Making Master Mixes or Individual Prepackaged Mixes at Home

Sometimes, I like the convenience of having a master mix but I don't want all the chemicals and whatnot that are in commercial mixes. Plus, I like the taste of the recipes I normally use and they're expensive when compared to how much it costs to make it at home.

Want those $4-$8 fancy bread machine mixes? Want taco seasoning? Cinnamon toast "seasoning"? Cookie mixes? Pancake mixes? Cake mixes? Hot chocolate? Bean Dip? Baking Mix (ala Bisquick)? "Cream of whatever" soups to cook with? You know, those just add liquids, the contents of the package, mix and cook mixes? Those pricy who-knows-what's REALLY in them and has it been recalled mixes? What to do? Why make your OWN!

Make them yourself! Yes. You. CAN. Cheaper, no chemicals. Nothing but what YOU put in it. That taste like YOU made them at home - because you did! And did I mention - it's CHEAPER?!! You don't need anything special and I'll be that the ingredients are already on your shelf.

What are "prepackaged" mixes? Why nothing more than packages of (usually) dry ingredients that you add in the liquid to at home and then bake. Yeah, it's really THAT simple. You can do prepackaging of wet ingredients, but then it has to be used in a rather short period of time or frozen. For starters, stick to dry ingredient items.

 "Cream of whatever" soups CAN be made dry and then the liquid added back into them. They can even be "dairy free" and even GLUTEN-FREE if you use dried beans that you've milled into flour. Don't even HAVE to have a mill. I've done it in a coffee grinder (I don't drink coffee, so I don't have to worry about imparting a "coffee" flavor to my flour. I'd use a dedicated grinder for grinding grains.) And used a small canning jar instead of my large blender jar and "blended" the grains/beans into flour. (Bet you didn't know you can do this with any US blender. Yep, the "business" end of the blender will fit onto standard mason jars. You can use it like a "Bullet blender". No need to buy one!!) AND I've used my food processor to blend things to a flour.

Really, you can do this with ANY recipe that has dry ingredients in it. Pre-measure the dry ingredients into storage bags, jars, or whatever you like and store for later. Then when you're ready to cook, you've already got a lot of the work done for you.

And you can opt to do it two different ways. You can either store them in individual, pre-measured packets or as master mixes that you'll scoop out the designated amount of mix and go from there.


Individual Packets:

It's easy to do and I do this with my favorite bread machine recipes. While I'm measuring out the dry ingredients into the ABM pan, I line up several storage bags and measure out all the dry ingredients (including yeast) into the bags as well. I roll up each bag to remove air, zip or snap close and then mix the ingredients together so the yeast doesn't end up concentrated in one spot. I then put the smaller bags together in either a larger storage bag or a repurposed #10 can and mark what's in the bag. Since I use all whole wheat, I store them in the freezer so I don't lose the vitamins in the wheat. When I'm ready to bake, I open my cabinet over where the ABM sits, look at the 3x5 card taped inside with just the liquids I need listed that I need to add to the machine. Measure those out and dump into the pan, add one bag of the mix from the freezer and start the machine. Spend about 3 minutes adjusting the flour/water ratio and you're good to go. Perfect each time - well each time the power doesn't go out - in the middle of bread making! (Take it out, finish kneading it, if needed; let the dough rest for about 15 minutes, flatten the dough out into tortilla/pita/naan size portions and cook using "alternative cooking methods" - unless the power is back on. Then you'd just let it rise, shape into loaf, let it rise again and bake. You can even let it rise once in the ABM pan and then turn the ABM to the "bake" setting. No need to heat the whole house for one loaf of bread.


"Master" mixes:

Making master mixes takes a few minutes longer the first time you convert the recipe and some EASY kitchen math, but once you've done it the that first time and WRITE DOWN the "master" recipe, it's a breeze there-after!

You need to measure out - down to the portion of a tsp, how much a single recipe makes. Next, decide how many portions you want to store. Multiply EACH item in the recipe by that number, writing down how much you'll need in total. You'll only have to do this the first time you make this "master mix". (Just WRITE DOWN that amount and there-after you'll know) Then place your ingredients into a storage container MIX THEM WELL, mark how much you need to measure out for a single recipe and store that info on the container. When you want to use the recipe measure out that amount, add the liquid for one batch and cook.

Some basic kitchen math. Remember that 1 cup = 16 Tbs and 1 Tbs =3 tsp. So...
1/4 cup = 4 Tbs
1/3 cup = 5 Tbs, 1 tsp
1/2 cup = 8 Tbs
2/3 cup = 10 Tbs, 2 tsp
3/4 cup = 12 Tbs.

And measure carefully as you go so you have consistent results. So you can scoop, but make sure you use a knife or other flat object to sweep the excess off of the top to level it out. Do this for both measuring cups AND measuring spoons. Even a little bit too much or too little will affect how most recipes will turn out. (And yes, the queen of scoop-and-shake-off-the-excess actually does this with EVERY master mix and EVERY bread machine recipe I make.)

For instance, for a single recipe of ABM bread I need 3 1/2 cups flour, 3 tbs sugar, 1 tsp salt, 1 Tbs gluten, 2 tsp yeast. Mix this together and measure how much dry ingredients you end up with. (It comes out to 3 cups, 12 Tbs, 2 tsp which converts to 3 3/4 cups, 2 tsp for one batch.)  I want to have 6 batches stored. I measure out 21 cups of flour, 1 cup + 2 Tbs sugar, 2 Tbs salt, 6 Tbs gluten and 3 Tbs yeast. I mix that in a large container and when ready to use, measure out a single portion and add it to the liquid this recipe needs. (1 1/4 cup warm water, 3 Tbs olive oil). Turn on machine, adjust flour/water as needed to get the proper dough consistency. You really should do this each time you use your ABM anyway because it gives better result bread. It takes all of about 3 minutes or so to stand there and adjust it.

That's it. Yep. Not rocket science after all, though when you read the labels on prepackaged foods you'd think it was. 

If you'd normally cream butter and sugar together like for making cookies and cakes, doing this will change the way the recipe comes out. But you can always opt to measure the sugar into separate bags and grab a bag out for each batch you make. However, you buy pre-measured packages of cookie dough and cake mixes and it's all mixed together for you.


Shelf life:

The shelf life of any product will depend on how hot/cold the temperature is where it's stored and whether it has oils/shortening/butter, baking powder or whole grains that have been milled in it. These items shorten the "life-span" of mixes on a shelf. That's why all the chemicals are in store-bought mixes. It stops things from going rancid, though it can't stop baking powder from losing it's "oomph" nor loss of vitamins in the food. The solution to this is to either make smaller amounts of mixes and/or store them in fridge or freezer.And know that if you use butter in place of shortening, it needs to be refrigerated.

As far as I can tell from my research, most mixes that don't have shortening in it will last for 6-9 months on a shelf in room temperature. If it has shortening in it, 3-6 months. Spices are good for a year before they start to lose their potency. (And the year starts from when they're picked, not when you make the mix.)  If my spices are a little older, I just add a "tad" more to make up for the loss.


Using "food storage" items:

In some places, it's easy to find things like powdered milk, eggs and butter. It's quite all right to use these in place of the "real" thing in your mixes. I live in an area where I have to special order them and they are expensive, so I don't use them in the prepackaged mixes I make. However, to use them just substitute each item you want to use with it's DRY equivalent. Then remember to add the liquid you'd use to rehydrate it into the total liquid when you go to cook with it. So if you're using powdered egg and want to sub out 2 eggs, measure out the dry amount of egg powder (I think it's one Tbs per egg - so 2 Tbs) and mix that into the dry ingredients. Then when you go to make your mix, add in the liquid amount called for (I think it's 2 Tbs per egg, so 4 Tbs. And that 4 Tbs WILL make a difference in a lot of recipes - it's 1/4 CUP!)

Whole wheat sandwich bread ABM (foldable bread!)

OOPS, This is NOT about pesticides organic or otherwise. I'll get to that post at a later date. lol
Instead I'm going to address a food storage problem and a solution I found that works for my family.

One of the problems with having food storage is eating what you've stored. There are two factors in play. One is that it does take longer to fix these foods. Longer than take-out or nuke and eat from the store. The other is that the textures aren't always what we're use to.
At the forefront of complaints is whole wheat bread. It tends to fall apart crumb by crumb and it can't be slice it too thinly. So you've got a crumbly, too thick sandwich and yuck, no one wants to eat it.

I've been trying to eat a more healthy diet and have started using the wheat in my food storage supply. After two weeks of homemade bread, with week one being made with white flour, we needed some bread - fast. So I went to the store and bought the same bread I've been buying for the last 12 years. (12 years being the length of time we've lived in Blue Ridge.) We opened it up and tried some. "YUCK" was the pronouncement from my 18 dd and 15 ds. They have decided that they no longer want store bread! (mom does happy dance) One of the things that converted them was that I've found a way of making whole wheat bread that is "foldable". Like regular sandwich bread that will fold and not break or crumble up. I thought that there might be some others that would like this recipe or like to try and wean their family from the store bought white bread monster.

So here is the recipe I used for the white bread and then the recipe for the whole wheat.
I've given some tips on how to make these recipes by hand - for those that don't have/don't use a bread machine, as well as some of my other "short cuts".
Oh, by the way, these each make a 1 1/2lb loaf.

This is a recipe I adapted from a basic Amish white bread recipe.
Basic White Bread (ABM)
1 cup tepid water
2 Tbs oil (I use olive oil)
3/4 tsp salt
2 Tbs sugar (or honey, molasses or other sweetener)
2 Tbs Vital Gluten
3 Cups flour (regular flour. If you have bread flour, you can skip the vital gluten)
1 1/2 tsp yeast
Place in pan, in order listed. I use regular setting, light crust on my machine. Start machine and let it run for a couple of minutes to blend ingredients. Then check and make sure dough is not too wet/dry. (too wet is when you've got a puddle of dough at the bottom of the spindle. Too dry is when the bread sits on top of the spindle and spins, but doesn't move on the spindle. It should move up and down and change shape while spinning with the spindle. Also, if it's not "tacky" to the touch, it's too dry. Between the two extremes is a lot of leeway, so don't be afraid to adjust the recipe, so just add water by the tsp and flour by the tbs . Also, give it about 2 -3 mins after doing an addition to make sure what you just added is incorporated before you do anything else to it and you'll be ok.

Whole wheat sandwich bread (ABM)
1 1/4 cups water tepid water
2 Tbs olive oil (or any oil)
3 Tbs orange Blossom honey (or your favorite flavor)
2 Tbs lecithin (can omit. Get it at health food store. $8 for a huge bottle of powder helps it to rise better)
1 Tbs Vital wheat gluten (Necessary if you want a "foldable" bread, this is what makes the bread have the consistency of store bread and rise to normal heights)
2 Tbs powdered milk (opt)
1 tsp salt
3 cups whole wheat flour (I grind my own!)
1 1/2 tsp yeast (I keep mine in the freezer, along with any extra wheat)

Procedure:
Put into bread machine in order listed. Use whole wheat setting and I turn my crust color to "light". I start the machine and watch it to make sure I don't need to add a tsp more water or a Tbs more flour. Depending on your climate you may need to adjust the water/flour to make a proper loaf. It should ball up on the spindle, not be a wet mush on the bottom. It should be slightly "tacky" when you touch the loaf (yes, while it's spinning you can touch it and tell) and the dough should be moving around in relationship to the spindle (not just spinning on top of it). There's some room in between these two points, so don't worry if it's not exact. Don't be too quick to add water to whole wheat. It takes about 4 mins of kneading on my machine before I add flour or water. Mostly, I've needed to add flour, so I cut down on the water in the original recipe. It takes about 4-5 mins for the wheat to absorb the water and equalize out. My dough always looks like it's WAYYY too dry, but then needed extra flour. So I cut the water from 1 1/3 cups to 1 1/4 cups stated and it worked out better for my kitchen.

NOTES: you may need to adjust the amount of yeast, up or down according to how YOUR machine works. I find that I have to change my amount down from any given recipe. Most recipes call for about 2 tsp of yeast. This makes MY loaves collapse, so I've lowered the amount for MY machine. If you find that you need to add more yeast in the next batch, do so. You may find your machine requires even less than my machine does, so next time, use less. I adjust the yeast down by 1/4 tsp at a time, until my bread quits collapsing.

Also, I use a knife to do a more exact measurement. I get the yeast on my measuring spoon and then use the flat of the knife resting on the top of the spoon to scrape off any excess. What is left under the knife will be the correct amount. (instead of the time honored load the spoon and "shake" any excess off.) I measure all the dry ingredients this same way, using a knife to level the ingredient off.

Bread machines are picky about measurements. It's due to the fact that you can't just change the timing if the bread rises faster than the machine is set for. If you make this loaf by hand, you can get away with the "scoop and shake" method because you determine when it goes into the oven.

I found out that I don't need water that "feels warm" for my machine. If I use water that "feels warm" it's too warm and my bread rises too fast. Our bodies are 98.6 or there abouts. So the 96 degree water won't feel warm to our hands. We just don't want the water "cold". Again, if you make it by hand, you have greater freedom in the temp. Just don't get it too hot or it will kill the yeastie beasties.

I keep my yeast in the freezer. I bring home the 2 pack of 1lb yeast from Sam's and put it directly in the freezer. The yeast I'm using now (and having to cut back on) is 4 YEARS OUT of date! I keep mine in the original mylar bags. When I open one, I fold down the top of the bag as far as it will go and use a spring type clothes pin to close the bag, then put the bag in a ziplock and plop it back into the freezer.

I also keep my freshly ground whole wheat in the freezer, along with the powdered milk.

Another of my tricks is that once I have the recipe down to where it works consistently on my machine, I will sack up the dry ingredients in ziplocks and store those in the freezer. It usually takes about 4 loaves of bread to adjust a new recipe so that it works consistently. Anyway, when I make one loaf for the pan, I make another 7 for the freezer. That will last us about 4 days at 2 loaves a day. When I make the mixes, I will close the bag and then either shake it well or knead it to mix all the ingredients together. Then I keep the recipe on the cupboard door over where the bread machine sits. Since the wet ingredients are on the top of the list, I just go down the list to where the dry ingredients start. That's when you add the package of "mix" to your machine. The next time I need to make packets, there the recipe is, right on the cupboard door! We also keep a pizza dough recipe on the same cupboard door - we mix that in the machine and then transfer the portions to our cast iron skillets for baking. And for those that are offended at the idea of 3x5 cards taped on their nice cabinet fronts, you can open the cabinet door and place them on the inside of the door. Then they are not visible, but still readily handy. (If I had a nice, matching kitchen, I probably wouldn't put it on the outside of MY doors either. But since my "kitchen" consists of 4 cabinets, and 3 pieces of counter top 16", 24" and 31" long, what the heck. Two pieces of paper on a cabinet door are the least of my problems. lol)

You can make this recipe by hand, your just going to have to knead it for about 10 mins and let it rise for about 30 mins, then knead it again for about 5 mins and let it rise again before shaping it, letting it rise a third time for about 45 mins and then baking it. Or you can cheat and only let it rise once before shaping it. Your call. The more you go through the kneaded and letting it rise cycle, the fine the bread texture will be.

Also, if you're making bread by hand, stir the yeast to the dry ingredients. Just stir the dry ingredients well and then add the liquids. As long as you know the yeast is good, you don't have to "proof" it by putting it in some sugared water and trying to dissolve the yeast into the water. To me, it makes a gooey mess and you have to keep scraping it off the spoon to get the yeast back into the water. I've got better things to do for 5 mins than muck around with that process, so I skip it. But again, I know I've got good yeast. YMMV.

If you want a softer bread crust, exchange the oil/shortening/fats for real mayo - measure for measure. (1/4 cup for 1/4c, etc.) Make sure it's not Miracle Whip, not low fat/no fat, but REAL mayo. The bread crust will stay soft when it cools. You can also sub this in your biscuits and it will keep them soft too. My kids claim they can taste the mayo - which they will not eat for a million bucks, but I can't taste it in there. I used it for years but until they saw me put it in, they never complained. Again, ymmv.

I found a bunch of different ways to shape bread recipes into different style rolls. I decided to move those ideas to a different page. It will make them easier to find later.