Doughball Starter
By far the simplest of all, in terms of ingredients, but takes a little longer to be ready.
Water
Flour
Mix “some” flour and water together until it forms a slightly damp paste that you can gather into a baseball sized ball. It should be damp but not sticky. Put the ball into a bag or container of flour, and let it sit there for a couple days – check on it every so often. Once it smells a little tangy and become somewhat “resilient” to the touch, it’s ready for the next step – add water to batter-consistency, let it bubble up over a day or two, and treat as Simple Starter.
Yogurt, Kefir, or Raw Milk Starter
1 cup yogurt, kefir or fresh raw milk, thinned with a little clean (boiled or filtered) water
1 cup flour
Proceed as Simple Starter. This one cultures a bit more readily if it’s kept in a warm location, say around 95F degrees. It will smell pleasantly sour when bubbly. If it smells musty or unpleasant, toss it and start over. Continue this starter by adding a half cup to a cup each of flour and water – no additional milk, kefir, or yogurt is needed.
QUICK BREADS
Flat Bread
These are the simplest breads – basically flour, water, and salt – patted or rolled into a very thin pancake shape and then fried in a hot cast-iron or other heavy-bottomed pan with a little oil. It can also be cooked on a hot flat rock, if needed. This makes a nice flour tortilla. Can also be made with corn flour such as masa harina into a corn tortilla.
Corn Cakes, Corn Bread, or Hush Puppies
The essentials are like flat bread: corn, flour, water, salt. The eggs and fermented liquids can be used to raise the bread if you have no baking powder or baking soda. Sweetener gives it a pleasant flavor and brown crust, but it’s perfectly tasty without it.
1-1/2 cup fine corn meal
½ cup flour (optional)
¼ cup sugar, honey, or syrup, more or less to taste
1 cup buttermilk, milk, sour milk, kefir, yogurt, beer or water
1-2 eggs
1 tsp salt
1 tbspn baking soda or baking powder
3 tbspns oil, butter, or bacon grease
Optional: any or all of chopped onion, black pepper, boiled corn kernels, jalapeno, bacon or cracklins
Mix together. For corn cakes, add enough liquid to make it the consistency of pancakes. Fry in oil until crisp, then turn over and fry until toasty brown. Serve with jam, honey, syrup, dusted with powdered sugar, or with sausage gravy.
Make corn bread using the same recipe, by placing the batter in an oiled or greased pan and baking for 20 minutes or so in a 325-350F degree oven. You can also stove-top bake in a covered Dutch oven over low heat or in a fireplace.
Hush puppies are the same batter, but dropped by tea spoonsful into hot oil. Fry until browned and floating.
Sweet Breads
The essential ingredients are flour, oil, and sweetener with eggs and baking soda or powder to raise it. The flavor of the sweet bread is determined by the added ingredients – grated zucchini, bananas, chopped apples or apple sauce, grated carrots, walnuts, and spices. Once you have the basic recipe, you can make any kind of sweet bread you like. This recipe makes 2 loaves, and makes a rich dessert or snack. Use rehydrated freeze-dried or dehydrated ingredients if you’ve got them.
Basic Sweet Bread Batter
1 cup oil, butter, or lard
2 cups dark brown sugar, or 1-1/4 cups honey, or 2 cups sugar and 2 tablespoons molasses, or 1 cup sorghum or molasses
4-6 eggs
1 tsp salt
2-1/2 cups flour (mixed wheat, corn, oat, bean or other may be used)
1-2 tbspns baking soda or baking powder
For zucchini bread: Add 2 cups grated zucchini or other squash, 1 tsp cinnamon, 1 tsp vanilla, 1 cup chopped nuts and/or raisins or other chopped fruit.
For banana bread: Add 2 to 4 very ripe bananas, 2 tablespoons lemon juice or vinegar, ½ tsp vanilla (or omit), 1 cup chopped nuts.
For pumpkin bread: Add 2 cups cooked pumpkin or other winter squash, 1 tsp cinnamon, 1 tsp ginger, ½ tsp nutmeg, 1 tsp vanilla, and 1 cup chopped nuts and/or raisins or other chopped fruit.
For apple bread: Add 2 cups peeled, chopped tart apples, or 1-1/2 cups applesauce, 1 tbspn cinnamon, 1 tsp vanilla, 1 cup chopped nuts and/or raisins.
For carrot bread: Add 2 cups grated carrots, 1 tsp vanilla, 1 tsp cinnamon, ½ tsp ginger, ½ cup grated or chopped pineapple, and 1 cup chopped nuts and/or raisins.
Directions: Mix all ingredients well, starting by mixing the oil with the sweetener, then adding the eggs and flour. Add the rest and stir until well combined. Grease and flour two loaf pans, or a 9x13 cake pan, or 2 round cake pans. Fill and bake for 35 to 55 minutes at 350F degrees, or in a slower oven for longer. Done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let sit in pan 10 minutes, then turn out on a rack to cool.
These breads all benefit by a light frosting – a drizzle of powdered sugar mixed with a little water or yogurt and dash of vanilla is nice. A regular cream cheese frosting is ideal.
YEAST BREADS
Yeast breads are typically made with fresh or dried powdered yeast, but that’s a modern convenience that merely replaces the traditional “starter” discussed here earlier. Making a good yeast bread is truly a lost art – it takes practice and skill to turn flour into a well-risen and tasty loaf.
If you’ve never made bread by hand before, this Awakening phase is the best time to learn how. There’s many recipes out there, many YouTube teaching videos, and other resources to show you how. Even so, your best learning tool is to simply grab a recipe and give it a shot. The five-pound “bread” flour bags in the supermarket usually have a recipe on the package – follow it to the letter to get your hands powdered up and into the game. Success will be a delight, and failure will be a chance to learn. After that, you can begin to experiment with wheat berries and home-grinding.
If you make one single loaf by hand once a week for 52 weeks – you will be an authority on home bread making in less than a year.
This recipe will make 2 loaves.
Ingredients
6 cups, more or less, of fresh ground wheat flour
2-3 cups water or fresh scalded and cooled milk (the bacteria in raw milk will affect the “rise” if it hasn’t been scalded)
2 tablespoons butter or lard or other fat
2-3 teaspoons salt
¼ cup honey, molasses, sorghum, or packed brown sugar (not vital but adds flavor and “rise”)
1 teaspoon cinnamon powder (optional)
2-1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast OR 1 cup starter culture
If you have it, 1 tablespoon of potato flour (not “starch”), or ¼ cup finely ground dried potato flakes or ½ boiled cooled peeled mashed potato can be added to help keep the loaf moist.
Directions
Warm the liquids to lukewarm (slightly warm to the touch, like baby’s milk would be). Place in a large mixing bowl. Add the honey or sugar to dissolve. Add the melted lukewarm butter or lard. Add potato if you have it. Mix in about 2-4 cups of flour until you have the consistency of thick pancake batter. Stir well for several minutes to help develop the gluten. Mix in the salt, cinnamon, and yeast or starter. Stir well again for several minutes. This saves you having to do the first kneading of the bread.
Set this aside, covered, in a warm kitchen to rise about double in size. If using yeast, this could be an hour or two. If using starter, perhaps several hours or overnight.
When risen, beat in remaining flour again, this time mixing until it forms a ball of dough. Add extra flour if needed – this is art rather than science. Grease your hands well. Place the dough ball on a floured surface and knead vigorously until it springs back when you push a thumb into it to “dent” it and the dough surface is smooth. This will take about 10 minutes of kneading.
Kneading is merely pushing and turning the dough, pulling the sides in and pushing and t
urning again. Use your body weight and upper body strength to push, pull, turn, and fold the dough. Keep pulling the outside edges into the center, pressing down, and turning again. This is great exercise!
Divide the dough into two equal balls, knead slightly and form into loaves. Place in a greased loaf pan, and cover with a clean kitchen towel, and let rise to the top of the pans – an hour to several hours.
Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 30 minutes, or a hot solar oven for 40 minutes (loaves will rise a little more). Watch the loaf – it is near done when it browns and becomes golden. The loaf is cooked through when it makes a “hollow” sound when tapped. Tip out of the pan, and rub all over with a stick of butter to soften the crust a bit. Cool on a wire rack for at least 15 minutes (hot bread will burn your mouth!). Slice with a serrated knife, but don’t press down – that will crush the loaf. Butter and enjoy!
CURE ALL CHICKEN BROTH AND SOUP
This is the chicken soup known for its healing properties, that grannies throughout the ages have foisted on their ailing families – and it does actually work! The method of making it extracts easily digested proteins, calcium, enzymes, minerals, vitamins, and trace nutrients, as well as potent antibacterial and antiviral elements. It can also be used as a tasty meal or stew base.
Broth is usually the colored liquid, strained from the thicker loaded soup. Both are highly nutritious.
Ingredients:
1 whole chicken (excluding head) but including the thoroughly scrubbed scaly legs and feet, as well as skin, liver, heart, and gizzard
Salt, Pepper, Bay Leaves, Allspice
1 whole bulb of garlic
1 – 2 onions, chopped
2 large carrots, sliced and/or grated
3 stalks of celery, chopped
Handful of fresh or dried parsley
Cup each as available:
Potatoes, diced
Sweet potatoes, diced
Broccoli, cabbage, kale
Tomatoes
Wild greens
Squash
Anything else on hand
Directions
Place the chicken and parts in water to cover. Add a bay leaf or two if you have them, a tsp or so each of salt and pepper, and three whole allspice. Bring to boiling and slow boil until the meat is cooked. Let cool a little, take the bird out and remove all the meat. Set the meat aside. Return the bones to the water, bring back to a boil.
Add all the vegetables and garlic. Add enough water to cover everything. Simmer, covered, for an hour or longer until all the vegetables are mushy to create a rich bone broth. Strain through a sieve, saving all the juices. Press the veg and bone to extract any remaining juice and return juice to the pot. The mushy remains can be fed to chickens or hogs.
Now, the broth can be pressure canned at 10 pounds pressure for 90 minutes for later use at a moment’s notice. Or, the fresh broth can be provided to the ailing person, adding extra salt and pepper (1 tsp salt per quart of broth).
Alternatively, for soup: add back the reserved meat, more chopped vegetables as desired (onions, carrots, celery, potatoes, peas, etc), and cook until the vegetables are tender. Add noodles in the last 10 minutes of cooking or dumplings or whatever you prefer. Salt and pepper to taste.
PICKLING EGGS
Select relatively fresh eggs – but not newly laid ones because they are harder to peel. Place eggs in a pan in cold water to cover, add a teaspoon of salt or baking soda; this will make shelling them easier. Bring the pan to a boil, and gently move the eggs around with a wooden or silicon spoon. Continue at a rolling boil for 3 minutes. Turn off heat and cover the pan. Let the eggs sit in the hot water for 10-12 minutes. Pour off hot water, and put eggs immediately into very cold water (snow would be fine); the sudden temperature change makes them easier to peel.
While eggs are cooking, prepare the pickling solution. This amount is sufficient for 3-4 quarts of pickled eggs. Adjust accordingly.
3 cups vinegar (any flavor)
2 cups water
1/3 cup sweetener (sugar, honey, maple syrup, etc.)
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon mustard seed
1 tsp whole black pepper
1 tsp pickling spices (optional)
Chopped onions (optional)
Sliced jalapenos (optional)
Bring all to a boil and simmer until eggs are ready.
When you can handle the eggs comfortably, shell them out, placing eggs into hot, clean canning jars (12 to a quart jar); jars should be on a towel or wooden cutting board, not a tile surface to avoid cracking them. Pour the vinegar solution over the eggs in the jars to ¼” of the top – you can leave all the spices and flavoring in it, or strain them out.
Clean the jar rims and place a canning lid on, then tighten a band securely on each jar. CAUTIOUSLY, using oven mitts on both hands and a towel wrapped around the jar, invert each jar and then set back down upright. Let cool – the lids should click when they seal. Any jars that don’t seal can be kept in cool storage and used first. The rest will keep for a year. Best after about 2 weeks of aging.
FREEZING EGGS
I used to crack eggs, gently whip together whites and yolks, and freeze in ice cube trays. This works if you have a deep freeze, and plastic bags for the egg cubes. Each cube is equivalent to one egg. Thaw in a cup or bowl in the refrigerator or cool spot, then whip and use as fresh – makes good scrambled eggs and quiche, too. You can also separate the whites from the yolks, mixing each gently in separate containers and freeze in different bags
More recently, I have been freezing eggs whole in their shells. The shells will crack, usually from “pole to pole”. You can leave them this way and pack into freezer bags or use a vacuum food saver bag (better). When you are ready to use an egg, take it out, place in lukewarm water for a minute or so – twist the shell off. Let the egg thaw in a cool covered dish, then it’s ready to use. Alternatively, you can place the shelled frozen egg in a fry pan with plenty of oil on low heat – it will thaw as it cooks, and comes out with a lump in the middle.
Another option is to freeze the eggs (shells will split). After a day in the freezer, take out, dunk in lukewarm water, and twist the shells off. Put the eggs back in the freezer to firm up. After several hours, bag in freezer bags or in food saver bags. Then, back into the deep freeze.
Eggs stored in a vacuum sealed bag will keep for a year (or longer) in the freezer. Thaw before use, or cook as above.
CANNING MILK
The combination of high heat and pressure alters the milk and develops a cooked flavor in the end-product. It’s just like fresh milk in texture, but nothing like fresh in flavor – it’s better! Perhaps the closest flavor approximation is caramel, or the European cheese known as Gjetost or Mysost. Canned milk can be used for cornstarch-based puddings, in coffee, or where you’d use fresh milk, but simply will not set up for cheese or yogurt.
Prepare canning jars and lids by washing and boiling. Get your pressure canner set up according to manufacturer’s directions, having one to two inches of very warm water over the rack in the bottom. Bring milk directly from the barn and filter as usual. No need to pasteurize since canning will do the job for you. While milk is still warm, pour into hot canning jars to one-half inch from the top. The milk must be warm to start with (even if you must reheat it), or the jars will burst under pressure. The milk also must be super-fresh, no more than 48 hours old and refrigerated – or you’ll end up with canned curdled chunky milk. Clean jar rims, apply lids and seal.
Place jars in the canner so that no jars touch. Close and clamp canner according to manufacturer’s directions. Allow steam to escape vigorously for several minutes before closing the vent. Heat canner to 240 degrees, ten pounds pressure (or appropriate for your elevation), and hold quarts and pints at that level for 25 full minutes, counting from after the temperature and pressure are reached. If the pressure drops below 10 pounds, you must reheat and restart counting the time – 25 full minutes at 10 pounds pressure.<
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Turn off heat and don’t move the canner until the pressure has dropped to zero. Carefully open the steam vent. Do not try to rush the cooling process – it may take an hour or so. When you can handle the lid, undo the canner top and remove with great care. Let the canned milk rest for 15 minutes or so in the canner before removing – the jars may still be bubbling internally for a while. Set the jars aside to cool completely. Check for lid seals. When cool, label and store each jar.
A use for pressure-canned milk is a variation on plain vanilla cornstarch pudding – it’s a caramel delight which makes a light and nutritious mid-winter treat. Mix 1/3 cup brown or white sugar (or ¼ cup honey or maple syrup), ¼ cup cornstarch, and 1/8 tsp of salt in a saucepan. Stir in 2-3/4 cups of cold canned milk and gradually bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring the whole time to prevent burning. The pudding will thicken considerably. Boil for a minute, stirring gently, then remove from heat and add two tablespoons of butter or bland oil. Cool or chill. The recipe can be readily doubled or tripled, and it’s especially nice with a dab of whipped cream or swirl of chocolate syrup on top.
CANNING MEAT
Any type of meat may be pressure canned by the same process. For smaller pieces, such as chicken legs or sections of rabbit, you can leave the bones in or out – the method is the same. For larger animals, you can chunk the meat into uniform 1” square pieces, or coarsely grind the meat or make into sausage. Remove visible fat – it can gum up lids and cause lid sealing failures if the pressure drops too quickly in the canner. Freeze or process the fat separately, don’t throw it away. Fish should be canned in smaller jars, half pints are considered the ‘correct’ size so that the meat is fully processed.
Cold Times — How to Prepare for the Mini Ice Age Page 38