Cornbread from long term storage

Cornbread fresh from the oven

Cornbread fresh from the oven

I came up with this recipe based on my existing recipe for cornbread. I swapped out the egg and milk with powdered ingredients so that I can make mixes to leave at my off-grid cabin where I do not run a refrigerator when we are not there. I plan to either use a vacum sealer or mylar bags and hope to get about a year out of them.

This recipe would also be useful for anyone who has long term food stores as all the ingredients are shelf stable for up to 30 years.

This is a real easy recipe (as you’ll find all of mine will be) and is a great way to get your feet wet if you are new to baking.

A couple of notes about the Wonder Mill. I have a manual mill which I have used to make flour. I picked it up used and it works well. It takes a 10-15 minutes per cup of flour and requires a great deal of effort to produce. I found that while I liked the results I was not using it much. I plan to motorize it in the future and leave the manual part for power outages and emergencies.

The Wonder Mill on the other hand is simple. In less then a minute I have cups of flour that required no arm breaking effort. I think my usage of whole grains is going to greatly increase along with my baking.

Also a couple of notes about the ingredients. I am using store bought popcorn. You will want to use the plain bag type or other sources for corn. Microwave popcorn should not be used as the butter will jam in your mill. For the wheat berries I am using a hard white wheat but I think just about any wheat berries could be substituted.

Now lets get to it

Cornbread from long term storage
 
Author:
 
Ingredients
  • 9 ounces of popcorn
  • 4.2 ounces Hard white wheat berries
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • ⅔ Cups of sugar
  • 2½ tablespoons egg powder
  • ½ cup powdered milk
  • 2 tablespoons shortening, bacon fat, or vegetable oil
  • 14.2 ounces (little more then 1¾ cups) of water
Instructions
  1. Grind Popcorn with the Wonder Mill on the bread setting. 9 ounces should yield about 2 cups of cornmeal.
    Cornmeal ready

    Cornmeal ready

  2. Grind the Hard white wheat berries with the wonder mill on the bread setting. I used a digital scale to measure out 4.2 ounces which from my research would yield about 1 cup of flour.
  3. Place 10-inch cast iron skillet in oven on middle rack and heat to 450°F.
  4. Mix all the dry ingredients together in a large bowl until evenly incorporated. I used our Kitchenaid mixer to do this but it can also be done by hand.
  5. When all the ingredients are mixed add 14.2 ounces of water. I used a digital scale again to get an accurate measurement but if you do not have one just use a little more then 1 & ¾ cups of water. I based this off the powdered milk and eggs instructions so depending on your brand it may differ slightly.
    Batter being mixed

    Batter being mixed

  6. As oven nears 450°F, remove skillet and add fat. Swirl fat to evenly coat the bottom. I used bacon fat but any shortening can be used. At our cabin I plan to use vegetable oil the we keep there (bacon fat requires refrigeration.
  7. Pour batter into hot skillet and return to oven
    Batter in cast iron pan

    Batter in cast iron pan

  8. Bake until top is just golden and edges have browned and pulled away from the side of the pan, 20 to 25 minutes. Allow to cool slightly and serve warm.

About BuffCleb

My Blog, http://www.bethnchris.com and related youtube page, http://youtube.com/buffcleb have chronicled my off-grid cabin & living, outdoors activities, related projects and getting back to basics with my food. Like so many people today I live and work in a modern world surrounded by walls. Walls might confine me but they don't define me.

My youtube/blog has a wide audience, ranging from the prepping / survival community to the back to the landers / free spirt. I believe there is a common drive by a large part of population thats confined by walls to get our hands dirty and do things like our forefathers did. So while my audience varies greatly in their motivation I celebrate that common drive.

Over the past year I have expanded my exploration to getting back to basics with food. I have always gardened but was not a cook and relied on my wife to take care of that. Even with the garden most everything we ate came from a box. It still does but I'm trying to simplify and get my food from sources that at least resemble there natural form. It is a path though and I have a only just begun it. Cooking with whole grains is one of those first steps.

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I have completed the Grain Mill Wagon Challenge and was asked to write a little something about my experience doing it.

Reading the recipes on this site shows there is some great talent out there. I tried to come from a different direction. My recipes are simple enough that even a beginner can attempt them and have a good chance of success which will motivate you to try new things. I know for me this was the case.

Working with raw wheat berries was also a joy. I brought several friends loaves of fresh bread made with wheat I ground not 10 minutes before preparation and they all commented about the taste... and the ease of using the WonderMill added only a couple of minutes to the prep time. Several of those friends have ordered a WonderMill after trying our bread.

All and all this was a great experience and I enjoyed doing it. Using the WonderMill created a superior product to what I could get from stores and was affordable. I'd encourage anyone interested in backing with whole wheat to get one

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