Revisit flaking grains
It’s been a while since I posted my successes with flaking grain. I got new oat groats from Breadtopia and wanted to do a very short tutorial. I have an older Marga Marcato hand crank with aluminum rollers. The steel rollers are not available and the price of this one has gone up. There are other flakers available and the Mock Mill folks have an electric one.
Prepping of the grain is essential. I will link at the end the blog where I learned how to be successful. Two cups of grain and 3 tsp water shaken well to distribute the moisture and then left covered for 12-24 hrs. This ensures extremely flat even flakes with little to no effort. The flakes can then be toasted and then cooked to porridge or be added as flakes to any breads. All the grains I have tried have been successful with this method. I’ve done Emmer, Spelt, Oats, Wheat of several kinds Barley. They all work using this method. If you try a few grains at 12 hrs and they need more time just wait the full 24. Do not add more water , this really is plenty.
http://www.foodprepper.com/tag/oat-groats
Comments
Thank you for this, Caroline. I have a flocker but never used it for anything but oats. I will give it a try for sure!
–AG
Those are great tips Caroline, maybe some day I will get a flaker.
Benny
The flaker I have isn't fancy at all but it makes such excellent cereal. The oatmeal is so creamy and cooks so fast and you get all the nutrition unlike the store bought flakes I hope you can get one,
How'a Florida ? Hope you are having a great time. c
That's amazing. Would love to have something like that as I love oats and eat it every weekday.
The costs are quite high for me though. Grain is expensive :(
I did have fun over the summer with an old grocery store industrial coffee grinder. I threw in uncooked rice or barley or rye grain and added the flour to waffles or bread or pizza. It was powerful enough to create fine flour pretty fast. Tasted amazing. I left the machine behind for now, unfortunately, when I came back to Toronto this month. It's huge!
Will be interesting to hear about how flaking affects your bakes in taste and texture.
I have lots of posts using the flaked grain as porridge. It works very well. Toast after flaking and then cook . Their’s a learning curve as far as hydration with porridge but once you get that sorted the breads have incredible texture and flavor . Look back through my bakes. Since you are in Canada I can’t speak to cost etc. the oat groats were $5 a pound from Breadtopia but they will last a LONG time even eating daily.
I need to try this tip of adding the water! I had the all steel Marga flaker about five years ago, but it started making horrible squealing noises. I switched to a Flic Floc from Komo—I already had the Fidibus XL mill and I love the brand. It’s much easier to crank, only downside is the wheels aren’t adjustable, so there’s just one thickness. I love freshly rolled oats, so good!