A Healthy Dry Cereal !

Please go over to THIS blog and check out the recipe for soaked and dried breakfast cereal.  I ran across it yesterday.  One thing I’ve missed, since learning that “dried cereal” is not a healthy food, is not only the ease of having it for breakfast, but the crunchy goodness too. 

I just completed making a batch of this cereal and it is wonderful.  I am delighted and a bit surprised!  The recipe originates with Sarah, the Healthy Home Economist.  I have tweaked it for what I have on hand to use.  Karey mentioned that she likes to use a 7 grain mix.  I didn’t have that, so instead, I used the 3 grains I do have on hand.  It tastes just right.  Here is the recipe I used, with some pictures!

2 cups fresh goat milk and 2 cups milk kefir (Karey has used cultured buttermilk instead.)
2 pounds of freshly ground flour (1/3 wheat, 1/3 oat groats and 1/3 spelt)

I weighed the flour, but if you don’t have a good scale, it should be about 8 cups total.

Combine those ingredients, and stir together well in a large glass mixing bowl. 
Cover tightly with plastic wrap and allow to soak at room temperature for 24 hours.

24 hours later, add:

1 C extra-virgin coconut oil
1 C pure maple syrup (grade B is best)
1 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
3 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 Tablespoon ground cinnamon

Mix all of this together thoroughly.  It will then look like this:

Grease two 9 x 13 glass baking pans with the coconut oil, and spread the batter into the pans.

Preheat your oven to 350 F and bake the dough until when you insert a toothpick in the center, it comes out clean.  In my oven, that took 1 hour.  I suggest you start checking it after 40 minutes or so.  You don’t want to bake it too much.

Here is what it looked like right out of the oven:

When it is completely cool, break it into small pieces:

I have an Excalibur food dehydrator, and this amount filled 6 trays lined with the fruit-roll sheets.  I dried it at 150 F.  Karey says you can do it at 200 F in your oven with the door cracked open also.

Here is some of the dried cereal in a little bowl.  I have to tell you, for my taste, it is Just Right.  Lightly sweet and nicely crunchy without being hard to bite.