fire -- for about 12-16 hours, roughly overnight. While the dough is "ripening", it will rise a little and develop a "sourdough" flavor.

Next a.m., start the oven and get it up to about 350 degrees -- put the dough in and cook until golden.

The result is a textured, chewy, complete-meal-type bread, with a delicious tangy flavor -- perfect accompaniment for cheese. Good, nourishing "peasant" fare.

No yeast! No baking soda! No baking powder!

Real food!

Anita Evangelista

-- Anita Evangelista (ale@townsqr.com), December 13, 1998.

Ummm. That soup sourdough bread sounds good!

The Tassajara Bread Book is very good. The basic recipe takes only about 10 minutes total of your time, just let the yeast do all the hard work. Have been using it for over 18 years.

-- Mitchell Barnes (spanda@inreach.com), December 13, 1998.

Thanks everyone! Help like this is what makes this forum so useful.

-- Pearlie Sweetcake (storestuff@home.now), December 13, 1998.

Hi Pearlie Sweetcake--

Here's a great link to lots of Dutch Oven recipes--some interesting ones for bread. Good luck!! http://www.idos.com/idosurl.html

-- Scarlett (o'hara@tara.net), December 13, 1998.

Try this web site. I've found it very helpful...all sorts of things about self-sufficiency, AND...their feature called the Bakery:

http://www.countrylife.net

Country Life

-- Donna Barthuley (moment@pacbell.net), December 14, 1998.

Was just going through the old food threads when I came across this one. It reminded me of a super simple bread recipe I had tucked away-- may not be super nutritious, but it'll do just fine for me WTSHTF.

"FATHER'S BEER BREAD"

3 cups self-rising flour

3 TBSP sugar

1 12-oz. can of beer

Preheat oven to 325 and grease two 8 1/2" x 4 1/2" loaf pans or one large 9" x 5" loaf pan. Mix ingredients together in a bowl until dough has the consistency of a mud pie. Divide dough between the two small pans or put it all into the one larger pan. Wet fingers with water and smooth the tops of the loaves. Bake for 40-60 minutes until bread is golden brown on top. Remove from oven and brush top with melted butter. Let bread cool before serving for easier slicing.

Enjoy!!

Joan

-- Joan (JA4you@aol.com), March 27, 1999.