Preparing for Uncertainty and Self Reliance

[Montegriffo]

Doc, love the meme............... I need to make some bread.
I'm weak on the bread baking folks. I'm fair at biscuits, that's about it.

What goes wrong with your bread?
The most common problem I see is too dry a dough. It wants to be wet enough that when you start kneading it you have a sticky mess but by the time you have finished it should be a smooth elastic dough that no longer sticks to your hands. Not letting it prove enough is also a problem, how long it takes is down to temperature but it should double in size. Prove twice kneading between times for the best effect. If you want a nice crust put a tray of water in the bottom of the oven to create some steam.
It's not that hard really, if you did it every day for a week you should suss it out........

[Alexander PhiAlipson]

Lady etymology: From Middle English lady, laddy, lafdi, lavedi, from Old English hlǣfdīġe (“mistress of a household, wife of a lord, lady”, literally “bread-kneader”), from hlāf (“bread, loaf”) + dīġe (“maid”), related to Old English dǣġe (“maker of dough”)
cf: Lord.

[C-Mag]

Doc, love the meme............... I need to make some bread.
I'm weak on the bread baking folks. I'm fair at biscuits, that's about it.

What goes wrong with your bread?
The most common problem I see is too dry a dough. It wants to be wet enough that when you start kneading it you have a sticky mess but by the time you have finished it should be a smooth elastic dough that no longer sticks to your hands. Not letting it prove enough is also a problem, how long it takes is down to temperature but it should double in size. Prove twice kneading between times for the best effect. If you want a nice crust put a tray of water in the bottom of the oven to create some steam.
It's not that hard really, if you did it every day for a week you should suss it out........

Uhhhhhh............ I've never given it a serious go. I've only made loaves of bread a couple times. My wife makes it and she does a pretty good job, but it's something I would like to learn to be able to make a loaf of bread. Appreciate the above tips, I will gladly read more.

[SuburbanFarmer]

Doc, love the meme............... I need to make some bread.
I'm weak on the bread baking folks. I'm fair at biscuits, that's about it.

What goes wrong with your bread?
The most common problem I see is too dry a dough. It wants to be wet enough that when you start kneading it you have a sticky mess but by the time you have finished it should be a smooth elastic dough that no longer sticks to your hands. Not letting it prove enough is also a problem, how long it takes is down to temperature but it should double in size. Prove twice kneading between times for the best effect. If you want a nice crust put a tray of water in the bottom of the oven to create some steam.
It's not that hard really, if you did it every day for a week you should suss it out........

Uhhhhhh............ I've never given it a serious go. I've only made loaves of bread a couple times. My wife makes it and she does a pretty good job, but it's something I would like to learn to be able to make a loaf of bread. Appreciate the above tips, I will gladly read more.

Start with a regular bread-making machine. You can turn out some amazing butter and heavy cream with it too. That will get you into the groove, then just keep trying to get more manual with it.

[C-Mag]

Thanks, that's a good tip for me.

[Montegriffo]

Ok, I'm going to give away one of the tricks of the trade here.
Warm your flour before you start, put it a large pan on a gentle heat and stir constantly until it is blood temp but no hotter. Then you can add the water, yeast and salt and mix it in the pan.
Having everything warm just speeds up the proving but don't get it too hot or you will kill the yeast....

[Montegriffo]

Lady etymology: From Middle English lady, laddy, lafdi, lavedi, from Old English hlǣfdīġe (“mistress of a household, wife of a lord, lady”, literally “bread-kneader”), from hlāf (“bread, loaf”) + dīġe (“maid”), related to Old English dǣġe (“maker of dough”)
cf: Lord.

Flip's too butch to bake. If only you could shoot bread out of a tree, then it would be a proper manly pursuit.

[Penner]

So, I just skim through the 18 pages of this thread but this looks like a prepper thread? Is it not?

[C-Mag]

Ok, I'm going to give away one of the tricks of the trade here.
Warm your flour before you start, put it a large pan on a gentle heat and stir constantly until it is blood temp but no hotter. Then you can add the water, yeast and salt and mix it in the pan.
Having everything warm just speeds up the proving but don't get it too hot or you will kill the yeast....

Thanks !

[C-Mag]

So, I just skim through the 18 pages of this thread but this looks like a prepper thread? Is it not?

Define it how you like Penner.
I see prepping as a bad mix of old survivalism and modern American over shopping. That's why I prefer topics on Self Reliance. Stockpiling a bunch of shit can be nothing more than hording, but being self reliant has benefits to the usefulness of people and builds the human spirit. I don't care if it's mending socks or raising your own food. To me there is a huge distinction, maybe not for you.