Our third preparedness challenge in January is to learn to make bread and store wheat or another grain. Don’t buy a year’s supply of wheat without knowing how to make bread. Be wise. Learn to make bread first.
Learn to Make Wheat Bread
- Find a few bread recipes and practice. Ask a friend for help or watch a video.
- You can substitute another grain for wheat if you are allergic.
- Grind wheat into flour with a mill like a Nurtrimill. Or ask a friend to grind it for you.
Decide How Much Wheat to Store
- How many loaves of bread or waffles does your family eat each week? Multiply the flour in your recipe to equal the number of loaves or meals you eat in a week or 3 months.
- Could you store that much food in your home or would your choice be to start with a 1-month supply?
- The recommended amount of long-term wheat for one-month is 2 #10 cans or 11 lbs.
- One #10 can of Latter-day Saint wheat can be ground into about 16.5 cups of wheat flour.
Buy Long-Term Wheat
- I love to buy long-term wheat in 5.5 lb. #10 cans from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I order a few boxes with 6 cans at a time so my wheat doesn’t expire at the same time.
- At local Home Storage Centers, hard red is $8.33 (2025) and hard white wheat is $7.83. Also, 25 lb. bags are $19.60 and $19.98. Similar prices for boxes with cans are online at ChurchofJesusChrist.org.
- Store wheat indoors at 75 degrees or less as heat will diminish the shelf-life rapidly.
- Read about longer-term food storage at ChurchofJesusChrist.org.
- Read Preserve the Harvest: Storing Wheat from Utah State University Extension.
I hope you enjoy making bread and storing wheat or another grain.
Stock up your way!
Valerie Albrechtsen
The Food Storage Organizer
Check out my food storage and emergency preparedness bundle in my Etsy shop.
My 2-Loaf Wheat Bread Recipe
This recipe makes moist wheat bread. We love it!
Servings 20 servings
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup water
- 2 tbsp instant yeast
- 1 tsp sugar
- 2 cups hot tap water 75-78°F.
- 4 cups wheat flour red or white hard wheat
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 T salt
- 1 T dough enhancer or 3 T gluten or 2 T vinegar or 1/4 c. potato flakes
- 1/3 cup vegetable oil
- 1/3 cup honey
Instructions
- Spray 2 glass loaf pans with cooking spray.
- Combine 1/2 c. warm water, instant yeast and 1 t. sugar in small bowl. Let stand for 5 min. until frothy.
- In large bowl, stir the wheat flour, white flour, dough enhancer and salt.
- Add yeast mixture, 2 c. hot water and 4 c. flour mixture to a mixer or bread machine bowl. Beat on low speed for 10 min., periodically scraping sides of bowl. Beating helps knead the dough so don’t stop too soon.
- Add oil and honey. Beat well for a few minutes.
- Add more 2 c. cups of flour mixture one cup at a time. Beat on low for 10 min. Dough should pull away from sides of bowl and form a ball on dough hook. If it does not pull away add a little more flour until it does.
- Remove dough from dough hook and divide in half. Each loaf will be about 1 lb. 6 ounces. With floured hands, shape into 2 loaves. My mom used to say it was just like patting a baby’s bottom. Put loaves into loaf pans.
- Cover with a towel if it rises on the counter. Or proof in your oven covered with plastic sprayed with cooking spray. Let rise until almost double (30 – 40 min.).
- Tip: Let the uncovered bread rise in a slightly warm oven (turn oven on for 5 minutes and then off), and then turn on to bake after it has risen.
- Turn oven to 350 degrees and bake for 30 – 40 minutes. Loaves are done when slightly brown and hollow sounding when tapped. Let cool for a few minutes and then remove from pans to continue cooling.