Simple French Bread with KAMUT

I am a whole grain guy but there are some breads that just have to have the white bread taste, for example a whole wheat french bread is really a baguette bread not french bread. For breads like these I use a KAMUT mixed in with a quality white flour, such as King Arthur, that is un-bleached and un-abominated.

I usually only use 1/3 KAMUT flour and the rest white four for recipes that I want to taste like white flour, this ratio with KAMUT leaves it tasting like white bread. For some reason KAMUT does not have that whole grainy taste like most whole grain flours do. So it is white bread but it still has that whole grain goodness hidden in there, no one ever knows that there is whole grain in it unless I tell them. I highly recommend using KAMUT in your white breads.

Now on to the KAMUT french bread, it is so easy (as you can see in the video below). French bread is an oily dough but the WonderMix mixer did great with mixing it.

http://youtu.be/1l16dHrhdoE

Simple French Bread with KAMUT

Author: Food Prepper

Serves: 2 loaves

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups water
1/4 cup sugar
1 Tablespoon yeast
1/4 cup olive oil
1 1/2 cups KAMUT flour
4 1/3 cups all purpose flour
1 Tablespoon Salt

Instructions

Add water, sugar, yeast, and olive oil to mixer bowl.
Turn the mixer on to speed 1
Add KAMUT flour.
Add half of the all purpose flour and salt.
Add the remaining all purpose flour and let it combine.
Turn the mixer up to speed 2 and let it mix for 6-7 minutes.
Turn dough out and cover and let it rise for 1 hour.
Cut dough in half and shape 2 french bread loaves
Cover, and let rise for 1 hour.
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
Cut angled slits in the top of the loaf (optional).
Bake for 35 minutes so that it is nicely browned on top.
Let cool and enjoy

quick photo is courtesy of my wife ( who runs Vanilla Tree Photography)

Banana Oatmeal Cookies Recipe

My wife’s family shared this recipe with me and I just love them. Bananas, oatmeal, sugar, and chocolate chips! Whats not to love.

My wife has always been afraid of using a kitchen mixer, like it is complicated or something, so she always does it with a mixing spoon or hand mixer. I watched her make these last well week in her way and it looked like too much work for me. So I made them this week with my mixer and video taped it to show just how easy it is with the right kitchen tool.

Banana Oatmeal Cookies Recipe

Author: Food Prepper

Prep time: 5 mins

Cook time: 13 mins

Total time: 18 mins

Ingredients

1 cup soft butter
2 cups sugar
3 cups oatmeal
3 eggs
4 ripe crushed bananas (3 if large)
2/3 cup milk
4 cups flour (I use 2 cups white flour 1 cup pearled barley flour)
1/2 salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp allspice
1 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 pkgs chocolate chips

Instructions

Cream butter and sugar together in a mixer bowl.
Add oatmeal, crushed bananas, milk and eggs into mixer bowl.
In a separate bowl, combine remaining dry ingredients and whisk together.
Add dry ingredients to mixer bowl and mix together.
Add chocolate chips and mix until evenly distributed.
Bake at 375 degrees for about 13 minutes.

Using a kitchen mixer is so easy and makes your life easier. Don’t be afraid of using one, they are really quite simple once you try one. I also hope you enjoy this cookie recipe and don’t make them the hard way if you can avoid it.

I also ground some pearl barley in my grain mill for this recipe, I love to add whole grains to recipes and this is definitely one you can get away with it.

Egg-less Eggnog

I am an eggnog junkie, one of my friends nicked named me Augnog because I love it so much. It is really not that good for you but you got to treat yourself some times.

This is a recipe my wife uses and it always comes out great. Her’s is not so thick as the store eggnog, it is fluffier.

Egg-less Eggnog

Recipe Type: Drinks

Author: Food Prepper

Ingredients

1 pkg (3.5oz) instant vanilla pudding
5 cups milk (or sub in a few cups vanilla almond milk)
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp nutmeg
Pinch of cinnamon
1 cup heavy cream (whipped)

Instructions

In blender combine all ingredients except whipped cream, or beat by hand for 2 minutes.
Blend mixture into whipped cream and chill.
Stir well before serving.

100% Whole Wheat Potato Bread

I use lots of whole grain flours, as you can tell from many of my blog posts, but I still buy white bread from time to time. When I do buy white bread it is usually potato bread, I just love the soft texture and flavor. I found a few recipes on the internet and modified them to a potato bread recipe I like that uses 100% whole wheat flour, and it is now my favorite bread.

This was also a great recipe to break in the new WonderMix kitchen mixer, which I love especially for the price. I recently learned how to make butter from heavy cream in the mixer, which tasted awesome on the home made potato whole wheat bread.

Remember that fresh milled flour (milled within the last week) is the best for flavor, commercial whole wheat flour from the store will have a slightly bitter taste to it and less flavor.

100% Whole Wheat Potato Bread (WonderMix)

Recipe Type: bread

Author: Food Prepper

Prep time: 1 hour 30 mins

Cook time: 30 mins

Total time: 2 hours

Serves: 2

makes 2 large loaves (9×5 bread pans) or 3 small loaves (8×4 bread pans).

Ingredients

1 cup instant potato flakes (loose, not packed)
1 1/2 cups milk
1 1/2 cups hot water
1/3 cup oil (i like avocado oil from Costco)
1/3 cup sugar
2 eggs
6 3/4 cups whole wheat flour
1 1/2 Tablespoons yeast (or 4 1/2 teaspoons)
2 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon ginger

Instructions

Add potato flakes, liquids, oil, sugar, eggs, 2 1/2 cups of whole wheat flour, and yeast to the mixing bowl and mix on speed 1 until just combined.
Add 1 cup flour and pour salt on top of the flour.
Turn mixer on to speed 1 and slowly add the remaining flour.
Continue to mix on speed 1 for 7 minutes.
Let rest dough for 30 seconds before removing.
Place dough into a large oiled bowl, cover and let rise for 50 minutes.
Place dough on a oiled counter top and punch down the dough.
Cut dough in half (or 3rds if making 3 small loaves) and form into loaves.
Place into oiled bread pans, cover and let rise for 25-30 minutes.
Bake at 350° for 35-37 minutes (I usually go 36 minutes) until bread top is dark brown.
Remove from oven and let cool on a rack for 1-2 hours.
Enjoy fresh bread, this is the most important step.

(main photos were taken by Vanilla Tree Photography, my wife)

Pizza Stones

I own a very large, thick, and durable pizza stone made by Pizzacraft. It can be used in the kitchen oven or on your BBQ grill, not that my BBQ grill is large enough for my pizza stone but smaller sizes are available. This makes it very versatile if you need to use it for baking on your BBQ grill if you have to.

I will never buy a cheap or thin pizza stone again, they always end up cracking even under proper use. They just are not worth it. After going through a few cheap stones you would have saved money just getting a thick premium pizza stone.

Instead of using pizza peel and the cornmeal process to place the pizza on the stone, I use parchment paper and a flat edged cookie sheet. I roll out the dough on parchment paper that has been lightly oiled with olive oil, let it rise, top the pizza, slide the cookie sheet under the parchment paper, transfer it to the oven and slide the parchment paper with pizza off the cookie sheet onto the hot pizza stone, bake pizza, and finally slide the cookie sheet under the parchment paper to remove the pizza from the stone. This process works like a dream for me, anyone else use parchment paper for their pizza baking?

I have also seen a few steel pizza stones that look like they could a great option as well. They are said to be virtually indestructible and can double as a stove top grill or be used on the BBQ grill as well. I would love to try one, have any of you had experiences with a Baking Steel?

Barley Flour Chocolate Cake

So I was browsing for something new to try with my WonderMill grain mill and I found this recipe for chocolate cake using 100% barley flour? Ya, barley flour. I had to try it and now that I have tasted it I have to share it with you.

She bought the barley flour at the store but I decided to make my own. I bought pearled barley at WinCo in the bulk food bins for just 48 cents a pound and milled it into flour in the WonderMill on the pastry setting, it came out super fine and fluffy.

I have to say that the cake came out very tasty, I think I am going to love Barley Flour and I can’t wait to experiment some more with it. I also topped it with my wife’s recipe for chocolate buttercream frosting.

Barley Flour Chocolate Cake

Ingredients

2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 cup avocado oil (or any oil you want)
2 tsp. vanilla
3 cups pearled barley flour
3/4 cup cocoa powder
2 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup powdered buttermilk
2 cups cold water

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9×13 inch baking pan or 2 round cake pans.
In a large mixing bowl, beat the sugar, eggs, oil and vanilla for 2 minutes until it is creamy.
In a separate large mixing bowl whisk together the remaining dry ingredients.
Add 1/3 of the flour mixture and 1/3 of the water at a time to the sugar mixture and whisk until just combined before adding another 1/3 until all ingredients have been added and combined, don’t over whisk mixture.
Pour batter into baking pan and bake for 35-45 minutes, until a tooth pick comes out clean.
Let cake cool in the pans.
Top with your favorite frosting and enjoy your whole grain cake.

Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

Author: Food Prepper

Ingredients

1/2 cup softened butter (1 stick)
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/8 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tbsp. heavy cream
2 tbsp. cocoa powder

Instructions

Add all ingredients, except the powdered sugar, to a mixing bowl.
Whisk with a hand mixer on medium speed and add powdered sugar in slowly until all sugar is added.
Turn up to high speed to cream it together well.
Top your cake and enjoy.

I also found this website that has several other great recipes for whole barley flour http://gobarley.com/

Corn-Free “Corn” Bread

That’s right, corn bread without the corn! Just use Kamut flour and Millet flour to get the same cornbread texture effect and taste. Bread Beckers posted a recipe for Kamut “Corn” Bread on their Facebook page yesterday and I had to try it.

My WonderMill grain mill can grind both Kamut and Millet into fresh flour and luckily I had both of them on hand today, just pour the millet into the WonderMill slowly like you would any other small grain. The end result of this recipe was superb, my new favorite cornbread, thanks Bread Beckers.

Corn-Free “Corn” Bread (100% Whole Grain)

Author: Food Prepper

Prep time: 15 mins

Cook time: 20 mins

Total time: 35 mins

Serves: 10

Ingredients

1 cup Kamut flour
1 cup millet flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon honey
1/4 cup olive oil
1 1/2 cup buttermilk (I use powdered buttermilk and water)
2 large eggs

Instructions

Pre-heat the oven to 450 degrees.
Add all the dry ingredients to a large mixing bowl and whisk together.
Add all the wet ingredients to the mixing bowl and whisk for 40 seconds.
Pour batter into greased cake pan and bake for 20 minutes, until golden brown.
Best served while still warm (leftovers heat up nice and moist in the microwave).

Notes

Recipe source: Bread Beckers Facebook page.

I warmed up some pumpkin turkey chili for lunch to eat with this wonderful “Corn” Bread. Another great thing about this corn bread is that it contains millet which counteracts the gas effect you get from eating beans.

Both Kamut and Millet whole grains can be purchased from BreadBeckers.com if you can’t find those grains locally.

Big Fish on Tenkara Fly Rods

I hear people say all the time that “Tenkara fly rods are just for small fish”, I would have to disagree. There are some very super light weight rods that might not strong enough for large trout trout on a regular basis (such as Tenkara-Fishing rods, which I have one of and like on small rivers and have a very high sensitivity) but there are rods out there that can handle large trout on a regular basis. You might even be surprised how well a Tenkara rod handles and controls big trout.

This year I have caught a 20 inch rainbow and a 19 inch rainbow trout and my rod has handled them very easily.

I am also getting much better at tying Tenkara flies also, here are some of my most recent creations:

Fishing Tight Spots with Tenkara

One of the things that I think makes Tenkara a great fishing setup for survivalists is how it can easily fish tight spots, even 2 foot wide streams if needed, with a lot of control. That and the fact that it is super light weight, compacts down, and simple. Here is a video, from one of my recent fish outings, of a tight spot I was fishing and easily cast right to where I thought the fish were (caught the fish on only the second cast, and had a bit on the first cast).

Most Tenkara flies are really simple and they work great but with a little added detail the flies can work even better. I am still newer at tying my own flies and I am getting better but my friend at MoonlitFlyFishing.com shares some of his wonderful creations with me from time to time and they are great. Check out some of the flies he gave me the other day, I can’t wait to try them out.

My New Humidifier

I have owned many humidifiers in the past purchased from the big box stores and they have always been loud or not effective enough. Many of these humidifiers didn’t last long either, always had issues. I decided last winter that we needed to get a nice humidifier with more options. I had to wait a while to buy one because we had other needs for our money.

I was leaning toward the Humio Cool Mist Humidifier but the guys at Kitchen Kneads showed me the new Blue Rose Humidifier, and it was awesome for less. After seeing the Blue Rose in action, we decided to buy it. Kitchen Kneads sells both the Humio and Blue Rose Humidifiers if you are interested in either of them.

The Blue Rose Humidifier is also a cool mist humidifier, like the Humio, that uses ultrasonic technology to create the mist. This method takes very little power when compared to the warm mist humidifier, like the VICKS brand has, and other types of humidifiers.

What impressed me the most about the Blue Rose is the wide range of humidity settings it has. Some humidifiers have these setting but they usually don’t work that well. The Blue Rose’s setting go from barely running to pumping out so much vapor that it looks like it is smoking big time, plus it does every setting in-between.

In the summer, we run the fan on our central air all the time to rotate the cool air from the basement to our main flour. Having the fan running continually seems to dry out the air so we decided to turn on the humidifier during the hot months also to keep our air from drying out. The Blue Rose is super quiet, even quieter than the Humio, so I don’t mind that it is running most of the time.

I really like that it doesn’t have any filters to change as these cost money and can mold. It is recommended, but not required, that you use distilled water in the Blue Rose Humidifier. I am currently using tap water but I plan on getting some distilled water to use for it instead.

My wife has recently gotten involved with essential oils with a near by neighbor and they seem to really help our son who has autism. The Blue Rose has a bottle with a wick, that inserts into the bottom of the humidifier, that you can add scented oils to. The Blue Rose pushes those scents into the air giving you the benefits of breathing them in and feeling better. This seems to work quite well. If you are considering using essential oils I think you will be happy with them.

The Blue Rose also has a mood light, which probably works better in the white model, that I find works well at night and late evening. The mood light is not that noticeable during the day but my kids still sit there and stare at it while it rotates colors.

I am very happy with the Blue Rose humidifier and I find that I use it more than our humidifiers of the past. I am sure that you couldn’t go wrong with the Humio humidifier either if that is the route you decide to go.

** Disclosure: I did receive a discount on the Blue Rose Humidifier for doing some product photos for Kitchen Kneads, such as the photos in this article. **

UPDATE January 13th 2014: We have been using this humidifier constantly this winter as we have had to kick the heater on. We keep it running 24 hours a day for the past 2 1/2 months and it is still running like a champ. We use the essential oil ONGAURD in this humidifier with the oil bottles and wicks, I would have to say that it has helped to keep our kids from being sick as much, and when they get sick they get over it much faster. I recently bought a second humidifier to go in our basement to help us cover the whole house. My in-laws also purchased 2 of these humidifiers for their home. Since we run the humidifier 24 hours a day, the auto shut off feature has been very nice; It has a red light that also signals that it ran out of water to help remind me to refill it. I am still loving this humidifier and highly recommend it to anyone.