I love granola. Always have. I love cold milk in a bowl with granola. I love granola on top of plain yogurt…throw in some fresh fruit, or a nice dollop of jam…mmm.
I have had a hard time making my own granola and really liking it. Partly because of the lack of crispness, and partly because of the lack of clusters. Then I read online that the clusters you get in store versions can be done at home, the key is flour. I found a recipe that added oat flour, but it wasn’t a soaked recipe and I prefer to soak my grains, nuts and seeds to neutralize the phytic acid, making them more digestible.
Then I found a recipe that did both, so I didn’t need to experiment! Istra and I made a batch this morning, and I love it! The flavor is good, the crispness was achieved and it clusters. So great. I know what I’m having for breakfast…or a snack tonight.
Thanks for sharing this recipe and the reasons behind it…so far , our favourite granola came from “Apples for Jam” by Tessa Kiros and it does cluster, but I am not an expert on this and my husband seems to like it. We also used the recipe in Cynthia Lair’s “Feeding the Whole family” but we always go back to the first one. We’ll give this a try, although it is undoubtedly more work. I like Sally Fallon’s book, but I only flipped trhough the pages at the library. It requires STUDY!
Hi Francesca, thank you for the comment, and I’ll look into the other recipes. The Nourishing Traditions book can be overwhelming. I am really enjoying taking an online class with a woman who helps break things down. The website is gnowfglins.com and she has e-courses in Fundamentals, which is an overview of the Sally Fallon book, as well as intensives on Sourdough and Cultured Dairy. I’ve taken all her classes and am really enjoying them.
Oh, the others are more conventional recipes…I think you’re way beyond me in this. I only shared them because I like to be able to do something instead of buying it and actually with this James (5 1/2) can already do most of the work by himself, he only needs help with melting the butter and oven!Thanks for tthe links…
I think you’ll find the recipe easy to do, and still kid friendly for little ones helping.
Hey Amy, I finally looked up the recipe you used, and it sounds pretty good. It’s similar to the one presented in that really good how-to framework (& recipe) for “regular” granola that I mentioned (http://www.usaweekend.com/06_issues/060226/060226cooksmart.html) and pretty much how I was going to experiment with it — soaking rolled oats overnight before using. I’ve done that for fruit crisps, and the results are tasty but not as crispy as I’d like, possibly because I’m trying not to use too much sugar … also, I think I’d need to dehydrate the oats before using to get a drier result. Instead, I just make a cake-crisp hybrid that is its own yummy thing! Anyway, check out that article for even more insight into why granola comes out the way you want it to (or not!).