August 2, 2014 - 9:39am
Toasting oats before making porridge
Anyone out there toasting grains before cooking them in porridge for porridge breads (a la Tartine)?
A while back Cook's Illustrated did one of their typical pieces on making the 'ultimate' oatmeal, and recommended lightly browning the oats (steel cut in this case) in butter prior to adding water. I've done this and it did give the oatmeal a richer (go figure) and nuttier flavor. Not a huge game-changer, but a nice touch.
My experience dry toasting plain rolled oats doesn't seem to do a whole lot for them without adding other things to them (e.g. in making granola), but I'm now using a dry toasted batch in a Tartine Oat Porridge Bread now. We'll see what happens.