I believe in testing your emergency food supply, to see how it tastes, looks and performs. Better to know ahead of time if you will want to use it!
The other week I reviewed a similar product by Thrive Life, their bread mix. I had been happy with the results, though the price point is very high on it (it is 1 loaf of bread per can, and costs $15.89 retail), I can only treat those cans as a fully 100% emergency item. Not something I would use often, simply due to being so expensive.
I remembered I had bought another brand of bread mix, so I dug into our prepper pantry and found a can of Augason Farms Honey White Bread Mix to review it, and see how it performed. I decided to try the 3 1-p0und bread loaves recipe on the back of the #10 can. It costs $10.54 currently on Amazon (full retail price is $25.99, but rarely is at that price).
The Thrive Life Pantry can is 18.51 ounces, and the Augason Farms #10 can is 58 ounces. That means each can of Augason Farms is 3 of the Thrive cans. That drives a solid point with economy. Both come in cans designed to keep the flour fresh for a couple of years. Thrive is only 3 years, where Augason Farms is 10 years. That is a huge jump.
Ingredients:
Bleached flour (wheat flour, niacin, reduced iron, thiamin mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid, enzyme [improves yeast baking]), sugar, nonfat dry milk, non-iodized salt, soybean oil, honey powder (cane sugar, honey), eggs (whole eggs, less than 2% sodium silicoaluminate as an anticaking agent), soy lecithin, dough conditioner (enriched wheat flour [wheat flour, niacin, reduced iron, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid], ascorbic acid, wheat gluten, enzymes), yeast (yeast, enzymes, soybean oil). CONTAINS: Soy, milk, eggs, wheat.
The takeaway:
- Longer shelf life of 10 years versus 3 years for Thrive’s version
- Makes 6 loaves bread versus 1 loaf per can
- $10.54 versus $15.89
- Both come in solid cans designed for long-term storage
- Both brands have similar ingredient lists
- It’s actually pretty good overall once baked as bread. While not the best I’ve ever baked, it was very easy to prep and bake and had a nice flavor and crumb. It’s miles above how commercially baked bread tastes for sure.
- It’s worth having on hand, since it is water tight and lasts a long time on the shelf. Just …. have yeast on hand. We don’t need 2020 panic again, eh? I had 4 pounds of yeast on hand so I baked happily. But many didn’t have any.
You don’t want to have to be buying yeast on the black market again, do you?
Cons:
- As with the Thrive Life bread mix, you must provide the activated dry yeast
- Must have a solid can opener to open the large (and heavy) #10 can (no pull top on these cans)
- Recipes on packaging call for cups, not grams. I figured it out though in the recipe below*. Apocalypse aside, I will always weigh flour versus scooping it.
- Needed a bit more flour to get the dough where it needed to be, as I wanted to keep the other half of the bread mix to use later, I added in my own bread flour I had on hand.
- Contains soybean oil…but this isn’t uncommon in commercial mixes (Thrive’s contains soybean oil shortening). It is why the mix has a “bioengineered ingredient” listed on the back. It’s nearly always the soy ingredients added.
Honey White Bread Loaves
Ingredients:
- 2 Tbsp activated dry yeast
- 2¼ cups warm water (at least 110°)
- 1/3 cup oil (used avocado oil)
- 816 grams honey white bread mix (6 cups worth, half the can)
- Additional bread or all-purpose flour, as needed
- Oil for bowl/bread pans
Directions:
Add the yeast and warm water to a stand mixer, with the dough hook in place. Let hydrate for a few minutes.
Add in the oil and bread mix. Start on low and mix in, then turn up to medium and let knead for 10 minutes. Start checking at 5 minutes to see if it needs more flour added, slowly adding a bit each time, letting it work in.
It was still sticky, so I knocked it out on a work surface and kneaded in more flour by hand till the dough was just slightly tacky.
Lightly oil a mixing bowl, and place dough in, flipping over. Cover and let sit for 15 minutes.
Lightly oil 3 bread pans (no sizes listed on the recipe, I used 2 regular 9×5 and 1 8×4 pan I had on hand).
Turn the dough out on a lightly floured surface and cut into 3 portions. Place in prepared pans.
Cover and let sit for 40 minutes to rise double.
In last 10 minutes time, preheat oven to 400°.
Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until golden on top. (I went for a darker loaf at 25 minutes)
Knock out on a cooling rack, let fully cool before slicing.
Bread can be sliced and frozen.
Makes 3 1-pound loaves.
Dough ready to cut into loaves.
Dough ready for 2nd rise.
Dough ready to be baked.
Notes:
By looking at how many “servings” the can made, I deduced it could make up to 6 loaves of bread. Each serving was listed as ¼ cup of dry mix or 34 grams weight. Each recipe above uses 24 servings, and the can has 48 servings of dry mix.
You may notice I use a heating pad for yeast dough. Our house is often quite chilly in fall and winter, so it is my secret to properly raised doughs. I preheat it to medium while I knead the bread, and it’s ready to go.
Slices nicely after cooling, and has a light texture. It’s the perfect sandwich size of a loaf.
~Sarah