Homesteading: Flour in Bulk

One of the first considerations a homesteader makes is how to address the family’s bread needs. Bread making can be a management-heavy task, and some homesteaders opt to skip regular sandwich bread in favor of one-off baking, but if you’re planning on having sandwich bread available, it helps to have some basic conversions.

A basic sandwich recipe uses about 550 grams of flour (mine uses 553), which means that a 50 pound bag makes roughly 40 loaves (the math divides to 41 loves, but life is imperfect, so I use 40 as a benchmark). A fifty pound bag takes up 8-10 gallons of storage space. 

If you make 3 loaves of bread each week, a fifty pound bag of flour will last about 13 weeks, or one quarter of the year, making a bulk purchase reasonable if you can accommodate the storage. I like to store things in glass whenever possible, and I promise you that even if such a thing as a ten gallon mason jar existed, it would be useless for me, since I would have nowhere to put it and wouldn’t be able to wrangle it, even empty. I have a few 2.5 gallon jars, and that’s about the maximum I can handle at a time, and about the largest that fits on the pantry shelf. I find that dividing up the bag into 4 jars and rotating them out is perfectly serviceable. 550 grams is about 1.5-2 quarts, so if you prefer, you can fill a few 2 quart containers with pre-measured flour to make the upcoming baking more streamlined. This also helps younger children (or distracted adults) and helps separate the task of weighing the ingredients from the baking.

If you only make a single loaf each week, it might make more sense to divide the purchase of a 50 pound bag with another family as opposed to storing it for most of the year (the per-pound savings are eye-popping enough to make a bulk buying group worth the time to set up). 

If you plan on storing bulk flour for longer than a few months, I strongly recommend a glass jar with a rubber ring at the seal and a spring closure. Flour is too attractive to every little pest and mite to leave this to chance, and there’s nothing sadder than opening a bag only to find it infested. (If it gets infested with weevils, put the flour in a freezer container and set it in the freezer for three days or more to kill the weevils and eggs. You can pick out or sift away the dead bugs and use the cleaned flour for baking or any of the scads of non-food uses for flour. If the flour is musty or clumpy, or shows visible mold, it’s ruined; throw it out).

You don’t have to be a homesteader to appreciate having freshly-baked bread on hand. 

The aroma alone is worth it.

Pantry: Whole-grain Mustard

Whole-grain mustard is super simple to make and it stores for six months in the refrigerator, or so I hear; mine never lasts that long. This mustard is usually found in the gourmet aisle, and carries an eye-popping price tag that simply is not reflective of anything. There is almost no labor involved, and the ingredients are extra cheap, less than two dollars for a pint of this excellent and essential condiment. 

The flavor is perfect for ham sandwiches on homemade basic loaf bread, and it really shines on a baguette. Set a small pot on a charcuterie board.

Equipment

Immersion Blender

Two 8 ounce or one pint glass (or ceramic or stoneware) container with tight-fitting lids

Mixing bowl, about 4 cup capacity

Ingredients

1/3 cup yellow mustard seeds, whole

1/3 cup brown mustard seeds, whole

1/2-3/4 cup apple cider vinegar, depending on how tangy you like it (recipe from apple scraps)

1/2-3/4 cup water (enough to make the total liquid 1.25 cups)

1.5 Tablespoons raw sugar (or light brown sugar)

1 teaspoon salt

Directions

1. Combine seeds in the mixing bowl and stir in water and vinegar. Let sit for 24 hours. (If you’re in a massive rush, you can reduce this to 8 hours, but the seeds won’t be as infused with the vinegar, and they won’t be as easy to mash). 
2. Remove about 1/2 a cup of the seed mix and set aside if you want a particularly toothy blend.
3. Add the salt and sugar and process with an immersion blender or in a food processor until relatively smooth, scraping down the sides as you go. I find pulsing the blender helps keep the blades clear. Process until desired consistency.
4. Fold in reserved seed mix, if using.

Pour into jars and cover with tight fitting lid.

Store in the refrigerator for up to 6 months.

Flavor matures with age.