When the Trucks Stop, It’s Over

Daily Survival Blog ^ | 5/19/12 | Ken

[Kartographer]

Systemic risk. I guarantee that most ordinary folks have no idea that if trucks stopped rolling all across America, within a short period of time nearly all Americans would all be in a life-threatening situation from major delivery shortages. 70% of all freight that is moved in the U.S. is done so by truck. You (we) depend on that ‘stuff’ for our survival. A major disruption in truck travel would immediately impact seven major industries, and would bring America to its knees within days due in part to “just in time manufacturing”, zero-inventory, and the fact that our modern way of life is entirely dependent upon unimpeded distribution chains.

[JRandomFreeper]

I've got the outdoor oven that uses wood. And I'm in the process of building a dedicated wood-fired bread/pizza oven from clay deposits I have on the property.

As far as kidnapping goes... Ever read "Ransom of Red Chief"? ;)

/johnny

[Cowman]

It would be so easy to bring this nation to its knees, by shutting down the distribution network. Problem is, the trucking unions will continue to do their “Socialist Duty For The Nation” and keep driving.

in 1977 over 75% of trucks on the road were independent owner operators. Now less than 30% are independent. I doubt this is a coincidence.

[JRandomFreeper]

because the store bread is so horrible.

You can say that again.

Do you really want to grind the soaked wheat? Or do you want to crush it? Because you can get roller mills from homebrew supply stores. Brewers use them to crush malted barley. I've also used the pasta roller on my big KitchenAid(tm) to crush them. ;)

/johnny

[JRandomFreeper]

I can cook fair to good biscuits in a dutch oven, but it's very difficult to cook good bread in a dutch oven, from my experience. And it takes a hell of a lot of practice to not burn the biscuits.

/johnny

[Marcella]

Actually, I could do that. I have a Lodge Dutch oven. Some months ago, I bought an outdoor fireplace. I got it to burn trash and cook if my other methods to cook ran out of fuel. I have some wood cut up and ready, plus charcoal. It has a pull out drawer for the wood or charcoal to be in and a grate over the drawer to place food. I’d take the grate out and put the Dutch oven in the coals and some of top of it and that would create an oven.

Thanks for reminding me about that outdoor fireplace.

[steve86]

"there is already a GREAT decline in goods being shipped "

I am both a prepper and a doomer, at times. But your statement is B.S.

J.B. Hunt Earnings Soar On Rising Shipping Volume

By KEVIN HARLIN, INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY Posted 04/12/2012 04:37 PM ET

Trucking and transportation logistics firm J.B. Hunt (JBHT) delivered first-quarter earnings of 57 cents, up 43% vs. a year earlier, as load volume increased.

[JRandomFreeper]

Practice. Dutch ovens and bread require burning quite a few batches, or half-burned, half-raw batches to get very good at it. Using wood to cook breads is not easy, and requires practice to master.

Now is the time to acquire skills. And the bad experiences can be fed to chickens or pigs if you have them.

/johnny

[Marcella]

I’ve got instructions how to bake bread in a Dutch oven, but haven’t looked at that in a long time.

I figured it would be Indian fry bread and tortillas for me.

If you saw the location of my house - that is the kicker of course, because you would drive past it and never know it, and I live in town - yes, in town. And, if you found it and were a bad guy, you would be dead before you could get in due to my security measures.

With my location, I don’t have the great outdoors like you do. My chicken is in a can and my eggs are egg mix plus egg substitute for recipes.

[rottndog]

Practice makes perfect...

[Eva]

I don’t how many people are self sufficient today, but there are plenty of them in the county where I live, small farmers who raise their live stock, chickens,pigs, goats and all their own vegetables. They bake their own bread and can or freeze all their own vegetables. (not us, but lots of other people)

The Democrats who control the state hate them and are doing everything in their power to prevent them from living the lifestyle that they have always lived.

[JRandomFreeper]

Yep. Nothing wrong with fry bread and torillas. I did those a lot in NM when I was there, living in the woods. I've got comals ranging from 8" to 14"

/johnny

[little jeremiah]

Actually I don’t know whether crushing or grinding, I thought grinding. You know the kind of “health food store” bread that is sort of chewy? There are different kinds, they usually say they’re made of sprouted wheat. But I’m sure they’re made of soaked wheat berries, if sprouted just for a few hours.

I want to try that kind of bread. Lately I make the no-knead kind using 1/4 t. yeast per 3 cups of flour, I make it times four, using ww, some white, some barley.

[Chickensoup]

Up until about 30 or 40 years ago what the local stores didn’t stock was in your grandparents pantry, root cellar or in their garden. How many people have the same today?

---

Perhaps 60 or 80 years ago...

[JRandomFreeper]

Ah... I don't buy bread and haven't for years, except from friends with artisian bakeries (and not much of that these days), but I do know the kind of bread you are talking about.

You do actually need to sprout the wheat, but not much. It converts the starches to sugars. The rootlet should be as long as the berry or a little shorter when they are used.

Toast them if you like for added flavor.

They aren't ground wet. They are crushed dry after being sprouted.

Chewy bread comes more from conditioning than from ingredients. I can take the exact same recipe and prep it two different ways and it's either light and fluffy or dense and chewy.

/johnny

[JRandomFreeper]

Forgot to ask... Do you use eggs or fats of any kind (includes milk) in your recipe?

/johnny

[JRandomFreeper]

30 years ago family had stock stored in pantries that they had put up.

Just last year, a cousin and I swapped pint jars of jalapenos because mine were off the Scofield chart and hers were very tasty vegetables with no heat.

Tradition continues in some places.

/johnny

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

I have known this for some time and have been expounding on it to whomever would be inclined to listen.

Once hyper-inflation takes hold and diesel fuel becomes too costly, the trucks will stop.

The real problem is that Government is licking its collective chops at the prospect.

[little jeremiah]

Hmm, so they sprout the wheat, then dry it, then crush it, then make the dough?

Way too complex for me, then.

The no-knead version I make I saw here and elsewhere, you’ve probably seen it. Original recipe is just flour, salt, water and yeast.

3 c. flour
1 t. (I think?) salt
1/4 t. yeast
1 5/8 c. water. Some say 1 1/2.

Since I don’t like to use a lot of white flour, and I tried it with all ww which was a bit too dense even more my household, I make it like this:

9 c. ww flour
2 c. white flour
1 c. barley flour (but I’m so inexact, sometimes the whole amount of flour is more)

3 or so t. salt (I think it needs more really)
1 t. yeast
6 1/2 c water

That’s the basic recipe I use. BUT I often add powdered milk whisked into the dry ing, potato flour, or powdered whey. If I cook potatoes, I save the water and use that instead of potato flour. Sometimes I might add 1 or 2 t. sugar. I’ve tried adding some melted butter a time or do but mostly don’t bother.

My mother taught me how to make bread when I was around 11 so I’ve made bread most of my life. I wish I knew about the no-knead kind years ago!

Also right now I have a very bad oven so I constantly have to shift loaves and racks around, might be better in a better oven. I’ve also lived for years without an oven so I can also make naan (in a frying pan), chappatis, flour tortillas, masa tortillas and a couple of other flat breads. I actually like them all a lot, but they are more time consuming than oven baked bread.

How do you change the method to make it denser or fluffier without changing ingredients?

[little jeremiah]

Did you make your outdoor oven? I’ve wanted one for a long time.

[JRandomFreeper]

Any fat will make the bread more tender and less chewy.

I can, and have used exactly the same recipe for 1 oz hot rolls (light and fluffy) and bagels (heavy and chewy).

For the oven problem, I would suggest a chunk of marble, about 1" thick, just smaller than the floor of the oven, lifted about 2" off the floor of the oven. You can get marble scraps sometimes at job sites. It's not hard to cut into the right shape if you have a hammer and a chisel.

I can commiserate on oven problems. My gas oven died a few days ago, and I'm back to wood-fired or no bread. The oven is so old I can't get the part I need to repair it.

Salt should be about 1.5 to 2% of the total weight of the flour(s).

/johnny