Off Grid Baking

So you want to be prepared for feeding your family should the power go out.  If you have a wood heat stove and a cast iron Dutch oven, you're in luck.  It just takes careful practice.  You have to time the rise of your yeast bread with the glow of wood coals.  If you use a bread recipe such as this one for no knead bread, your window of opportunity to bake is more dependent on coals than timing the dough. 

This means that I start my loaf the night before I want to bake it .. at the very least ... making it early in the morning and baking before bed; I prefer making it the night before baking.  You only need one bowl .. mix up the dough .. cover  .. and set aside for 12-18 hours.  I've even let the dough go 24 hours which gives it a little extra punch in sour flavor.  Bread with a long ferment period is supposed to be more nutritious and easier to digest.  Believe me, when you have lost the ability to cook conveniently you are more apt to eat what is available in your emergency supplies.  Hunger takes precedence to proper diet.

So .. the planning part comes into play usually after dinner and my dough has been fermenting nearly 18 hours.  This dough has just been sitting in the mixing bowl covered with a plastic bag and a dish towel to stay moist .. usually starting off by the wood stove .. and if that gets too warm, I move it to the kitchen counter.

My wood stove would have been burning all day and our home toasty warm.  About 2 hours prior to actually baking the bread, I remove the dough from the bowl, shape it briefly on a floured surface and place it in a ball on a greased piece of parchment paper placed inside a glass pie pan or med. size skillet.  It's covered loosely with the plastic wrap and clean dish towel .. left to rise in a warm spot for 2 hours.  The coals in the wood stove will be glowing read and pushed to the sides and back of the stove. 

Red glowing coals get broken apart with ash shovel and arranged along both sides and back of wood stove.

A few canning rings will be carefully placed in the ashes of the stove floor to support the Dutch oven.

Several canning rings are placed in center of wood stove's floor to support Dutch Oven.

 About a half hour before bake time, with the fire out .. and embers are glowing red, the empty Dutch (D.O.) oven is carefully placed on the canning rings to preheat.. door shut .. and timed for approx. 30 minutes.  I use heavy leather gloves to handle the D.O. After 30 minutes the D.O. is removed and placed on a trivet on top of the stove.  The lid is carefully removed .. and a little smoke should come out.

Raised round loaf is placed inside hot Dutch oven using parchment as a sling.

 Dough is lifted carefully with parchment paper and settled in the D.O.  The top of dough is snipped and dusted with a little flour.  Lid is placed on pan .. and carefully placed on the canning rings .. door gets shut.

A little fire is OK .. but watch carefully .. you really just need a medium amount of red coals.

 If the stove seems too cool a few pieces of kindling can be tossed in to keep the stove heated.

Small pieces of kindling may be added to coals if the oven temp seems too low.  Getting a feel for the temp with your hand is a developed skill.

 It doesn't take much kindling .. if any.  You don't want a big fire .. but a little flame is OK if pushed away from the D.O.  Door needs to remain shut.  Let the bread bake for 30 minutes .. rotating the pan every 10 minutes for even baking.

 After 30 minutes carefully remove the D.O. and place on trivet. 

I've only burned one loaf from too high of temp (from flames).  This one came out perfect!

Remove lid.  bread should be brown and well raised.  Carefully slide an additional metal canning ring under the parchment to lift the bread off the bottom of the D.O.  and cautiously place the pan back in the oven where it will bake for 10-15 additional minutes without the lid.

This bread is full of holes and has a crispy crust.  Slices easily too.

 Carefully remove pan at end of baking time transferring baked bread to a wire cooling rack for approx. 2 hours before slicing.  Store cooled bread in a plastic bag. 

If you try this baking method, be extra careful. 

No Knead Sourdough Bread

So I've had lots of time this afternoon to pass the time in prayer for my little granddaughter ... and I put some of my nervous energy into good use by finishing up a nice round loaf of no-knead bread that was started last night.

I took the premise for the recipe from an article in the 'Mother Earth News' on-line magazine and made it my own by using my own grind of sprouted flour, soaked 6-grain cereal mix and some sourdough starter.  Of course, I didn't use a recipe .. just followed the one in the magazine for proportions of flour and water.

Click here for recipe and instructions.

Look what transpired :)

Update on baby Rowan:  She's off the heart by-pass and almost out of surgery.  After receiving a heart 'make over' and a new valve, her heart is much happier .. along with her mommy, daddy and entire family.

Just Desserts

English Shortbread .. photo by Mrs. Mac

Chocolate mousse for Valentines Day ... photo by Mrs. Mac

Once a week I bake a treat for dessert.  Hubby has a sweet tooth and I'd rather give him a home made treat than for him to make a run to the store for a package of junk.  I choose the one meal that is most special and get creative in the kitchen.   It's not that hard to whip up a goody when the pantry and freezer are well stocked.  I keep frozen summer fruit for pies, cooked pumpkin for breads, oats and raisins for cookies, and good solid unsweetened chocolate bars for brownies and mousse.   Non homogenized milk gives just enough cream to make a whipped cream topping.  Some weeks, dessert is as simple as making a cup of steaming hot cocoa from scratch.   Making your own dessert allows you to control the quality of ingredients, cut back on sugar, and make smaller portions than the recipe calls for.   Life is too short to not eat a little dessert now and then (at least that's what my 'sweet tooth' Hubby says).

On Bread Baking

Weekly ration of bread .. pic by Mrs. Mac

We've been getting by with just the bread coming out of our ovens.  Seems if I set aside one afternoon or evening a week (Sunday .. so far), I can bake up two batches of dough .. both making two loaves or two dozen rolls.  We are currently enjoying an oat bread for sandwiches, an Italian loaf for garlic toast or pizza, and a hamburger bun recipe that I've switched out white flour with whole wheat white.  The dough is mixed in our Kitchenaid stand mixer with a dough hook attachment and placed in the oven on a dough proof setting in large covered bowls.  I really try to stretch the bread to last an entire week.  Half goes double wrapped in the storage freezer to pull out midweek.

Hubby and I have been checking around for a flour mill.  I'd probably prefer one that is manual .. but with my right shoulder feeling pain from an injury last year .. electric seems a better fit with the amount of flour we would have to mill each week.  Next month is my birthday .. and the one I am interested in (Nutrimill Grain Mill) is currently on sale .. so it got ordered a few days ago.  I'm excited to take our bread making one step further by milling our own flour.  This will probably be our only major kitchen purchase this year.

bread holder for slicing ..  pic by Mrs. Mac

I picked up the nifty bread slicer at a local thrift store.  It's shaped for bread machine loaves .. but can be used with my oven baked bread.  It cost a whole 99 cents.  Using it gives very uniform slices .. unlike my previous freehand slicing produced.  There's nothing like the smell of baking bread wafting through the house.  Are you a bread baker?  If so, what's your preferred method for making it?