Wheat: tips, recipes, how to's

[Amish Heart]

I don't have a countdown. I get to retire when the school sells. It's been on the market a little more than 3 months. The agent said he showed it today to the small pharmacy in our village that wants to expand. Actually, we supposedly have a buyer, it's just he won't buy it till he has leasers. The pharmacist would lease half the building, and so the agent is looking to find a leaser for the other half. The guy interested in buying it and leasing it out does this with other buildings. He's a good friend of our sons and he mom was our girl scout leader. Right now, our son and this guy are on our back property drinking beer around the firepit. I feel old.

 

[Patchouli]

Don't feel old too long, @Amish Heart it'll catch up to ya.

 

[Weedygarden]

An article about the difference in red and white wheat and how it affects your baking.

http://www.reynoldsnet.org/preparedness/White_vs_Red_Wheat.pdf

 

[Amish Heart]

Interesting. I have both whole wheats at home.

 

[Weedygarden]

Interesting. I have both whole wheats at home.

I do, too, but I have way more red than white. I wish I had an equal amount of each.

 

[Terri9630]

I have all white, mostly soft white. I don't like the flavor of red wheat.

 

[Weedygarden]

I have all white, mostly soft white. I don't like the flavor of red wheat.

I have been thinking that the white wheat also tends to give a lighter bread.

Survivalist Blog has an article today about bread making, with several bread recipes.

https://survivalblog.com/give-us-day-daily-bread-c-j/

 

[Weedygarden]

Hard Wheat Grain Prepared as a Cereal?

https://livingprepared.blogspot.com/2019/03/hard-wheat-grain-prepared-as-cereal-yes.html



Another way to eat Hard White Wheat Grain:

When all of a sudden you find your favorite supermarket has only 50% of what they normally stock on the shelves and you find yourself eating almost daily from your long term stored foods to make up the difference, your region or the country is in deep trouble. Isn’t this what we’ve been prepping for!

Imagine for a moment, you are living in Venezuela today where your Socialist Dictator, or in our case the Dem’s, are purposely restricting food distribution leaving you little to eat. Your family and friends have already lost 20-30 lbs of weight and there’s no end in sight. It’s too late to wish you had prepped more.

Some of the common dry bulk foods Preppers store are Wheat Grain, Beans, Rice and Pasta. When it comes to preparing Wheat Grain to eat most will think wheat is to be milled into flour and used in common flour-based recipes. However, there is another use, it does make a great bowl of hot, tasty and nutritious cereal.

If you’ve been a thoughtful Prepper you will have wheat grain in stock (a 5-gallon bucket of wheat grain will yield 40, 2-cup cooked meals). In fact you should have a lot of wheat grain as it is the most important dry bulk food to store. The reasons are, you can mill it into flower to bake common breads, biscuits, pancakes and anything that has flower as an ingredient, providing you have a grain mill. But like some people I know, they have some wheat grain but yet to purchase a grain mill. So without a mill your ability to bake breads, etc is gone. What to do with the grain if you don’t have a grain mill or your mill is broken? You can make cereal from it! The taste and texture is quite pleasant with a hint of oatmeal taste, slightly chewy and very filling. It is far better than eating nothing. Serve like oatmeal with butter or a pinch of sugar or a drizzle of honey.


How I prepare wheat grain kernels as a cereal:
The preparation is very similar to cooking rice, but takes about twice the cooking time unless you pre-soak it.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup Wheat Grain
• 3 cups water
• (basic ratio, 1 part grain to 3 parts water)
• ½ tsp salt
• yields 2 cups cooked

Directions:

• Rinse the grain first, it keeps the grain from foaming.
• Add grain to a pot.
• Add water
• Add ½ tsp salt
• Bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer and cover with the lid.
• Cover and simmer for 45 minutes or until grain is soft and chewy.
• Remove from stove and drain off the small amount of excess water and serve.

1-cup of wheat grain yields 2-cups cooked.


Notes:

• Simmering/cooking for 45 minutes will consume more propane than heating a can of soup or frying SPAM etc. Propane may be scarce.
• If planning ahead you can soak the grain for 10-12 hours first. This will shorten the cooking time to minutes, such as ‘just heat and eat’.
• Rinse the grain before cooking, this reduces foaming while simmering.

 

[Amish Heart]

Add a little maple syrup, jam, or brown sugar to make it tasty. My cousin used to make this a lot when he was a very hungry teen farmboy and there wasn't enough food in the house. He'd go raid the animal feed, soak it, boil it, and eat it.

 

[Weedygarden]

Add a little maple syrup, jam, or brown sugar to make it tasty. My cousin used to make this a lot when he was a very hungry teen farmboy and there wasn't enough food in the house. He'd go raid the animal feed, soak it, boil it, and eat it.

It is what my mother and her family ate during the thirties when there wasn't a lot of food available. After dinner, they would sit at the table and hand clean the wheat, picking out pebbles and other unwanted stuff. Then it was soaked overnight and cooked in the morning. Depending on our individual health needs, probably better than Lucky Charms for breakfast.

 

[Terri9630]

It is what my mother and her family ate during the thirties when there wasn't a lot of food available. After dinner, they would sit at the table and hand clean the wheat, picking out pebbles and other unwanted stuff. Then it was soaked overnight and cooked in the morning. Depending on our individual health needs, probably better than Lucky Charms for breakfast.

But.... Lucky Charms has marshmallows!

 

[Amish Heart]

Just got a wondermill for my birthday. I'm stocked. It does beans, too.

 

[Weedygarden]

But.... Lucky Charms has marshmallows!

Yep

Just got a wondermill for my birthday. I'm stocked. It does beans, too.

That is a wonderful birthday gift.

 

[Weedygarden]

SHTF Plan's newsletter that just came is about wheat. This is a simple recipe for bread from the newsletter.
[email protected]

"You can make “Prepper’s Bread” in a solar oven, or over an open campfire. This also works in a Dutch oven! The four ingredients you’ll need are:

• 1 cup of fine whole wheat flour (grind your own)
• 2 tbsp. of olive oil (optional, also regular vegetable oil works too)
• 1 tsp. salt (optional, add to taste)
• 1/2 cup of water

Mix everything together and use a flat surface (a cookie sheet, a flat rock, etc.) dusted with flour to knead your bread for 5 minutes. Then bake it on the cookie sheet or a rock over the campfire. Be sure to flip your bread often until it’s a nice brown color. Or bake the bread in the solar oven or Dutch oven for 20 minutes at 350 degrees."

Seems easy enough, but would probably be better with a little practice.

 

[Weedygarden]

Add a little maple syrup, jam, or brown sugar to make it tasty. My cousin used to make this a lot when he was a very hungry teen farmboy and there wasn't enough food in the house. He'd go raid the animal feed, soak it, boil it, and eat it.

I was reading through this thread and wonder how many people have never seen grains of wheat, let alone a granary or even a 5 gallon bucket full? How many people would never think to cook wheat grains if they had some? How many people could come across a granary full of wheat and be at a complete loss about what to do with it?

 

[Amish Heart]

I have a bunch of empty, clean juice containers from the preschool, and bags of 1 lb beans and lentils that needed to be put away. I was thinking the same thing last night as I was putting 3# of each in juice containers. Do people know how to cook them, grind them? If I were gone and someone found them, would they know what to do with them? I always have a 50# bag of wheat open that I use for continual wheat grass for the animals, and the same for sunflower seed for fodder.

 

[Weedygarden]

I have a bunch of empty, clean juice containers from the preschool, and bags of 1 lb beans and lentils that needed to be put away. I was thinking the same thing last night as I was putting 3# of each in juice containers. Do people know how to cook them, grind them? If I were gone and someone found them, would they know what to do with them? I always have a 50# bag of wheat open that I use for continual wheat grass for the animals, and the same for sunflower seed for fodder.

I remember hearing a young Mormon wife talk about food storage. She said she would never have food storage because she wouldn't want to deal with and eat all that wheat. I have no memory of where I saw her, and I didn't even know her name, but my thought was that she really missed the boat in food storage. She might have been one of the people growing up who wasn't allowed in the kitchen (I know some). It is possible her mother and family also didn't do food storage in any way. I know this exists. If there is one group of people who should know about food storage, it is Mormons, but many can't be bothered, like many other people in the world, many who have no knowledge about food storage. I have a friend who is the preparedness person in her Mormon church in Nevada. She gets up and encourages people to go to the cannery or order food, and she says it is like deer in the headlights. The head of the church worldwide, got up at an annual conference and asked people to indicate how many had x amount of food storage, and then less and less. Evidently, there were few who had any. He then said like, "If you are not listening to the message about food storage, what else can I say that you would hear?" I can't find the message, and know this is not 100% what he said, but the message is there.

 

[Terri9630]

King Arthur flour has a few recipes for whole wheat breads that have you mix part of the flour and water and cook them before adding the rest of the ingredients. Its supposed to make it a softer bread that lasts longer.
https://blog.kingarthurflour.com/20...RChb1t7cN50d5AiVsWPjxsLAAMbSH4ZEOT49a_Its7YIo

 

[SheepDog]

My recipe for cinnamon rolls has them cook in a milk bath. they are WONDERFUL! It is a sourdough recipe too... surprise!

 

[Weedygarden]

Recipe of the week at SurvivalBlog.com along with some tips: https://survivalblog.com/recipe-week-pennys-quick-cooked-wheat-berries/

Recipe of the Week: Penny’s Quick-Cooked Wheat Berries
JAMES WESLEY RAWLES JUNE 10, 2019


We are always looking for recipes for storage foods. This one is particularly useful.

Reader Penny in Arkansas kindly sent us her directions for cooking wheat berries.

There are far more uses for your stored wheat than just grinding flour! Infogalactic has this description:

“A wheat berry, or wheatberry, is a whole wheat kernel (except for the hull/husk), composed of the bran, germ, and endosperm. Botanically, it is a type of fruit called a caryopsis. Wheat berries have a tan to reddish-brown color and are available as either a hard or soft processed grain. They are often added to salads or baked into bread to add a crunchy texture. If wheat berries are milled, whole-wheat flour is produced.

Wheat berries are the primary ingredient in an Eastern European Christmas porridge called kutya. In France, cooked durum wheat berries are commonly eaten as a side dish instead of rice or corn. This side dish is often called ebly, from the name of the first brand of prepared wheat berries.”

You can of course soak whole wheat kernels overnight with no heat, to swell and soften wheat berries, and then quickly heat them for serving, with nutritive value. But there is also Penny’s “quick-cooked” method:

INGREDIENTS

• Any desired quantity of wheat that will fit in a cooking pot, but leaving room for double that volume of water.
• Water (tap water or treated rainwater)
• Salt, to taste, and to match your doctor’s orders.

DIRECTIONS

1. 1. Carefully examine the wheat, to make sure that there is no chaff (hulls), dirt, pebbles, or grit. Failure to do so could mean a trip to the dentist!
   2. Place the cleaned wheat kernels in a soup pot.
   3. Add at least twice the volume of water to the volume of wheat.
   4. Put your stove top on a high flame and bring the pot to a full boil.
   5. Reduce burner heat to low.
   6. Cover pot with a lid.
   7. Simmer the wheat berries for 1 hour, stirring occasionally.
   8. After one hour, the wheat berries should be soft enough to eat.
   9. Drain and briefly rinse the wheat berries. (Do not rinse them too long, or they will lose too much heat.)

SERVING

1. To serve the wheat berries hot, serve them immediately after cooking.
2. To serve after refrigeration, the wheat berries can be re-heated in a microwave oven or quickly re-heated in a saucepan on your stovetop. Do not overcook them!
3. Wheat berries can be served just like cooked oats, as a breakfast cereal. Cover with milk, cream or yogurt, and add fruit and a dash of maple syrup, honey, or brown sugar. Yummy!

STORAGE (AFTER COOKING)
Cooked wheat berries can be stored in your refrigerator to parcel out in servings for up to 48 hours. After that, for safety they should be either fed to your chickens, or composted.

Cooked wheat berries can be stored in your freezer for up to 30 days.

A USEFUL LINK
Cooking With Wheat: 5 Ways to Use Those Wheat Berries
https://www.offthegridnews.com/food/cooking-with-wheat-5-ways-to-use-those-wheat-berries/

 

[Weedygarden]

I found this recipe and thought this might be a good place to save it. I have never had Navajo flatbread. At first I thought the recipe was for Indian fry bread, but it isn't.

Bread shortage?
This is the easiest kind of bread you can make. Costs pennies and can get you through these strange times, my family lived off these when the pickings were slim.

Navajo Flatbread:
Makes 6

2 cups flour
1 - 1 1/4 cup of lukewarm water
1 table spoon baking soda
1 tsp kosher salt
1 table spoon oil/butter/shortening

Mix dry ingredients together and add most water, mix and add water until it has the consistency of tacky pizza dough.
Knead for a few minutes.
Let rest in greased bowl for 30- 60 minutes.
Divide into 6 pieces and roll out on floured surface thin. (Tortilla thickness)
Heat griddle to 350 F.
Cook until golden brown spots and flip, cooking until done.
They can be made ahead and kept under a flour towel or frozen for later use.

 

[Weedygarden]

It looks like we do not have a bread making thread. I think we need one, even though some of don't eat bread very often.

Prepper Princess shared a video about making bread. She uses and talks about bread machines. They were so popular a while back and then we all cut carbs. Carbs are something I am avoiding, but am grateful to have a bunch of wheat, a wheat grinder, and a bread machine. Bread machines have largely been given away, but so much easier to make bread with one than kneading bread.

Her recipe:
3 cups bread flour
1 cup milk
2 tablespoons butter
2 teaspoons yeast
3 Teaspoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
honey (no quantity given)

 

[Amish Heart]

That sounds like my recipe. You can use 1/4 c honey instead of sugar. I use a cup of wheat flour and 2 cups of bread flour sometimes.
This one is good to roll out in a rectangle, sprinkle with butter, cinnamon, and sugar, roll tightly in a loaf, let rise in the pan.

 

[Weedygarden]

From a member of another group:

Understanding Wheat
Let’s talk about wheat. There are hundreds of different varieties of wheat. Each variety has different properties related to yields, disease resistance, gluten content, flavor, enzyme activity, baking performance etc. Most of these are based on the genetics of the variety but some variation also occurs based on where the grain is grown, soil properties and weather during the growing season.
The majority of wheat is grown with the primary objective of producing white flours. Consequently, the varieties selected are with the goals of maximizing yields and gluten etc. very little focus is on the flavor of the whole grain.
Wheats are often classified into some very general groups that define basic attributes of the wheat variety.
Spring and Winter - wheat varieties are either planted in the spring or in winter. This distinction simply identifies when the specific variety is planted.
Hard and Soft - this has to do with the hardness of the wheat berry of the given variety. As a generalization. - harder wheats have higher protein content and a higher gluten content. Soft wheats tend to be lower in protein and gluten.
Red and White - this refers to the pigmentation of the wheat berries - either red or lacking the red pigment (white). The distinction of white has absolutely no correlation with white flour.
Organic - grown using approved organic methods - does not mean no fertilizers or sprays - just very select ones. No applied glyphosate.
There are a couple other classifications that may also be encountered.
The first is heirloom or landrace wheats. These are varieties that were prevalently grown in the 1700-1900s - typically in the US /Canada. These may be spring or winter or red or white. Identified by the variety- you may encounter Red Fife, Turkey Red, Sonora White, Marquis and others. Almost all are lower in gluten content.
The other classification is ancient varieties.
There are some wheat varieties that were the original varieties from which all other varieties descended. This group is referred to as the ancient varieties. It includes Einkorn, Emmer, Spelt, Durum and Khorasan (Kamut).
It should be noted that for most of these - there are still multiple varieties. For example - there are about 30 different einkorn varieties. Some who have gluten sensitivities may tolerate these more readily.
In the 1950’s, there was a large effort to create new hybrid varieties combining desirable characteristics of different varieties. Most of these varieties are classified as modern wheats and comprise the majority of wheats grown today. To be clear - this is not GMO. There are NO GMO varieties of wheat currently being sold.
All wheat berries share the same primary 3 components.
Bran which is the hard outer shell of the berry - represents about 14% of the wheat berry and is primarily fiber. It is the most difficult part of the wheat berry to mill into a fine flour. It contains the color pigmentation of the wheat berry (red or white) and contributes largely to the whole grain flavor of whole grain flours. Modern wheat red varieties may often have a bitter taste. Modern white varieties are typically milder in flavor and usually lack any bitterness. Most heirloom and ancient varieties have much more pleasant flavors and are not bitter.
Germ - represents about 3% of the wheat berry and is primarily comprised of oil and contains the majority of nutrients in the wheat berry.
Endosperm - represents about 83% of the wheat berry and is primarily starch. It contains the majority of the protein and gluten.
Commercial White flours are made by first physically removing the bran and germ and milling the remaining starch into flour. Removal of the germ notably extends the shelf life of the flour as it is the germ oil in whole grain flours that causes rancidity. Many commercial whole wheat flours add bran back but still omit the germ.
The only real way to get a true whole grain flour is to mill it yourself or purchase stone milled flours. Shelf life of a flour containing the germ is greatly reduced and may be extended some by freezing the flour.
To help understand how wheat varieties translate to their white flour equivalents - we need to recognize the common categories of white flours sold.
They are:
Bread Flour (strong flour) - milled almost exclusively from hard wheats - It may be milled from spring or winter and red or white wheats. Red is most commonly used simply because it is the most prevalently grown.
All Purpose Flour - most often milled from lower gluten hard wheats but may be a blend of hard and soft wheats. Can be spring or winter or red or white.
Cake/Pastry Flour - milled from soft wheats - red or white.
If you are storing wheat and plan to mill it into flour - please be aware that there is no way for a home miller / baker to remove the bran and germ and mill only the endosperm. You will always be starting with a whole grain flour.
You should select what type of wheat berries you will mill based on the type of flour you are trying to produce.
Assuming that a hard wheat you have stored will produce a bread flour is not always a good assumption. Many hard wheats have lower gluten content and may only produce the equivalent of an all purpose flour. Baking Performance and perhaps most critically - flavor will vary widely. I have had hard red wheats that I simply did not like at all. I have had cans marked white wheat that were low gluten wheats.
If you have stored wheat - please bake with some of it to understand what you are storing. Finding out it’s properties when you must use it is not the ideal time.
By milling any wheat and mixing the flour into a bread dough - Can easily tell you if it is a soft or hard wheat and it’s general gluten content. Baking with it will help understand it’s performance and flavor.
If you want to produce flour more similar to a commercial white flour - recognize you cannot create a true white flour. You can create flours that will fairly closely mimic them - but they will pleasantly be both more nutritious and flavorful.
I hope this helps to answer some common questions. Happy milling and happy baking!!

 

[Spikedriver]

I know zero about wheat. Nobody grows wheat in Central Iowa. I don't even know where a farmer could sell it if he did grow it. The Co-ops aren't set up to take it.

I suppose I should look into it, but with so much corn around it makes more sense for me to study corn. The corn we grow around here isn't really intended for human consumption, but it would do if necessary...

 

[Weedygarden]

I know zero about wheat. Nobody grows wheat in Central Iowa. I don't even know where a farmer could sell it if he did grow it. The Co-ops aren't set up to take it.

I suppose I should look into it, but with so much corn around it makes more sense for me to study corn. The corn we grow around here isn't really intended for human consumption, but it would do if necessary...

I had never thought about this before. I know that Iowa is known for growing corn and every time I've driven through Iowa in the summer, I have seen many corn fields. I do know that eastern Nebraska also grows lots of corn.

Wheat is largely grown from Texas north through parts of Canada. There are combine crews that start in Texas, combining and work their way north, harvesting, every summer. I remember when they came through South Dakota when I was a kid.

 

[Spikedriver]

I had never thought about this before. I know that Iowa is known for growing corn and every time I've driven through Iowa in the summer, I have seen many corn fields. I do know that eastern Nebraska also grows lots of corn.

Wheat is largely grown from Texas north through parts of Canada. There are combine crews that start in Texas, combining and work their way north, harvesting, every summer. I remember when they came through South Dakota when I was a kid.

I've got a relative in Central Kansas who has driven grain trucks for the wheat runs. Also one of my high school buddies worked on a harvesting crew for a couple years. Said he didn't shave for six weeks because they worked such long hours he didn't have enough energy left over to shave...

 

[UrbanHunter]

I know some people find a difference in the taste between the red and white hard wheat. We started out the wife got several buckets of red wheat and made bread with it, I found it bitter. Then she got a bucket of the white wheat and tried making bread with it. I found that acceptable. We swapped out all our red wheat for white (at a loss). Over time we expanded our food storage and increased the volume of white wheat we have. As people would move in and out of the area they would end up with buckets of red wheat that they didn't want to pay to ship and just gave it away, the wife said "SURE I'LL SEND HIM OVER" so now I have a dozen or so buckets of red wheat, it is my reserve for handing out to the unprepared come a SHTF event.

My advice for anyone thinking of buying and storing wheat is to get a bucket, grind some flour (if you don't have a grinder, that should be part of your first purchases) and see if your family will like it. The prices can vary a lot, but I don't see it getting cheaper anytime soon.

 

[LadyLocust]

I know some people find a difference in the taste between the red and white hard wheat. We started out the wife got several buckets of red wheat and made bread with it, I found it bitter. Then she got a bucket of the white wheat and tried making bread with it. I found that acceptable. We swapped out all our red wheat for white (at a loss). Over time we expanded our food storage and increased the volume of white wheat we have. As people would move in and out of the area they would end up with buckets of red wheat that they didn't want to pay to ship and just gave it away, the wife said "SURE I'LL SEND HIM OVER" so now I have a dozen or so buckets of red wheat, it is my reserve for handing out to the unprepared come a SHTF event.

My advice for anyone thinking of buying and storing wheat is to get a bucket, grind some flour (if you don't have a grinder, that should be part of your first purchases) and see if your family will like it. The prices can vary a lot, but I don't see it getting cheaper anytime soon.

Funny, I prefer the red. Might also depend upon how it's used.
We are smack dab in the middle of wheat country. "I think" if SHTF, transportation would become more of an issue so any given area might have to become more diverse in order to gain variety for that given area. Also, to keep in mind something many don't realize, wheat is a 2 year crop so whatever your designated parcel designated for wheat, plant half this year & the other half next year and keep up the rotation.

 

[SheepDog]

LadyLocust,
Are you saying wheat takes two years to be ready for harvest?
That is not the way it is grown in the valley here.