I've been making my own granola for a long time and I know Linsey has started making her own too. I thought I'd share my "learning recipe" since I found it more helpful than the more specific recipes out there. It gives a good idea of what goes into granola and how you can make it truly your own. The trick is not to overcook it. Like candy it gets harder after cooling so you want it to be still kinda soft when it comes out of the oven.
Enjoy making your very own $8.50 a pound fancy granola on the cheap ;) and share your favorite combo with us if you already make granola!
Basic Dry Cereal from the More With Less cookbook.
preheat oven to 300'
In a large bowl combine 7 cups of dry ingredients including at least 2-3c rolled oats plus other grains:
wheat germ
whole wheat flour
wheat bran
wheat grits
cornmeal
soy flour grits or roasted beans
grape nuts
sunflower seeds
sesame seeds
pumpkin seeds, roasted
coconut
dry milk
chopped nuts
1-2 tsp spices- nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger, etc.
Combine seperately and pour over dry ingredients 1 c. liquids including some fat & some sweetener:
honey,
syrup,
brown sugar (combined with 2T. water for 1/2c.)
oil
melted butter
nut butter
milk or cream
Spread mixture onto cookie sheets so it's not too thick. Put in oven and bake for 10 minutes, stir, bake another 10 minutes, stir then start checking it & stirring it more frequently. It can take anywhere between 30 and 60 minutes to bake. It's done when the oats are still maleable but just lightly browned. Allow to cool completely then add dried fruits as desired. Happy granola making! I'll post my current favorite in the comments.
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8 comments:
I've been wanting to make our own granola for so long but every recipe I came across was way too specific/limiting. This is perfect! Thanks for posting it, I'm sure this will be a favorite in our household!
OK, as promised, my favorite combo right now: Almond Cranberry Granola:
Dry:
6c. oats
1c. whole wheat flour
1c. raw wheat germ
1/2c. freshly ground flax seed.
2c. almonds
cinnamon, nutmeg
Wet:
1c. honey
3/4c. canola oil
3/4c water
dehydrated & sweetened cranberries added after granola is cooled. It's yummy :)
I don't understand the "basic granola" recipe at all. What do you mean by the long list of grains? Are you supposed to use all of those grains? What are the proportions? I've never even heard of some of those grains. The Almond Cranberry Granola recipe sounds doable but what do I do with those ingredients (am I supposed to plug that info. into the Basic Granola recipe)?
Mandy, sorry! I guess it is unclear! It's 7c. dry ingredients and 1c. wet ingredients. Mix well & bake at 300' until the oats are just a little soft still (anywhere from 30-60 minutes). Let cool completely then add dry fruit as you like.
The long list of ingredients suggestions for you to choose your own combination from. You just need to use at least 2-3c of that 7c. as oats. Does that help?
Mandy: the first time I made granola I only used oats and it worked fine. I sprinkled some flour over the oats to help them clump, but I don't know if that did anything. I've made granola four times over the past couple weeks, and its really hard to bungle!
The recipe I am using says that using 3T water in a recipe about this size also helps them clump.
I only stir mine once.
So that's a 7:1 ratio between dry and wet ingredients. If that's one cup of liquid, how much of that should be sweetener and oil/butter? I just want to make a normal sized recipe of really ordinary granola to start out.
I can't wait to try this! I would really love to stop buying so much boxed cereal.
That depends on how sweet you like it. I think about 1/2c. fat is good. There's nothing really precise about this, though!
Mandy, I have about 40 pounds of oats, so if you don't want to treck over to whole foods let me know. I'll sell you some.
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