Oat Groats Cereal and other variations...

Submitted to us by Brian H., one of our co-op members
Thanks, Brian!

Oat Groats

Oat groats are sweet and—compared to other grains—almost meaty, with a satisfying moist but chewy texture. They make a great breakfast and, just like brown rice, can be used as a grain entrée or in a casserole, soup, stir-fry or croquettes.
Makes 3 cups

1 cup whole oat groats
1 ¼ cups water or stock
¼ teaspoon sea salt
1 tablespoon unsalted butter or sesame oil
½ cup toasted sunflower seeds or chopped walnuts

Toast the groats in a saucepan or wok over medium-high heat, stirring constantly, for about 4 minutes, or until the oats are aromatic and a shade darker.

Combine the water, salt and butter in a small sauce pan over high heat and bring to a boil. Add the oats, lower the heat and simmer, covered, 45 minutes or until the liquid is absorbed and the oats are tender. Remove from the heat and let stand for 10 minutes with the lid on.  Fluff with a fork and serve hot. Garnish with sunflower seeds.

Variations:  For a creamy breakfast cereal, add groats to 1 ¾ cup cold water and cook for one hour or until the liquid is absorbed and the oats are creamy and tender.

For savory oats, add and cook 2 minced garlic cloves and 1 teaspoon minced rosemary.

For sweet oats, add 2 tablespoons raisins, 1 cinnamon stick and 1 teaspoon orange zest.

Basic Whole Wheat Sweet Dough

Ingredients

2 tablespoons active dry yeast
1/2 cup warm water
1 teaspoon sugar
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup honey
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup lard
1/2 cup condensed milk or cream
1/2 cup hot water
3 1/2 - 4 cups Prairie Gold whole wheat flour

Directions

Soften yeast in 1/2 cup warm water and sugar mixed. Combine beaten eggs, honey, salt, lard, milk, and 1/2 cup hot water. Stir in yeast mixture. Add flour a small amount at a time, beating well. Add only enough flour to make a soft dough. Cover and let rise 10 min. Turn onto floured board and knead well. Place dough in a greased bowl. Cover tightly and let rise until doubled in size, about 1 hour. Punch down and let rise 30 min; punch down, let dough rest for a final 10 min.

Bake in preheated 350 degree oven for 20 -25 min.

Makes about 2 dozen rolls, great for cinnamon rolls.

Storage Tips for your grains...

• If you are intending to "stock" up, always order in pails...they are intended for long term storage.
• NEVER store grains in a hot humid area!  Such as a garage, bathroom, or laundry area!  We have lots of opportunity for humidity to get into these grains and that WILL cause you problems!
• Make sure the grains are in a cool, low humidity area...bedroom closet, pantry, etc...
• Store grains in pails, even for daily use. You do not want to keep and store and the bags they come in.

Amish Baked Oatmeal

This comes from Rochelle, one of our co-op members.

This recipe comes from an old Amish cookbook.  It tastes like an oatmeal
cookie.  It stores well in the refrigerator and can be reheated in the
microwave and served with milk.  This has to sit overnight, so plan
accordingly. It is well worth the wait, however!!

Ingredients

1/3 cup butter
2 large eggs
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1 teaspoon nutmeg or cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup of milk
2 Tablespoons milk
3 cups oatmeal (regular or quick)

Directions
1. Melt butter.
2.  Grease 1 1/2 quart baking dish and drop in eggs.  Beat well.
3.  Add brown sugar, baking powder, vanilla, nutmeg or cinnamon, and salt. 
       Mix well, no lumps.
4.  Whisk in butter and both measures of milk, then add oats.
5.  Stir well and refrigerate overnight.
6.  Bake, uncovered at 350 for 35-45 min. or until set in the middle.
7.  Serve hot with warm milk poured over it.

For fun they also add 3/4 cup of chocolate chips and 3/4 cup raisins.
Rochelle says it makes it "extra yummy"!!!  ENJOY!!

Rich Peanut Butter Bars

1/2 cup peanut butter                    1 cup freshly milled hard white wheat flour
1/2 cup butter                                1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 cup Sucanat (sugar)             1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs                                           1 tsp vanilla

Melt butter and peanut butter together.  Add the remaining ingredients and
stir until well blended.  Press into a greased 9" x 13" pan.  Bake in preheated
350 degree oven for 25-30 minutes.  Cool and cut into squares.  Makes about
2 dozen.  1/2 cup of cocoa may be added for an extra rich brownie taste!

Enjoy!!

Double Pie Crust

2 cups freshly milled flour (hard white)
1 tsp salt
2/3 and 2 tblsp. butter
7 tblsp cold water

Combine flour and salt.  Cut in butter.  Add water and mix.  If the dough
is too wet, add a little more flour.  Divide dough in half and roll out on
floured surface. Makes 1 double pie crust.

Our family loves to use this recipe to make fruit pizza. also.
We use the pie crust as the base, then use a cream cheese, vanilla and
powdered sugar (eeekkksss...I know!) layer, and then place
sliced fruit on top...Kiwi, bananas, strawberries, blueberries all work
very nicely!  It is always a hit when we take it to get togethers!

Whole Wheat Bagels

These are fun to make and very yummy!

2 1/4 cups warm water                          5 cups freshly milled wheat flour

2 TBLS honey                                        2 1/4 tsp salt

2 tsp instant yeast                                   1 TBLS gluten ( optional)

Combine water and honey.  Add yeast with about 3 cups of the flour and mix well.
Add salt with the remainder of the flour and knead to form a slightly stiff dough. 
Let double, covering to keep dough from drying out.

In a large pot, bring 1 gallon of water to a boil.  Then add 1/3 cup honey to it.

Divide the risen dough into 12 pieces and shape into balls.  Let the balls best
briefly then poke your thumb through the middle forming a hole, twirling each new
bagel on your thumb to enlarge the hole until the hole is 1 1/2 inches in diameter.

Let each bagel restabout 5 minutes, then place into the boiling honey water.  Cook
2-3 at a time adjusting the heatso the water is simmering all the time.  The bagels
should sink, then rise in a few seconds; if they don't, they rested too long, but are okay.
Just turn them over so that both sides get wet.  After 1 minute in the water, remove with
a slotted spoon and place on a greased cookie sheet.  Bake at once in a preheated oven
at 425 degrees for about 35 minutes, turning the bagels over at the halfway point if they
aren't already browning evenly.

The bagels may be brushed with a mixture of 1/2 beaten egg and 2 tbls water, then
sprinkled with sesame seeds, poppy seeds, minced onions, or minced garlic.  The
egg wash makes even ungarnished bagels  shiny and pretty!