HOW TO MAKE WHOLE WHEAT FRENCH BREAD

This recipe I call my Whole Wheat French Bread In One Hour, and is perfect for last minute guests. This recipe I posted before with the option of using enriched bread flour or freshly ground hard white whole wheat flour. My daughters sold this bread door-to-door for about 70 cents a loaf. We sold out every time. Now this was about thirty years ago, so you know this is an old family favorite recipe!

It’s a no-fail recipe, if you have fresh ingredients. I just love the feel of freshly kneaded dough. You can tell instantly if you have fresh ingredients. The yeast has thousands of living plant-like microorganisms. It’s activated by warm water and a little sugar or starch. It then releases tiny carbon dioxide bubbles which make our bread rise. I usually give one of the two loaves to a neighbor so they can enjoy the fresh bread.  Some families say they eat it like their favorite dessert. It is great with butter, butter and honey, jams, jellies and other toppings of choice.  My father-in-law loved to eat it with milk late at night, you know, the old bread and milk standby, just like cereal to many of us.

This bread is fluffy and moist at the same time. It has a different texture than my regular whole wheat bread, but is still delicious! Now, let me tell you something about this French bread. It does not stay as fresh as my other bread. It doesn’t really matter to me because this recipe only makes two loaves and I promise you people will eat both loaves in quick order. Who doesn’t love freshly made homemade bread coming out of the oven? Here’s my other French Bread recipe post: French Bread In One Hour Start To Finish by Food Storage Moms. This is how I store my weekly bread making ingredients in the refrigerator, then all I do is grab my Cox’s honey, olive oil from the pantry, lemon juice from the refrigerator and water from the sink. I grind my hard whole wheat one month in advance and keep it in the freezer. I would pass these labels out to classes I taught on making whole wheat bread. The labels say, sea salt, SAF yeast, wheat gluten, instant milk, dough enhancer. This plastic container goes in my refrigerator.

STEP ONE:

I am a dumper if you didn’t know that by now. I literally dump all the ingredients into my Bosch. I used my Bosch bread mixer and mixed the dough a FULL 5 minutes as stated in the recipe.  I let the dough rest for 15 minutes while I grease the pan and separate the egg yolks from the egg whites. As you can see some of the yolk ended up in the egg whites, that’s okay. I promise, a Bosch mixer will save you so much money if you use it to make bread at home rather than buying the store bought bread, and it is more healthy for you too. This is the one I have: Bosch Universal Plus Kitchen Machine. By the way, I ONLY use SAF instant yeast. Period. Here’s a link to the kind I use: Saf Instant Yeast, 1 Pound Pouch. Once opened store in airtight container.
I store at least 6-8 of these in my freezer at all times. BUT I make a lot of bread for my family and others.

STEP TWO:

I never “pull” my dough, I “cut” my bread dough with a pastry cutter. Now sometimes the bread chunks might be different sizes. I do not weigh my dough. Nope, I just mold them into two loaves. Sometimes one is larger than the other. That’s how it goes.

STEP THREE:

I lather the egg whites on and make a few slashes and let them rise about 15 minutes.

BAKED:

I bake them at 450 degrees for 15 minutes. Easy peasy.

WHOLE WHEAT FRENCH BREAD IN ONE HOUR

Prep time:  45 mins

Cook time:  15 mins

Serves: 8-10 people

WHOLE WHEAT FRENCH BREAD INGREDIENTS:

• 2-1/2 cups hot water
• 2 tablespoons SAF instant yeast
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 2 teaspoons Real Salt
• 5-1/2 cups freshly ground hard white wheat
• egg whites (lather loaves with brush after first bread rise/cut 4-5 shallow cuts on top of loaves)
• sesame seeds or poppy seeds (optional, sprinkle on egg whites before the 2nd bread rise time) **I don’t use seeds on my bread
• Instructions:
• Mix everything in order shown except the egg whites and optional seeds. Knead for about five minutes in a bread mixer. Let rest for 15 minutes covered. Shape the dough into 2 loaves and place on a greased cookie sheet. Lather the tops of the loaves with the egg whites, cut four to five shallow cuts on top of the loaves. Next, sprinkle with seeds if desired. Let rise one more time about 15 minutes. Pre-heat the oven to 450 degrees and bake for 15 minutes.

Army Fails to Warn Residents Before Urban Warfare Explosions: “All of a Sudden, Boom!”

Yet another location is erupting into urban army exercises ahead of the nationwide Jade Helm drills that have many concerned about martial law and the true intentions of mock takeovers of U.S. cities across the map.

This time, it was unexpected “simulated explosions” that rattled residents in a neighborhood of Flint, Michigan after the U.S. Army initiated training without warning the locals – despite the fact that the drills, which will last until June 12, had been planned for six months.

According to WNEM 5:

“I was standing there, and all of a sudden, boom!” Jean Glenn said.
“I mean it was loud, it blew up the whole sky or whatever, it was like four or five big bangs,” Annette Humphrey said.
Explosions you’d expect in a war zone echoed through Flint. People’s homes shook and those inside were caught off-guard. It all went down Tuesday at the shuttered Lowell Junior High on the city’s east side.

MLive added:

“They should warn the residents around here at least when there’s something that loud and scary,” said Nicole Robinson, 28. “That’s pretty crazy.”
The exercises involve the use of “training simunitions and helicopters. Sounds associated with the training may be heard in the local area,” the city’s statement says. “The Flint Police Department is aware of the training and will contact residents in the immediate area where training will occur.”

Transparency is definitely part of the issue, and it will do little to dispel the growing concerns about the real reasons for military training all across the country in cities from Florida to Michigan to Texas and Utah.

Technically, a press release was put out, but the news went out such a short time before that most had no idea it was coming.

Just after 11:30 a.m. Tuesday, the city sent out a release informing the public about the exercises. People say the explosions went off around 2 Tuesday afternoon, but why were residents given such short notice?
“Obviously, I can’t speak for the Army on that, but we try to give people a heads up when we can, we can’t go into too much detail, we don’t want people just coming to these things and sightseeing,” Lorenz said. (source)

The Army and city blamed a last minute change in schedule that prompted an ‘early start':

“Yesterday was a unique situation,” said Chief James Tolbert. “For whatever reason the timetable was moved up. And we put it out as soon as we could. We did put it out before there was any type of explosives.”

Meanwhile, reporters since that time have been asked not to film the events – get this, so that terrorist won’t hunt down the troops involved if their faces are shown:

[…] the officials from the army didn’t wanted their faces shown during our broadcast. The concern: terrorists may try to find them and harm them.

Officials do say they will release more information following the exercises, but specifics will be kept secret so tactics aren’t passed to our enemies.

The excuses for why a press release wasn’t put out sooner and why residents weren’t put on notice there in Michigan hardly holds water when you look at the past examples of urban warfare training that also curiously kept locals in the dark.

Infowars carried this report about training Florida back in March that also caught people off guard with ‘little or no notice':

The Department of Defense is conducting military training in Broward County this week, with exercises involving low flying helicopters that will ‘scare the crap out of people’, according to one local reporter.

“This type of training where military helicopters go around scaring the crap out of people has been conducted in different cities across the country and is designed to certify service members in urban environment operations for any future overseas deployments,” writes Chris Joseph of the Broward/Palm Beach New Times, adding, “Don’t panic. Those military aircraft and soldiers you see down the street are only a drill.”

[…]

The U.S. military routinely conducts urban warfare exercises domestically, sometimes with little or no warning whatsoever, drawing criticism that the drills are designed to acclimate Americans to a state of martial law.

Last year, the Twin Cities were also “occupied” by urban training without warning, when low flying helicopters buzzed concerned residents:

With no warning for residents, military helicopters flew low Monday evening over St. Paul and Minneapolis in a federal training exercise,about which officials released almost no information.

The St. Paul police watch commander initially had no information on the exercise. He was later informed that it was a training exercise involving Homeland Security and local law enforcement.
[…]
“Apparently (local law enforcement) worked something out last March.Apparently they were supposed to go through the city of Minneapolis PIO to let people know, but that didn’t work out so well,” Thune said. “One day’s notice is hardly any kind of excuse for doing this kind of thing anyway.
“It’s incredibly unsafe,” Thune added. “When you’ve got Blackhawk helicopters flying between buildings full of people in the middle of the night, it’s just not safe. … It’s absolutely wrong for us as a civilian police department to be engaging in military exercises. It shouldn’t happen here.”

Perhaps the element of surprise is key to the training… if so, what is its true purpose?

Perhaps we will all wake up one day, surprised to find that this kind of conduct has not made us, or the world, any safer; and that instead our liberties have been slipping away, while the population has become quiet accustomed to military occupation and, yes, martial law.

Bug out Nightmare: Stop Trench Foot Before It Stops You

It’s like a bad scene out of a disaster movie mixed with your worst nightmare. Some event forces you and your family to leave your home with only your bug out bags on the backs of you and your family. The good news is you are prepared and have set aside provisions and planned for the trip. You also have a destination 50 miles away at a relative’s house that is waiting for you with plenty of security and supplies. You expect the trip to take 3 days of walking back roads. Not ideal, but certainly doable.

The trip starts out normally enough but you were forced to travel in almost constant rain. At the end of day one everyone’s feet are sore, most have blisters and your younger children are starting to act like they can’t go on another mile.

Our bug out plans eventually come down to relying on our feet in a worst case disaster to carry us to safety. Sure we have options and my personal first option is staying in my home. When that fails me I have a bug out vehicle, but if that isn’t an option we strap packs to our backs and hit the trail. Injuries to your feet can incapacitate quickly so it is important to care for these modes of transport that would be crucial in a disaster scenario. One main issue with walking long distances is blisters. Another topic that is a little less discussed is trench foot.

What is trench foot?

Trench foot is caused when your feet are wet for long periods of time and as it advances, blisters can easily form in the skin that is first pruned and wrinkled. Left untreated these blisters can become infected, your skin begins to slough off. You can also experience swollen feet, cramping and numbness. Severe cases of trench foot can cause skin and muscle damage so this is something we want to get in front of quickly before it keeps someone from being able to walk.

Trench foot has been a problem as long as we have had feet and shoes, but it came to prominence in the trench warfare of WWI where soldiers would spend days with their feet covered in water and mud. While this likely won’t happen to your little survival group, minor effects of trench foot could cause issues and can be relatively easily prevented with some quick and simple tips.

Severe trench foot can cause tissue and muscle loss. This man will never have to worry about clipping his toenails again.

How can you prevent trench foot?

The key to preventing trench foot is simple in theory. Keep your feet dry. The hard part is doing this as a habit and may be even more difficult if you are on the run or being pursued. Here are a few tips you can employ to help you.

• Keep your feet dry and clean – Easier said than done. When you are hot, your feet sweat. When you have to cross water, your feet get wet or if you are forced to hike through rain, snow or wet grass. Assume your feet will get wet, but you can buy footwear and socks that help that condition. You can purchase waterproof boots and moisture wicking socks. When you stop, make sure you take your socks off and check your feet. If your socks are wet, allow your feet to dry Use foot powder if you have it and treat any blisters before they get worse.
• Change your socks often – This simple act could do more good than almost anything else. Put on dry (a different pair) socks when you stop to take a break. You can hang the wet ones on your pack to dry out. Some people recommend two pairs, but I would say three are better so you can hopefully clean one pair too. Roll your socks inside out so you can keep up with what has been worn.
• Let feet air out – Allow your feet to breathe and dry as long as possible especially if you are experiencing symptoms. Lying down will help with circulation. Again, if you are in a pursuit/combat situation, you don’t want to go to sleep with your shoes off, but for the rest of us, keeping your feet dry and healthy is easier than dealing with injury and infection. If the weather is very cold, you will have to adjust this, because you don’t want frostbite either.

Early signs of possible trench foot if left untreated and the feet aren’t dried out.

What should you have in your bug out bag?

There are a few simple supplies you can have in your bug out bag that will help you prevent and treat trench foot if you are forced to bug out.

• 3 pairs of wicking socks
• Foot powder to remove moisture
• Moleskin or blister block to address blisters before they get worse
• Antibiotic cream
• Good hiking boots or shoes that allow your feet to breathe should help them dry faster. Waterproof boots should keep them dryer. Either has benefits depending on the conditions. I prefer heavy-duty hiking boots that take a beating.

Part of planning to bug out has to extend to more than just the necessary contents of your bug out bag. There is the health and well-being of the people you are bugging out with too that should be considered. Proper foot care will keep people healthier and keep them moving longer.

http://www.theprepperjournal.com/2015/06/03/bug-out-nightmare-stop-trench-foot-before-it-stops-you/

How to Succeed at Prepping: 11 Tips That Will Help You Survive

These days, you can barely turn around without someone giving you advice on what you should or must do to succeed at prepping.  This is all good news because four or five years ago, most advice you found would likely be highly militaristic, political, or simply over the top unreasonable.

I can recall the days when the #1 survival tip was to establish a remote bug-out-location and prepare to live permanently off grid.  Now really, how practical is that for most of us?  Don’t get me wrong.  There is nothing wrong with permanently bugging out; I am just saying that except in the most dire of world circumstances, doing so will not be practical or probable for most of us.

That brings me to today’s topic: how to succeed at prepping.  I have been thinking about this for awhile and whereas this list is not infallible, it may help you to foster a road map leading toward a positive prepping experience.

How to Succeed At Prepping

1.  First and foremost, evaluate the risks and prepare for that

Let’s face it.  We all have risk tolerances that vary with our geographic location, age, health, and economic condition.

Sit down and make a list of the top five things that worry you the most and prepare for those things.  I am not going to give you a laundry list to choose from, you know what keeps you up at night!

2.  Build a stockpile of food, water, medications, first aid supplies, and cash

The stockpile you build is your “survival” insurance plan.  Build up a modest stockpile in each category and add to it over time.  You do not need to do it all at once.

Resource:  20 Items to Kick Start Your Food Storage Plan and Survival Basics: Water and Water Storage

3.  Decide what skills are needed to meet the risks in #1, and learn them

Once you have your list of probable and/or worrisome risks, back into the skills you need to acquire and hone in order to meet those risks head on.  They may include old-fashioned pioneer-type skills,fire-making, or simply people skills.  Or something else entirely.

Your list, your skills. Don’t be tricked into adopting a skill set that does not address your needs.

Resource:  5 Uncommon Skills That Will Be Useful After the SHTF,

4.  Develop various emergency kits for varying purposes.

Putting together a big kahuna survival kit when you first start to prep is often number one on the priority list.  Before you jump in with both feet, consider putting together a minimum of three or more smaller, more basic kits instead.

Most likely you will need a Get Home Kit, Every Day Carry Kit, and Three Day Kit.  You may also need a vehicle kit, a trauma kit, and a carry on your back and get out of dodge bug out kit.

The nice thing about kits you build yourself is that you can pick and choose the gear according to your needs and budget.  That is not to say that there are not some excellent all-in-one kits out there, because there are.  Just be aware that one size does not fit all and after starting with a modest all-in-one kit, you may want to customize and update your kit over time.

Recognize that your emergency kit will always be a work in process.

Resource:  8 Essential Items: The Perfect Portable Survival Kit

5.  Learn extreme coping skills

You may have noticed that I have not said that survival following a disruptive event will be easy.  There is no way that I, or anyone else, can guarantee that being an extreme prepper will ensure your that you make it through a horrific disaster.

On the other hand, you can learn coping skills and you can learn to take things in stride and roll with the punches.

Resource:  13 Ways To Roll With the Punches

6.  Develop a survival library and store it in a format that is comfortable for you

No matter how good your memory, during times of stress, it will be humanly impossible to remember everything.  Acquire and maintain a survival library and do so in a format that makes sense to you.  Print books are great, but with today’s inexpensive solar charging devices, you can also maintain a portable library of eBooks.

As with everything I have addressed so far in this article, you want to stay within your own personal comfort zone.

Remember those risks?  If an EMP is high up on your list, then perhaps an eBook reader or tablet will not be the best option for you.  On the other hand, if you live in a flood plain and are worried about losing everything to the rising waters, print books may not be your best option.

The message should be clear:  you decide.

Recommended Books:

The Prepper’s Blueprint: The Step-By-Step Guide To Help You Through Any Disaster
Preppers Long-Term Survival Guide  and other Survival/Prepping Books by Jim Cobb
Doctor Prepper’s Making the Best of Basics Family Preparedness Handbook

7. Organize your preps in a manner than makes sense

I am guilty of stressing over a lack of organization when it comes to my own preps.  As much as I try, I do not have list upon list of everything I own.  As difficult as it is for the perfectionist in me to not know exactly what I have, spending the hours, days and weeks it would take to get everything perfectly organized is not something I am willing to do.

Choosing the “good enough” method is what I recommend.  There are a number of inexpensive planners out there (here is one) that you can use, or you can use an old-fashioned pen and paper or even just the “walk-around and visually inspect what you have” method.

No one can (or should) judge you by the method you use to keep track of your stuff.

8.  Take a periodic prepping break

This is easier said than done.  I get that.  But that being said, burnout comes easily within the prepping world.  I have suffered extreme prepping burnout myself and for that I have been both embarrassed and ashamed.  Like there is some prepping-god out there judging my efforts – not!

Don’t fall into a trap where you live and breathe prepping 24/7.  If you do, you will suck at prepping for sure.  Take a breather.  It can be a day, a week, or a month.  When your prepping sabbatical is over, you will resume refreshed and renewed as well as more focused.  Trust me on this one.

9.  Run, don’t walk, from websites, videos, periodicals, and books that foster fear or attempt to shame you into spending your hard-earned cash on some over-priced turkey

Nothing makes me angrier than the greed I have seen within the preparedness niche.  Pick and choose the items you feel will be useful.  Spend wisely on quality where you feel it will do the most good, and be mindful of the budget with the rest.

10.  Have faith and confidence in your own ability prevail in a survival situation

Someone once reviewed this website and made a point of stating that I often dealt with the mental aspects of preparedness.  And so it is that I unequivocally state that in order to succeed at prepping, you need to have confidence in your ability to think on your feet, make decisions, then carry those decisions through to their logical conclusion.

Call me a cheerleader if you want, but I know that when push comes to shove, setting insecurities aside will ensure your ultimate success at preparedness.

11.  Do not be afraid to ask for help if and when the time comes.

As much as you may be confident in your stockpile of food, water, supplies, gear and skills, the time may come when you know in your heart of hearts that you can not do it all.  Do not be afraid to ask for help.  There is no shame in saying, “I need help” when you have gone as far as you can in taking care of your own needs.

The Final Word

With preppers, two things commonly occur.  First, you start out like gangbusters then later give up in frustration because of the time, cost and effort involved.  Or, in another scenario, you prep for awhile, totally burn out, and decide to stop.  In both cases, you end up feeling a sense of guilt and failure.

I am not saying this happens to everyone, but I know it happens a lot.

What I suggest today is that you step back, take a deep breath, and start anew.  Perhaps the pace will be slower and the fervor a bit less animated.  So be it.  Preparedness is a lifestyle and there is no rule book I know of that says you have to be perfect.

The goal of this website is to help you evaluate your options then move them forward with grace and optimism.  The very last thing I want is for you to suck (aka do a bad job) of prepping.  We are, after all, in this together.

Enjoy your next adventure through common sense and thoughtful preparation!
Gaye

http://www.backdoorsurvival.com/how-to-succeed-at-prepping/

Learn how to plant a high-yield secret survival garden

(NaturalNews) When the SHTF, those with the means of growing their own food will have the best shot at survival. However, in a post-apocalyptic world or simply a society that has suffered an economic collapse, anything you are able to grow will be a tempting target for roving marauders.

If you have a traditional backyard garden with neat rows of plants, you will essentially be advertising the fact that there is food for the taking to anyone who happens to pass by with an empty belly. This is not an exaggeration; plenty of urban gardeners who have carefully tended a patch of tomatoes, peppers or corn have reported their crops being stolen in the dark of night just as the food was ready to be harvested. If that can happen in times of relative "plenty," just imagine what things will be like after a real crisis.

Therefore, it is crucial that you find methods to camouflage your survival garden. There are several ways this can be accomplished. Some of them are a bit involved and require a fair amount of knowledge and hard work, while others are relatively easy.

Let's first take a look at a somewhat complex approach.

Planting a "secret survival garden"

Rick Austin is the generally-acknowledged "guru" of survival gardening. He incorporates a permaculture approach that mimics nature and focuses on growing perennials. This tactic happens to produce a high-yield garden that requires little or no tending once planted, and it also creates a perfectly disguised food factory that is virtually unrecognizable as being a garden at all.

Austin describes his techniques and theories at length in his book, Secret Garden of Survival: How to Grow a Camouflaged Food Forest.

As Austin notes:

"Studies of native indigenous people around the world, people who have lived off the land for generations without electricity, without refrigeration, without commercial agriculture, and without pesticides and insecticides showed that these people have lived primarily on perennials as opposed to annuals such as your typical grocery store vegetables."

In a possible future scenario where there might be no power grid, traditional gardening methods will likely not be the best approach, especially when stealth becomes a crucial factor. Austin's solution is sound, but until you can fully commit to this approach, there are a few very simple ways to disguise your garden without having to go to any great lengths.

Simple methods for camouflaging your garden

Getting away from centralized row planting is key to camouflaging your survival garden. It's a good idea to plant separate patches in different spots. This will help keep your plantings from looking like a typical garden, and even if a marauder finds one or two patches, others are likely to go untouched.

Plant along the perimeters of your property rather than in the center of the yard or lot. If possible, plant some food crops away from your property, e.g. at the edge of a forest or in clearings you have access to. You should also consider planting in a cleared area in the middle of thicket that would deter the average person from entering or thinking there might be a crop planted there.

Grow foods that don't obviously look like edibles. Some food crops are more difficult to conceal, such as corn or tomatoes; others, like beans and tubers, are not as easy to spot.

Camouflaging your crops will likely prove to be essential to survival when the SHTF. Start taking steps now to hide your precious food supply. It could very well mean the difference between life and death when society crumbles.

Sources:

http://www.motherearthnews.com 

http://www.survivopedia.com/hiding-food-in-the-wild/# 

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/049945_survival_garden_DIY_perennials.html#ixzz3byfueeeH