Today was also the day we were to be resupplied by the pack station. High Sierra Pack Station brought our 27lb box of food and some white gas to refill my fuel bottle. I let my home made bread dry out to prevent it from molding. I froze everything I sent to the pack station, even the dog food. I put a couple ice packs in the box and mailed it off. I hoped all the cold material would keep the few sensitive things like the bread cool in transit. The problem was that I mailed it September 10th and it is now September 21st. I asked the pack station to refrigerate the bread as my homemade bread has no preservatives and if left in ziplock bags the moisture will cause mold to grow. With the bread now at room temperature, I wanted to dry it some before I put it back into the bags.

You may wonder why I bake my own bread. The reason is that getting quality protein and healthy foods during a backpacking trip is difficult. Most commercial backpacking foods are very low in protein and fiber. Unless you want to be pooping bricks after a few days, it is best to do your own meal construction. This bread is what I use to make pirozhki's. The recipe is from my mom of course. Unlike typical bread the recipe calls for 5 eggs and milk instead of water. This increases the protein level and then I substitute oats and whole wheat flower for some of the white flower. Whole wheat will keep longer than white and I added some vitamin C to acidify the bread which also reduces mold growth. The only other thing I know of that would have made a huge difference in shelf life would be to add cinnamon. Not wanting cinnamon bread, I decided against it. All that said there were a couple mold spots on the bread I had to remove during the drying process.

Andra documents our firewood pile for this evening's cooking and warmth.