Since I have enough of the dry ingredients ( flour, cinamon, nutmeg, baking soda, baking powder and salt) I thought I would make a second batch of dry goods and put it in a ziploc for future baking.
My only question is that the recipe calls for orange zest. Oranges are not something I routinely have on hand ( though, today I do) Could I put the zest in the dry ingredients or would that BE BAD?
Or, another thought, could I save and freeze the zest for future use?
Thoughts on this matter are greatly appreciated.
On the one hand, orange peel is one of nature’s most indestructible substances. Physically becoming rotten would be unlikely. However, zest contains oils, and oils are both volatile (in the sense that they evaporate, not explode) and prone to going rancid. For this reason I would not incorporate the zest in dry goods I planned to store.
Freezing the zest would probably work fine. Any loss of texture would probably not be noticeable.
You could just leave out the zest and add fresh when using your stored dry mixture. If having an available orange on hand is a concern, then I would use the freeze option. There is also dried zest available in your spice isle, but either of the other options would be better.
I use the small glass jars you can collect over time to freeze small amount of stuff like orange zest. I get most of these jars from the gift baskets of Christmas. Some of the sample jelly jars can hold only a few tablespoons and are perfect for the freezing of zest.
I have one warning on bread mix in ziplock bags. They are ok for a maybe a month. The longer they sit, the more moisture the flour loses. I’ve found I need to add more moisture than originally called for.