Phil at 4800 feet has an excellent tutorial on freeze drying doughs and batters. Mix your dough, omitting the yeast. Freeze dry and powder. Add yeast to warm water when reconstituting dough powder.
I have freeze dried corn bread, muffin, cake and brownie mix, they do very well. I grind them up and when time to reconstitute I just add the water and bake.
I believe the "Warm Trays" option is when the Freeze dryer has completed its cycle and has been sitting there for some time and the trays are cold. If you have that case, and the trays are cold, and you remove them to a warmer room, they will start to condensate, and putting moisture back into your food. Condensation occurs when the water vapor in the air is cooled, changing from a gas to a liquid. This can be are real problem in the summer months.
True. I don't use the warm tray function as it hasn't worked a couple times. I just "Add More Dry Time" and wait the temp to hit at least 110° minimum.
I know you can freeze dry sour dough starter - - - I would consider fding it before you let it rise - all those risings may have contributed it to not rising after fding. . .
@@robynjohnson9055 1) spread it out on the freeze dryer tray and let it do its job - seal tightly in small jars or make tiny mylar bags that hold a couple tsps and seal several of them.
I've kept yeast pk's in my freezer for over 6 yrs in a plastic bag and they work perfect for when I want to make breads. I did that as a test to see each yr if the yeast was still good and again the end of 2020 6+ yr old yeast was fine. I say this because you can add more yeast when you re-hydrate the dough I'd imagine. Also if you only use 1/4 ts yeast to about 3 C flour and allow to proof over night you save yeast and can do as I mentioned add more yeast when needed during re-hydrate times.
If the yeast survives FD, I’d try this, stopping after the first rise like you do when you freeze or refrigerate dough. Yay the time you do the 2nd rise, FD, rehydrate, and then remix, you are overworking they dough so it’s not going to rise the 3rd time in a traditional setting, much less altering it like you did.
I've been making sourdough bread for a long time. I think not allowing a first rise, just roll the dough flat then FD will work out well. Blend the FD dough into powder then rehydrate with the same amount of liquid as the original recipe required. Form it back into a dough using a mixer or bread machine then give it all the time it needs in a baking pan/dish for a single rise. Bake as usual. I don't have a freeze dryer, but that's what I do with my air dried dough.
Wow, for as long as it took to rehydrate, you haven't saved anything, in my opinion by freeze drying the dough. It seems that it would be more efficient to store your flour and other ingredients in vacuumed sealed containers and make the dough as you go.
Thin dough makes a great deep dish pizza. Put thin dough in a springform pan. Then topping, cheese, another layer of thin dough, pizza sauce. Then sprinkle with olive oil to prevent burning. Oh an cornmeal to line pan to prevent sticking. And bake 425 for 35 minutes or until done.
Excellent video. The yeast is what caused the problems with the experiment. It is best to store each item in a vacuum and then incorporate them together to make your SHTF breads when you need to have them..
if I don't get it out in time trays. works grt. I use that about half the time. if not very far along cut off. when cuts off. instead of add 2 hrs, I just warm
Fun experiment but unnecessary. Grain keeps well. Get a flour mill and make flour as you need it. You can store nearly all other ingredients separately to make dough. You can buy yeast at Costco in a evacuated brick which should last a very long time. In the end make dough fresh.
If you use grams (g) or kilograms (kg) for the weighing then you just need to add one milliliter (mL) of water for every gram removed by the freeze drying process. Your glass measuring cup has mL on one side so you don't even need a calculator to convert to fluid ounces. Remember, 1 kg = 1000 g so no hard math converting between those either, just move a decimal point, ie. 1.234 kg = 1234 g.
A few tips form an avid cook, baker & prepper that has been doing so for decades... 1. Freeze your yeast, (in a regular freezer of course), it will last & keep fresh way longer. I have 2 + year old yeast in my freezer and it's still as fresh as the day I bought it. 2. How to tell if your yeast is still working well is when you see that it has bloomed , (when it becomes creamy / frothy across the entire top / surface of the bowl), you know your yeast is still alive and active. 3. Freeze dryers will kill yeast because they are entirely too hot for the yeast to survive! Good luck trying to get that dough to rise in the future to make a loaf of bread in SHTF! 4. Word to the wise... Processed flour only retains it's nutritional value for up to one year after purchase! From that point forward your flour will continuously lose nutrition and it's ability to rise in baked goods more & more with each passing day - which is why it is advised to not store flour for SHTF - it's just not shelf stable no matter how you try to prepare / store it - including freeze drying! 5. The ONLY way to have flour, bread and pastries in the zombie apocalypse is by either stockpiling Hard Red & / or White Wheat Berries, stored in mylar bags and placed in 5 gallon buckets for safe keeping and a 25 - 30 yr shelf life... and / or growing your own wheat after SHTF has settled down! 6. Attempting to store freeze dried, pre-prepared flour is risky as well as it is in a state that is likely to act like a sponge by collecting any tiny bit of moisture it comes into contact with, priming it for mold & mildew growth in the future! Bonus tips: A) You can buy pre-packaged wheat berries from various companies that are already stored in the correct packaging to last 25 - 30 yrs in proper storage - so the guess work is taken care of and all you have to do is find a cool, dry, dark place to store it. B) Purchase a good quality, manual wheat grinder and store it with your wheat berries so you can actually grind the wheat for use in the future! C) There are videos and other information available on the Net that teach you how to grow natural yeast starters without using store bought yeast... this will be invaluable information in SHTF. D) Perhaps you can source your own wheat berries that you can try freeze-drying yourself to save on the cost of buying prepackaged. Trying to freeze-dry your own prepped baked goods the way you are is a waste of time and money... unfortunately it will fail in the end.
My guess is that the heat is too high in the freeze dryer. Sometimes I cannot touch the trays they are so hot. If that happens it will kill your yeast right away. I think you are on to something with the adding of the yeast afterwards. That would work, or should work well. I think I will just make my bread with my mixer and a solar generator and not worry about freeze drying the bread. I loved that you did that experiment. I had guessed it wouldn’t work because of the high heat. Thank you for doing this video. I learned a lot.
Interesting, thanks for experimenting. I think once you powder the freeze dried dough, you're sust back to flour and have broken all the gluten strands. I wonder if the better approach is to make mini bread sticks, roll it out then freeze dry it. When you're ready to eat, steam soften it so that it soften at the center and then bake. Or perhaps even finish baking before freeze drying than then steam soften and toast to being the crunch back.
Cool video but your conclusion at the end is logical. May as well just make a dough mix store it and then add the water and yeast when your ready to cook it. Does freeze drying the dry ingredients extend the storage life on them? Does FD of the flow extend the life?
Freeze drying flour in any way, shape , or form will fail! The ONLY way to have flour & baked goods in SHTF is by storing wheat berries which last 25 - 30 yrs in proper storage! This is because flour progressively looses nutrition and the ability to rise after one yr from purchase date. There are also videos and other information on how to grow natural yeast starters without using store bought yeast. Note: make sure to buy a good quality, manual wheat grinder for grinding your wheat berries in SHTF. Hope this helps.
I would add the yeast later seal it with the dough then mix all together when your ready to make it. Guess I should have watched the whole video then commented, my bad. I do thank you for all the videos. I was a little skeptical about the price of this a few years ago when I started looking into freeze drying but since I found your videos I think I'm going top get one Thanks
Great experiment! That's what I really like best about your Harvest Right series - you experient quite a bit. Unfortunately, where I am, there is no flour or yeast or sugar anymore in the stores. Those items have become precious metals.
Did you ever try sourdough starter? It is a live leveler even after it is dried (not freeze dried) and reconstituted. You can dry it on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper. Once dried it will last for years in a mylar bag or air tight glass container. You could probably just add water to your flour to the consistency of bread dough and just freeze dry that. Then when you want to make bread (sourdough) just rehydrate the sourdough starter and dough dough and let it rise and bake. I've never baked bread with FD flour BUT I have made bread with dried sourdough starter (even starter over 3 years old) and it turned out great, raised perferct. Even if you FD just the water and flour mixture you can still make a sourdough starter from that, it is just a 7 to 10 process. Then make your bread using the FD flour.
How to Revive Dried Sourdough Starter Step 1: Weigh the dried starter Step 2: In a large bowl, add the dried starter, and the same amount (in weight) of water. Cover the bowl with a breathable cloth. Step 3: Leave on the counter top for a few hours to hydrate. Step 4: Start feeding/refreshing the starter as you normally would. In a day or so, the starter should be bubbly, active and ready to bake with!
If you take the trays out of the freeze dryer not long after it stops the trays are warm. If you can't get to it right away, they will be super cold and hard to handle. So, they give you an option to warm the trays, to make them easier to handle.
Agreed. The machine immediately cools your food down to freezing in order to hold it safely for you until you are ready to package. Taking that cold tray produces immediate condensation. There is no way you can get that packaged without some amount of rehydration. Additionally, it’s much easier to detect cold spots when the tray/food is warm.
Maybe mix all your dry ingredients in the recipe together minus the yeast and freeze dry them to get rid of any moisture for longer shelf life. Then you could measure out a portion of it add your yeast and wet ingredients make your dough, knead, rise and bake? Just wondering...have you freeze dried banh bao or filled dumplings?
I don't think I would try to FD the dough. I would just mix the dry ingredients and package with a sealed pkg of the oil and add the oil and water right at the time you want to cook it.
@Libertarian 4 Life I have had biscuit mix go rancid with the oil mixed in. I haven't tried the sealed packet of oil but I have read that coconut oil lasts a lot longer than other oils.
Thank you for doing these videos. Ive been thinking about the freezers but wasnt sure if it was a good investment. It appears that I will own one fairly soon. Haha
I love your videos & have learned alot as I'm contemplating the purchase of a freeze dryer... that being said, PLEASE stop pushing your Facebook group. Not everyone uses or even likes Fakebook
I would try refrigerating the dough for maybe 2 days and then bring it up to room temp and bake. No way all the yeast died. Maybe "feed" it like a starter if you have to
So to me if you are looking at long term storage, it seems you would have to play with your ingredients a bit. Because oil or butter wont really store well, I was thinking maybe you could freeze dry all of your dry ingredients, then for fat for later freeze dry a slab of bacon. Then when you are ready rehydrate the bacon, cook it, save the bacon grease a d use it to bake bread with. I know that could possibly work for a savory type bread, right?
They dont put bleach in the flour to make it white. It's the same as turning bees wax from yellow to white. The whole wheat is put in the sun. The sun bleaches it naturally. But, this also takes away some of the nutritional value.
For pizza dough I personally wouldn’t freeze dry that. But i do recommend a few changes. First use a mixer and use a full package of yeast to the required amount of warm water and sugar. Let this foam. Use the mixer to combine wet and dry ingredients. Pull and hand roll to a smooth finish, this takes about 5-10 minutes. Divide into 2 or 3 balls of dough. Let is rise in the fridge for 2 days. Pull and get to room temp. Roll out by hand and do not use a rolling pin on a wooden pizza spade. Make sure you have flour down so it doesn’t stick. Have the oven or smoker preheated to 550 or higher. Do not use 350 for pizza. Have a pizza stone on the smoker or in the oven during preheat, never use a baking sheet. The stone will give you the crispy crust and it just cooks better. Pre cook the dough to desired time. Pull with the wooden spade and add ingredients then return to the oven or smoker until the pizza is done to your desire. I’ve been playing around with a few recipes. I’ve combined two that have made some pretty good pizza in my option. You also need to use high quality 00 flour or bread flour for that crispy crust you were after. I personally use King Arthur.
Here's my plan... let the dough rise once, then freeze. Slice into 1/2 inch slices, freeze dry. line up the slices side by side in a loaf pan, rehydrate, see if it will rise, then bake. For pizza dough, add liquid, knead & see if it will rise. Roll out thick and add toppings before baking crust.
I have one of the early models of Harvest Right freeze dryer. I didn't know you could get new software for it. What advantages are there for the new software? Thanks for the great videos, I will go to Facebook and check out your group.
Powdering makes perfect sence. When you make homemade bread, you raise the dough once, pound it down, knead, shape, raise and bake. I don't think you should raise the dough the second time before freeze drying. Even pre-made frozen bread dough in the stores has only been risen once. You thaw and raise, then bake. Its because of the life strength of the yeast. Have you tried only raising it once, then freezing?? Second rise is always to actually bake. I really think you killed most of your yeast in the second rise.
Brian I know I’m a little late for the party but I’ve seen a UA-cam survival video where a guy from Alaska uses only two Ingredients for his pizza. He uses self rising flour and Greek yogurt. That might be better than the flour and yeast option when freeze drying.
If you're going to go through the process of whipping the dough after rehydrating it, why not add some fresh yeast to the dough at that point? The process of Freeze drying and then breaking and blending the dough before storage probably changed the gluten structure significantly. Bread making is a bit of a science.
If the issue here is to be prepared with the dough for the sake you may not have yeast in a shtf scenario, there is a solution. Don’t bother with the freeze drying at all and capture yeast from the air. There are many tutorials on the web. I successfully made bread this way. It is easy to do and you can keep feeding your yeast and storing it “live”. Then just store all the other ingredients. As with the covid-19 now upon us, we have the time to make bread.
Couldn’t you add the yeast after FD? Since you have to use water to rehydrate, you could add the yeast and then go through the steps of rising etc. just a thought. I of course posted this before the end lol
Even when you make frozen bread dough you must double the yeast. The bread is typically frozen after the first rise after the bread has been punched down. It is then given its second rise in the refrigerator straight from the freezer. You appear to have used too much flour when rolling your pizza dough that will make the cooked product dry and crunchy. I would suggest that you grease your pan place the pizza dough into the greased pan and use a pastry roller to roll it into shape on your pizza pan. If you want to handle a sticky dough the best way is to wet your hands and even your counter top. But honestly I don't see the advantage of freeze drying bread and pizza dough after all the effort you have made to get it back into shape to bake. But it was an interesting experiment none the less and I have learned a valuable what not to do lesson from this video.
It would freeze dry as long as there was not high fat meats on it (bacon or possibly sausage). It would become soggy when you tried to rehydrate the crust.
It might work it you did not let it rise before you freeze it. If you let it rise first you exhaust the yeast so there is nothing left after you rehydrate. Freeze drying should not hurt the yeast just let it work at the right time!!!
@@mezmez5799 Freeze drying flour in any way, shape , or form will fail! The ONLY way to have flour & baked goods in SHTF is by storing wheat berries which last 25 - 30 yrs in proper storage!
@@kimpulsipher647 I think you meant SHTF because thats what I said. It means "Shit Hits The Fan". It's a funny way of saying "crises situation that causes a society wide panic"... much like the Covid 19 Pandemic.
If you are gonna powder the dough why not just add the dried yeast powder to the dough powder after it come out of the freezer? I don't understand why you want to wake the yeast up and then put it through the freeze dryer.
I think the trouble is the destruction of the gluten network. The bread has no elasticity left once it has been freeze dried and reconstituted. You probably be better off putting just barely mixed together bread dough in the freeze drier. Since the gluten network has not yet formed in just mixed dough, it can't be destroyed. But then, why bother? Yes, the yeast should be able to survive. Freeze drying is common for cultures. Commercial outfits do it all the time.
When you make your bread don't let it rise the first time, go strait to the freezer. If you buy frozen dough from the store they do not let it rise. It's a waste of time and profits.
Matt Tran. I worked in infectious diseases until I retired. A pandemic was expected to hit, it was never a matter of if a pandemic would come but when. History shows this to be truth. When the pandemic hit -the fact no one has any developed immunity to it made it to be an over whelming factor for every healthcare facility on the planet. The idea of isolating and social distancing was to slow the spread of the disease hitting everyone in such a rapid fashion as to overwhelm the already overtaxed healthcare system. COVID 19 is here to stay and we will never be rid of it. We will all eventually be exposed to it. But it's best that does not occur all at once. Right now even the WHO is saying not to wear face masks any more. Anyone with symptoms even remotely similar to COVID 19 has been declared to be counted in the numbers of COVID victims even without testing and empirical evidence that confirms the presence of COVID virus. 100% of every nursing home death, for a time, was all contributed to COVID 19. People in nursing homes die all the time of stroke heart attacks and pneumonias (of other ettiology or causes than COVID) . Every year nursing home patients succumb to Influenza A or B. One of the good things about using social distancing was supposed to be that it literally knocked out the spread of influenza A and B during the time of year it normally becomes a pestilence killing the very old and the very young. What seems to be unrealistic is that it would seem with everything being called COVID 19 without true empirical verification the cause of increased morbidity (severe debilitating sickness) and mortality (disease that kills) I wonder myself if it isn't some sort of political ploy. It wouldn't be the first time in history that pestilence has been manipulated to work in someones political favor. The pandemic is definitely going to be ongoing. We simply need to adapt. Since COVID is not going to disappear it's simply a matter of when politicians get tired of playing the ain't it awful game.{probably when they want to make someone look a hero} In the mean time, I'll wear my mask because it makes other more comfortable.
i know yhis is going to sound, obviously stupid, but just freeze dry the flour and use your mason jar sealing trick, then make the bread when nessary per the instructions in the recipe.
You are right, raw ingredients always work best, but baking and raising bread takes a good amount of time. Time may be something you don't have depending on the circumstance
@@thefreezedryingcommunity well the point is that freeze drying the yeast, unless done properly ( laboratory process I don't know), deactivated the yeast.
um... I don't think Yeast can survive vacuum. Now, using baking powder and buttermilk powder would give you a rise. For a quick bread using that, you either put the dry ingredients in vacuum bag or in a glass jar and add oil and water. And, honestly I don't know what the end game here was for. Flour can last years in its paper bag, same for sugar, salt... milk powders can last 2 years or so, baking powder about the same. Mixing up a dough to freeze dry to grind back into a powder.... well.... I'm not seeing a time savings or a shelf life gain here.
In freeze drying and pulverizing you have effectively destroyed all the gluten you built up in the kneading step, furthermore it appears you killed the yeast. Seems more efficient to just freeze dry all your dry ingredients (maybe not the yeast) then mix when you want to use it.
The key to rising dough is warmth and time.....The yeast is a living thing....I think you may not have left everything to sit long enough for the dough to warm to at least room temperature ...remember that you added warm water to the yeast and sugar initially....and allowed the yeast time to rise again. It is a slow process if the dough is chilled. It will not rise under those conditions. Also... no need to beat the dough again in the machine.....gently mix and allow the dough to absorb the water at its own speed...don't force it...be gentle..you want to encourage the air bubbles to continue living...lol...good luck...
This was not an accurate testing of bread dough. It didn't get a chance to go through it's second rise and then be baked which should have been done after the freeze drying process not before. Try this again , yes use the freeze dried dough that was powdered. After reconstitution it would be best to simply cover the dough after the second kneading and place in a warm spot. My oven actually has bread proofing so it's nice and warm for both rises of bread dough. Then after it has risen twice in volume bake the bread. Any bread is going to wind up thick and harder when not allow to rise after the second kneading (which should be done after the freeze drying and reconstitution process). There should never be a third rising of the dough expected. The yeast really should remain alive after the freeze drying process. Many pharmaceuticals are run through the freeze drying process in order to increase it's active shelf life and maintain the bioavailability of the drug. It's just the process which needs revamping. Vaccines still function after freeze drying. Yeasts should also.
I tried this about 5 or 6 months ago. It was unsuccessful. Then I thought....... duh, add water to flour, get dough, freeze dry it.... get ummm, FLOUR!!!! LOL
Phil at 4800 feet has an excellent tutorial on freeze drying doughs and batters. Mix your dough, omitting the yeast. Freeze dry and powder. Add yeast to warm water when reconstituting dough powder.
I have freeze dried corn bread, muffin, cake and brownie mix, they do very well. I grind them up and when time to reconstitute I just add the water and bake.
Add fresh yeast to the powdered mix when rehydrating. Mix and let rise in a warm place. Make bread as normal.
Your the only one in the family that tast tests your experiments lol. I really like your videos, keep up the good work.
I believe the "Warm Trays" option is when the Freeze dryer has completed its cycle and has been sitting there for some time and the trays are cold. If you have that case, and the trays are cold, and you remove them to a warmer room, they will start to condensate, and putting moisture back into your food. Condensation occurs when the water vapor in the air is cooled, changing from a gas to a liquid. This can be are real problem in the summer months.
True. I don't use the warm tray function as it hasn't worked a couple times. I just "Add More Dry Time" and wait the temp to hit at least 110° minimum.
Great idea. Have you tried freeze drying sourdough starter, powder it, rehydrate and feed till strong bubbly? Then make fresh sourdough bread recipe.
It's on my list for future videos. I have heard mixed results on sourdough.
I know you can freeze dry sour dough starter - - - I would consider fding it before you let it rise - all those risings may have contributed it to not rising after fding. . .
How do you freeze dry sourdough starter?
How do you freeze dry SD
@@robynjohnson9055 1) spread it out on the freeze dryer tray and let it do its job - seal tightly in small jars or make tiny mylar bags that hold a couple tsps and seal several of them.
I've kept yeast pk's in my freezer for over 6 yrs in a plastic bag and they work perfect for when I want to make breads. I did that as a test to see each yr if the yeast was still good and again the end of 2020 6+ yr old yeast was fine. I say this because you can add more yeast when you re-hydrate the dough I'd imagine. Also if you only use 1/4 ts yeast to about 3 C flour and allow to proof over night you save yeast and can do as I mentioned add more yeast when needed during re-hydrate times.
I keep forgetting to hit the like. I end up watching them over which is great because it gives me the chance to save it to my freeze drying videos.
If the yeast survives FD, I’d try this, stopping after the first rise like you do when you freeze or refrigerate dough. Yay the time you do the 2nd rise, FD, rehydrate, and then remix, you are overworking they dough so it’s not going to rise the 3rd time in a traditional setting, much less altering it like you did.
That's what I would assess the results... the bread dough is over-proofed by letting it rise a 2nd time before FD.
Going to try to freeze dry a pizza dough made with self rising flour and greek yogurt.
I've been making sourdough bread for a long time. I think not allowing a first rise, just roll the dough flat then FD will work out well. Blend the FD dough into powder then rehydrate with the same amount of liquid as the original recipe required. Form it back into a dough using a mixer or bread machine then give it all the time it needs in a baking pan/dish for a single rise. Bake as usual. I don't have a freeze dryer, but that's what I do with my air dried dough.
I'm going to do a take 2 with no rising. I think the yeast should be able to survive the FD since bread dough can be frozen with no issues.
I would simply add some dry yeast during rehydration and I'm sure it will rise no problem
Love your experiments - and for sharing the good and the not so good. Much appreciated.
Wow, for as long as it took to rehydrate, you haven't saved anything, in my opinion by freeze drying the dough. It seems that it would be more efficient to store your flour and other ingredients in vacuumed sealed containers and make the dough as you go.
💯 agree
Thin dough makes a great deep dish pizza. Put thin dough in a springform pan. Then topping, cheese, another layer of thin dough, pizza sauce. Then sprinkle with olive oil to prevent burning. Oh an cornmeal to line pan to prevent sticking. And bake 425 for 35 minutes or until done.
Excellent video.
The yeast is what caused the problems with the experiment. It is best to store each item in a vacuum and then incorporate them together to make your SHTF breads when you need to have them..
if I don't get it out in time trays. works grt. I use that about half the time. if not very far along cut off.
when cuts off. instead of add 2 hrs, I just warm
Fun experiment but unnecessary. Grain keeps well. Get a flour mill and make flour as you need it. You can store nearly all other ingredients separately to make dough. You can buy yeast at Costco in a evacuated brick which should last a very long time.
In the end make dough fresh.
If you use grams (g) or kilograms (kg) for the weighing then you just need to add one milliliter (mL) of water for every gram removed by the freeze drying process. Your glass measuring cup has mL on one side so you don't even need a calculator to convert to fluid ounces. Remember, 1 kg = 1000 g so no hard math converting between those either, just move a decimal point, ie. 1.234 kg = 1234 g.
A few tips form an avid cook, baker & prepper that has been doing so for decades...
1. Freeze your yeast, (in a regular freezer of course), it will last & keep fresh way longer. I have 2 + year old yeast in my freezer and it's still as fresh as the day I bought it.
2. How to tell if your yeast is still working well is when you see that it has bloomed , (when it becomes creamy / frothy across the entire top / surface of the bowl), you know your yeast is still alive and active.
3. Freeze dryers will kill yeast because they are entirely too hot for the yeast to survive! Good luck trying to get that dough to rise in the future to make a loaf of bread in SHTF!
4. Word to the wise... Processed flour only retains it's nutritional value for up to one year after purchase! From that point forward your flour will continuously lose nutrition and it's ability to rise in baked goods more & more with each passing day - which is why it is advised to not store flour for SHTF - it's just not shelf stable no matter how you try to prepare / store it - including freeze drying!
5. The ONLY way to have flour, bread and pastries in the zombie apocalypse is by either stockpiling Hard Red & / or White Wheat Berries, stored in mylar bags and placed in 5 gallon buckets for safe keeping and a 25 - 30 yr shelf life... and / or growing your own wheat after SHTF has settled down!
6. Attempting to store freeze dried, pre-prepared flour is risky as well as it is in a state that is likely to act like a sponge by collecting any tiny bit of moisture it comes into contact with, priming it for mold & mildew growth in the future!
Bonus tips:
A) You can buy pre-packaged wheat berries from various companies that are already stored in the correct packaging to last 25 - 30 yrs in proper storage - so the guess work is taken care of and all you have to do is find a cool, dry, dark place to store it.
B) Purchase a good quality, manual wheat grinder and store it with your wheat berries so you can actually grind the wheat for use in the future!
C) There are videos and other information available on the Net that teach you how to grow natural yeast starters without using store bought yeast... this will be invaluable information in SHTF.
D) Perhaps you can source your own wheat berries that you can try freeze-drying yourself to save on the cost of buying prepackaged.
Trying to freeze-dry your own prepped baked goods the way you are is a waste of time and money... unfortunately it will fail in the end.
You can also make flour from acorns! They are everywhere in the fall
FD uses cold (freezing) instead of heat (dehydrator) to remove water & preserve
My guess is that the heat is too high in the freeze dryer. Sometimes I cannot touch the trays they are so hot. If that happens it will kill your yeast right away. I think you are on to something with the adding of the yeast afterwards. That would work, or should work well. I think I will just make my bread with my mixer and a solar generator and not worry about freeze drying the bread. I loved that you did that experiment. I had guessed it wouldn’t work because of the high heat. Thank you for doing this video. I learned a lot.
Interesting, thanks for experimenting. I think once you powder the freeze dried dough, you're sust back to flour and have broken all the gluten strands. I wonder if the better approach is to make mini bread sticks, roll it out then freeze dry it. When you're ready to eat, steam soften it so that it soften at the center and then bake. Or perhaps even finish baking before freeze drying than then steam soften and toast to being the crunch back.
Cool video but your conclusion at the end is logical. May as well just make a dough mix store it and then add the water and yeast when your ready to cook it. Does freeze drying the dry ingredients extend the storage life on them? Does FD of the flow extend the life?
Freeze drying flour in any way, shape , or form will fail! The ONLY way to have flour & baked goods in SHTF is by storing wheat berries which last 25 - 30 yrs in proper storage! This is because flour progressively looses nutrition and the ability to rise after one yr from purchase date.
There are also videos and other information on how to grow natural yeast starters without using store bought yeast.
Note: make sure to buy a good quality, manual wheat grinder for grinding your wheat berries in SHTF.
Hope this helps.
I would add the yeast later seal it with the dough then mix all together when your ready to make it. Guess I should have watched the whole video then commented, my bad. I do thank you for all the videos. I was a little skeptical about the price of this a few years ago when I started looking into freeze drying but since I found your videos I think I'm going top get one Thanks
I wonder if you took the bread, thinly sliced it, and toasted it if it would be like melba toast.
Have you done sourdough starter in the freeze dryer? If so what was your process?
Great experiment! That's what I really like best about your Harvest Right series - you experient quite a bit. Unfortunately, where I am, there is no flour or yeast or sugar anymore in the stores. Those items have become precious metals.
You've gotta stock up! Those are essentials!🙂
Did you ever try sourdough starter? It is a live leveler even after it is dried (not freeze dried) and reconstituted. You can dry it on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper. Once dried it will last for years in a mylar bag or air tight glass container. You could probably just add water to your flour to the consistency of bread dough and just freeze dry that. Then when you want to make bread (sourdough) just rehydrate the sourdough starter and dough dough and let it rise and bake. I've never baked bread with FD flour BUT I have made bread with dried sourdough starter (even starter over 3 years old) and it turned out great, raised perferct. Even if you FD just the water and flour mixture you can still make a sourdough starter from that, it is just a 7 to 10 process. Then make your bread using the FD flour.
How to Revive Dried Sourdough Starter
Step 1: Weigh the dried starter
Step 2: In a large bowl, add the dried starter, and the same amount (in weight) of water. Cover the bowl with a breathable cloth.
Step 3: Leave on the counter top for a few hours to hydrate.
Step 4: Start feeding/refreshing the starter as you normally would. In a day or so, the starter should be bubbly, active and ready to bake with!
If you take the trays out of the freeze dryer not long after it stops the trays are warm. If you can't get to it right away, they will be super cold and hard to handle. So, they give you an option to warm the trays, to make them easier to handle.
Question answered. Thanks
Hi, where can i get those things that you’re using in the deep freezer to keep trays level? Thank you
Whip egg whites Separately then add with rehydrated dough then add baking power then bake it.
I think the warm tray option is there if you let it complete, and then get the trays too cold (-30 degrees) before you remove them.
Agreed. The machine immediately cools your food down to freezing in order to hold it safely for you until you are ready to package. Taking that cold tray produces immediate condensation. There is no way you can get that packaged without some amount of rehydration. Additionally, it’s much easier to detect cold spots when the tray/food is warm.
Maybe mix all your dry ingredients in the recipe together minus the yeast and freeze dry them to get rid of any moisture for longer shelf life. Then you could measure out a portion of it add your yeast and wet ingredients make your dough, knead, rise and bake? Just wondering...have you freeze dried banh bao or filled dumplings?
I don't think I would try to FD the dough. I would just mix the dry ingredients and package with a sealed pkg of the oil and add the oil and water right at the time you want to cook it.
@Libertarian 4 Life I have had biscuit mix go rancid with the oil mixed in. I haven't tried the sealed packet of oil but I have read that coconut oil lasts a lot longer than other oils.
Thank you for doing these videos. Ive been thinking about the freezers but wasnt sure if it was a good investment. It appears that I will own one fairly soon. Haha
if you use it consistantly you will have no regrets in purchasing one. let me know if you ever have questions about it.
Baking powder might help it rise after its freeze dried. I'm not sure if you can add it befor FD
I love your videos & have learned alot as I'm contemplating the purchase of a freeze dryer... that being said, PLEASE stop pushing your Facebook group. Not everyone uses or even likes Fakebook
Thats why I have a mewe group as well.
You could mix everything except the yeast. Freeze dry and then store. Reconstitute and then add the yeast.
Interesting. What if you made the crust, baked it and then freeze dry it?
Maybe adding more yeast during rehydration might help?
Do you think it may work if you gave it an hour for rise time.
Can you try yeast and grains then see if the will make a dough once refreshed individually.
I have rehydrated yeast and it does survive the freeze dry process
Interesting!!
Very interesting! Good job!
I would try refrigerating the dough for maybe 2 days and then bring it up to room temp and bake. No way all the yeast died. Maybe "feed" it like a starter if you have to
Where did you get that freezer rack you are setting your trays on in the freezer? I need one!
It came with the chest freezer
can you tell me why you have a plastic container attached to the back of the pump behind the fan?
So to me if you are looking at long term storage, it seems you would have to play with your ingredients a bit. Because oil or butter wont really store well, I was thinking maybe you could freeze dry all of your dry ingredients, then for fat for later freeze dry a slab of bacon. Then when you are ready rehydrate the bacon, cook it, save the bacon grease a d use it to bake bread with. I know that could possibly work for a savory type bread, right?
They dont put bleach in the flour to make it white. It's the same as turning bees wax from yellow to white. The whole wheat is put in the sun. The sun bleaches it naturally. But, this also takes away some of the nutritional value.
where did you get your pillow??
If you put them in plastic bag add water you can mix more often
How about adding yeast after you blend it, and then trying rising it again.
I think that the yeast will definitely have to be added after. Whether or not the yeast will freeze dry is the big question. I will try soon!
For pizza dough I personally wouldn’t freeze dry that. But i do recommend a few changes. First use a mixer and use a full package of yeast to the required amount of warm water and sugar. Let this foam. Use the mixer to combine wet and dry ingredients. Pull and hand roll to a smooth finish, this takes about 5-10 minutes. Divide into 2 or 3 balls of dough. Let is rise in the fridge for 2 days. Pull and get to room temp. Roll out by hand and do not use a rolling pin on a wooden pizza spade. Make sure you have flour down so it doesn’t stick. Have the oven or smoker preheated to 550 or higher. Do not use 350 for pizza. Have a pizza stone on the smoker or in the oven during preheat, never use a baking sheet. The stone will give you the crispy crust and it just cooks better. Pre cook the dough to desired time. Pull with the wooden spade and add ingredients then return to the oven or smoker until the pizza is done to your desire. I’ve been playing around with a few recipes. I’ve combined two that have made some pretty good pizza in my option. You also need to use high quality 00 flour or bread flour for that crispy crust you were after. I personally use King Arthur.
wonder if it would work if you freeze dried with out the yeast and added it in after you reconstitute and mix then let rise?
the yeast will actually freeze dry fine. I have tried it since the video. I dont do any rise before freeze drying.
Here's my plan... let the dough rise once, then freeze. Slice into 1/2 inch slices, freeze dry. line up the slices side by side in a loaf pan, rehydrate, see if it will rise, then bake. For pizza dough, add liquid, knead & see if it will rise. Roll out thick and add toppings before baking crust.
What would happen if you added fresh yeast after rehydrating
I have one of the early models of Harvest Right freeze dryer. I didn't know you could get new software for it. What advantages are there for the new software? Thanks for the great videos, I will go to Facebook and check out your group.
Powdering makes perfect sence. When you make homemade bread, you raise the dough once, pound it down, knead, shape, raise and bake. I don't think you should raise the dough the second time before freeze drying. Even pre-made frozen bread dough in the stores has only been risen once. You thaw and raise, then bake. Its because of the life strength of the yeast. Have you tried only raising it once, then freezing?? Second rise is always to actually bake. I really think you killed most of your yeast in the second rise.
Can I freeze dry flax seed cereal, make it like the steel oats with the apples and cinnamon?
I have done flax in recipes and it did fine. If it's too oily in your cereal, it might not do well.
Can you freeze dry the yeast by itself and have it survive the process so its still active ??
I have tried to reactivate yeast after FDing. Some did survive
Nice m8 thx good video
Brian I know I’m a little late for the party but I’ve seen a UA-cam survival video where a guy from Alaska uses only two
Ingredients for his pizza. He uses self
rising flour and Greek yogurt. That might be better than the flour and yeast option when freeze drying.
I'll check it out
If you're going to go through the process of whipping the dough after rehydrating it, why not add some fresh yeast to the dough at that point? The process of Freeze drying and then breaking and blending the dough before storage probably changed the gluten structure significantly. Bread making is a bit of a science.
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Try Soda Bread!
If the issue here is to be prepared with the dough for the sake you may not have yeast in a shtf scenario, there is a solution. Don’t bother with the freeze drying at all and capture yeast from the air. There are many tutorials on the web. I successfully made bread this way. It is easy to do and you can keep feeding your yeast and storing it “live”. Then just store all the other ingredients. As with the covid-19 now upon us, we have the time to make bread.
I have captured yeast before when making beer. SUPER COOL!
Couldn’t you add the yeast after FD? Since you have to use water to rehydrate, you could add the yeast and then go through the steps of rising etc. just a thought. I of course posted this before the end lol
The end part LMAO great entertainment. WAIT OR IT!
BLESSINGS to you and your family
Why let it rise? I don’t understand- won’t it have to rise again after you reconstitute it?
My guess would have been that you should have freeze dried after you mixed it up. Think you allowed the yeast to eat up sugars.
the key is not to rise
Even when you make frozen bread dough you must double the yeast. The bread is typically frozen after the first rise after the bread has been punched down. It is then given its second rise in the refrigerator straight from the freezer. You appear to have used too much flour when rolling your pizza dough that will make the cooked product dry and crunchy. I would suggest that you grease your pan place the pizza dough into the greased pan and use a pastry roller to roll it into shape on your pizza pan. If you want to handle a sticky dough the best way is to wet your hands and even your counter top. But honestly I don't see the advantage of freeze drying bread and pizza dough after all the effort you have made to get it back into shape to bake. But it was an interesting experiment none the less and I have learned a valuable what not to do lesson from this video.
Interesting... yeast dies at 120-130. The heat of the trays is probably what killed it. Good experiments!
I bought a freeze dryer after watching a bunch of your videos. I am interested in the drying time sheet, is that still available?
Yes. It is available to download on the facebook page
facebook.com/groups/retiredat40livelifesimple/
What is the pillow? Mine didn’t come with that
They no longer include a pillow
Can you freeze dry pizza? How good is it?
It would freeze dry as long as there was not high fat meats on it (bacon or possibly sausage). It would become soggy when you tried to rehydrate the crust.
Wouldn't you want to freeze it before the yeast rises? After the bread rises the yeast has consumed resources and won't rise a second time.
The sugar might make it over flow
wha was pizza slice for
Yes a fail but a wonderful experiment. Thanks
I will experiment this week with a couple of things to see if i can get it to work.
It might work it you did not let it rise before you freeze it. If you let it rise first you exhaust the yeast so there is nothing left after you rehydrate. Freeze drying should not hurt the yeast just let it work at the right time!!!
I would assume the drastic freezing killed the yeast.
Just add in some more yeast with your rehydrating liquid.
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I think the yeast suffocated in the vacuum
Okay, so why not just leave the ingredients dry, maybe run the dry ingredients through the freeze dry process and then just store it that way
Why even freeze dry dry ingredients? I'd just vacuum seal them up with "add X ounces of water" on the package.
@@mezmez5799 Freeze drying flour in any way, shape , or form will fail! The ONLY way to have flour & baked goods in SHTF is by storing wheat berries which last 25 - 30 yrs in proper storage!
@@angiesiege SHFT?
@@kimpulsipher647 I think you meant SHTF because thats what I said.
It means "Shit Hits The Fan".
It's a funny way of saying "crises situation that causes a society wide panic"... much like the Covid 19 Pandemic.
@@angiesiege Thank you for the explanation.
If you are gonna powder the dough why not just add the dried yeast powder to the dough powder after it come out of the freezer? I don't understand why you want to wake the yeast up and then put it through the freeze dryer.
I think the trouble is the destruction of the gluten network. The bread has no elasticity left once it has been freeze dried and reconstituted. You probably be better off putting just barely mixed together bread dough in the freeze drier. Since the gluten network has not yet formed in just mixed dough, it can't be destroyed. But then, why bother? Yes, the yeast should be able to survive. Freeze drying is common for cultures. Commercial outfits do it all the time.
Can you post these directions in the body or comments so one can reference it without having to watch and rewatch the video.
When you make your bread don't let it rise the first time, go strait to the freezer. If you buy frozen dough from the store they do not let it rise. It's a waste of time and profits.
cool, thanks
Yogurt culture survives the fd process. Yeast should as well.
I'm going to do a follow up and see.
Retired at 40: this pandemic is going on thank goodness I have freeze dried food
His family: :/ pizza hut delivers
Matt Tran. I worked in infectious diseases until I retired. A pandemic was expected to hit, it was never a matter of if a pandemic would come but when. History shows this to be truth. When the pandemic hit -the fact no one has any developed immunity to it made it to be an over whelming factor for every healthcare facility on the planet. The idea of isolating and social distancing was to slow the spread of the disease hitting everyone in such a rapid fashion as to overwhelm the already overtaxed healthcare system. COVID 19 is here to stay and we will never be rid of it. We will all eventually be exposed to it. But it's best that does not occur all at once. Right now even the WHO is saying not to wear face masks any more. Anyone with symptoms even remotely similar to COVID 19 has been declared to be counted in the numbers of COVID victims even without testing and empirical evidence that confirms the presence of COVID virus. 100% of every nursing home death, for a time, was all contributed to COVID 19. People in nursing homes die all the time of stroke heart attacks and pneumonias (of other ettiology or causes than COVID) . Every year nursing home patients succumb to Influenza A or B. One of the good things about using social distancing was supposed to be that it literally knocked out the spread of influenza A and B during the time of year it normally becomes a pestilence killing the very old and the very young. What seems to be unrealistic is that it would seem with everything being called COVID 19 without true empirical verification the cause of increased morbidity (severe debilitating sickness) and mortality (disease that kills) I wonder myself if it isn't some sort of political ploy. It wouldn't be the first time in history that pestilence has been manipulated to work in someones political favor. The pandemic is definitely going to be ongoing. We simply need to adapt. Since COVID is not going to disappear it's simply a matter of when politicians get tired of playing the ain't it awful game.{probably when they want to make someone look a hero} In the mean time, I'll wear my mask because it makes other more comfortable.
@@jeannes4153 im not a trump supporter, im not saying this is a scamdemic.
i know yhis is going to sound, obviously stupid, but just freeze dry the flour and use your mason jar sealing trick, then make the bread when nessary per the instructions in the recipe.
You are right, raw ingredients always work best, but baking and raising bread takes a good amount of time. Time may be something you don't have depending on the circumstance
@@thefreezedryingcommunity well the point is that freeze drying the yeast, unless done properly ( laboratory process I don't know), deactivated the yeast.
um... I don't think Yeast can survive vacuum. Now, using baking powder and buttermilk powder would give you a rise. For a quick bread using that, you either put the dry ingredients in vacuum bag or in a glass jar and add oil and water. And, honestly I don't know what the end game here was for. Flour can last years in its paper bag, same for sugar, salt... milk powders can last 2 years or so, baking powder about the same. Mixing up a dough to freeze dry to grind back into a powder.... well.... I'm not seeing a time savings or a shelf life gain here.
In freeze drying and pulverizing you have effectively destroyed all the gluten you built up in the kneading step, furthermore it appears you killed the yeast. Seems more efficient to just freeze dry all your dry ingredients (maybe not the yeast) then mix when you want to use it.
The key to rising dough is warmth and time.....The yeast is a living thing....I think you may not have left everything to sit long enough for the dough to warm to at least room temperature ...remember that you added warm water to the yeast and sugar initially....and allowed the yeast time to rise again. It is a slow process if the dough is chilled. It will not rise under those conditions. Also... no need to beat the dough again in the machine.....gently mix and allow the dough to absorb the water at its own speed...don't force it...be gentle..you want to encourage the air bubbles to continue living...lol...good luck...
P.S. Look up No Knead bread.....called slow rise dough ...the best sour dough...Yum
"It sure looks good". Ah, the variances in human standards.... :)
maybe baking powder would be better
This was not an accurate testing of bread dough. It didn't get a chance to go through it's second rise and then be baked which should have been done after the freeze drying process not before. Try this again , yes use the freeze dried dough that was powdered. After reconstitution it would be best to simply cover the dough after the second kneading and place in a warm spot. My oven actually has bread proofing so it's nice and warm for both rises of bread dough. Then after it has risen twice in volume bake the bread. Any bread is going to wind up thick and harder when not allow to rise after the second kneading (which should be done after the freeze drying and reconstitution process). There should never be a third rising of the dough expected. The yeast really should remain alive after the freeze drying process. Many pharmaceuticals are run through the freeze drying process in order to increase it's active shelf life and maintain the bioavailability of the drug. It's just the process which needs revamping. Vaccines still function after freeze drying. Yeasts should also.
Instant yeast is freeze dried.
I tried this about 5 or 6 months ago. It was unsuccessful. Then I thought....... duh, add water to flour, get dough, freeze dry it.... get ummm, FLOUR!!!! LOL
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