Cream of Kamut for Jim

Cream of Kamut cereal with 3 1/2 C. of water used in cooking.

Day before serving:


1 C. Kamut grains toasted at 350° for 15 minutes and cooled.
2 t. whey (optional)
2 C. water


Blend in standard blender until grains are broken and it is beginning to look cloudy.


Let sit on kitchen counter overnight.


Next morning for breakfast:


Add 1 1/2 to 2 C. more water.
1/2 t. salt


Cook in heavy bottomed saucepan until bubbling.  Let sit on warm burner for 10 minutes or so until you like the texture. 


Top with your favorite ingredients such as:


Raisins
Cream
Coconut Oil
Butter
Maple syrup
Almonds, chopped.


Tastes like cream of wheat which it actually is.  Kamut is an ancient wheat grain.


Jim might add cocoa too.  The taste is nutty and smooth.  There is no indication that you are eating a whole grain.  The bran becomes soft in the overnight soak and more digestible.

Sprouted Grain Flour Tortillas

I'm excited to taste my new experiment with sprouted wheat/spelt. I sprouted them separately and then ground them together-keeping the flour in the freezer.

Flour tortillas:

2 C. flour-sprouted grain
1 t. salt-unrefined
1/4 C. Lard - Update: or use 5 T. Butter and cut back on the water by a teaspoon.
1/2 C. Water-warm

Toss with fork to make a stiff dough and knead thoroughly. Coat with olive oil, wrap in plastic, and refrigerate overnight or at least 4 hours. Divide into 8 pieces and roll out using arrowroot.

Heat a griddle to a medium hot setting and cook each tortilla for about 25 seconds on each side. I used a cast iron griddle and just left it hot between each tortilla because it took me more time than that to roll each one out. I did roll several and stacked them raw while the skillet heated up and that worked too. I spread butter on each as I removed it and stacked them, covering them with a towel.

These are delicious and the texture is very soft and pliable, not what I expected from whole grain dough! I believe the sprouting caused several enhancements in the grain. Neutralizing the phytates (an important nutritional process), taking the bitterness out of the flavor, and allowing the soft texture.

Update 2-6-2010 I did use butter for a batch and increased from 4 T to 5 T since butter has water in it and lard doesn't. I also learned that the ball of dough should be like soft playdoh which rolls out much faster and more easily. I used arrowroot to roll them and found that I could stack all 8 tortillas in their raw state before I began to fry them on the dry griddle.

Sprouted Flour

I've learned to sprout grains to neutralize the phytates on the surface which are anti-nutrients when we eat whole grains that are not properly soaked. This also increases digestibility.

2 C. white whole wheat berries in
1/2 gallon jar
Warm water

I put this jar above my stove where the light keeps it warm-especially in the winter.
Soak overnight or 12 hours.

Pour out the water using a special mesh lid for the wide-mouth jar or a strainer if you don't have this.

Rinse several times a day until you see the sprout budding from the grain. I consider them perfect just before the tail flips out and becomes hair-like.

After each rinsing, drain well and keep jar on it's side with plenty of ventilation.

Drain when ready and layer on solid or small mesh screens in a dehydrator. If I didn't have a dehydrator, I'd dry the berries on a towel and put on a cookie sheet in the oven at the lowest temperature possible.

Put in dehydrator and leave on for about 8 hours. I always chew one to make sure it's hard and not wet so that my grain mill will have no problem.

Grind grains into flour and freeze for things like:

Cookies-Hermits are my favorite just now.
White sauce
Short bread
Pie crust

Sprouted flour is so useful where there is no liquid in a recipe to soak the grains. 2 C. of grain yields about 3 1/2 C. flour.

Lasagna with Gluten Free Soba Pasta

I learned to make soba (buckwheat and gluten-free) noodles from Kimi at Nourishing Gourmet. Two changes I made were to add 1 1/2 t. salt after I had soaked the mixture for 36 hours along with 1 T. arrowroot powder to help with the flexibility. It was no problem to work these things into the dough. There is no gluten to tense up and resist. I used arrowroot to dust the board and rolling pin.

Update 1-24-2010: I made soba noodles with great success when I ground my own buckwheat but when I bought buckwheat flour, it was very different. It was much darker and had a strong flavor when I cooked a test noodle. I didn't end up using the dough. I'm researching why this would be. I find my own ground flour to be delicious, but not the purchased flour. I don't know why yet.

I got my regular lasagna ingredients together and then rolled out the pasta onto a board, cut it into wide noodles (just like commercial lasagna noodles) and layered them into the casserole dish raw, along with everything else. I did wait to top with fresh mozzarella until it had baked for 45 minutes. If I don't do that, the mozzarella browns too much for me.

Tomato sauce with oregano and basil.
Sauteed hamburger, seasoned with salt (1 t./lb.)
White sauce made with sprouted whole wheat flour.
Collard Greens-cut up and raw
Soba noodles cut wide like lasagna
Peas-just a few sprinkled in.
Mushrooms-sauteed
Mozzarella cheese-fresh sliced
Cheddar cheese-I still like a little cheddar in my lasagna even though it's not authentic.

Layer the above ingredients and bake for 45 min.
Add mozzarella and cheddar cheeses and bake 15 to 20 min. more.

Cool a bit before eating-for best flavor.

Fluffy Whole Wheat Biscuits - Scones

Kimi at The Nourishing Gourmet posted the most wonderful biscuit recipe. We have been yearning for a good scone since we gave up white flour and this is it.

Since we eat dairy, I used butter cut into the flour and kefir for the acid liquid. I inadvertently used a 400 degree oven and baked them for 15 minutes. They were perfect. I've not tried the hotter oven myself. I also added currants at the end and think that next time I'll soak the currants with the flour at the outset.

-2 1/2 C. Whole Wheat lower gluten flour or 10 2/3 oz ground grains
-6 T butter cut into flour with pastry cutter
-3/4 C. Kefir or Yogurt adding more to make a medium stiff dough

Let this mixture sit covered overnight at room temperature.
Chill dough about 1/2 hour before baking.
Roll out into an 8" x 10" rectangle on floured board using a little white flour.

Over two thirds of the dough, with a strainer or sifter, sprinkle:
-1/2 t. Baking Soda
-1 1/2 t. Baking Powder
-1 t. Sea Salt

Fold the empty third over half of the dusted two thirds.
Fold the other third over the doubled part.
Turn 90° and roll out into the same sized rectangle, 8" x 10".
Do this 6 times, adding 1/3 cup currants before the 6th time if desired.
Cut with a sharp knife with one stroke and don't use a sawing motion to give the best lift.
Bake at 400° for 15 minutes.

Update:  Recipe amounts and picture added 2-7-10

Update: Adding the currants before soaking worked perfectly. I also noticed that with frozen flour, I need to use less. I think it's more compact. Next I'll try cheese added in at the end. These are the best! 4-11-09

Update: I used chilled dough and found that at about 50 degrees, it was very easy to roll out the dough and incorporate the leavening while at the same time layering (laminating) the dough for exceptional fluffiness. The butter layered rather than soaked into the mass.

Blender Ground Wheat Bread-Compromise Loaf

Update: I am not getting the same results with this recipe each time. The blended grain idea seems to be useful, but the amount of white flour is turning out to be more like half of the recipe. 4-11-09

Help me with this method. Would you try this experiment?

You can grind your own wheat berries in your blender to make this "compromise" loaf of bread. It uses sourdough for the acid medium to neutralize the phytates and a little yeast to help things along after it's kneaded. It does use some high gluten white flour which does not need soaking. The whole grain has already been soaked, so a yeast rise which is fairly quick is OK to me since I still use a little yeast. I have never mastered a sourdough 100% whole wheat loaf that I like, so this is my compromise. I use my usual recipe amounts.

1+1/2 C. wheat berries (1 C. = 8 oz. berries)
1+1/2 C. water with a little more to drizzle in (use minimum amount possible) to maintain a vortex.
Glob of sourdough starter (about 1/4 C).

Blend for 3 minutes while maintaining a vortex in the blender.

Pour back some of the blended grain/water/sourdough mixture into the sourdough jar to save.
Let the rest soak overnight in the blender or in the bread machine bowl.

Next day add:

2 C. King Arthur All Purpose or Bread Flour
1 t. yeast or less-I've not tried this without yeast yet.
2 t. Real Salt
1 T Olive Oil or melted butter

Start the bread machine and check the dough for correct hydration since I've not used exact measurements. When the dough cycle is complete, form the loaf by hand and put in the pans you use. Bake as usual.

This dough has a great texture and seems nicer than using pre-ground whole wheat flour. The white flour has enough gluten to give this a huge rise.

This is even better: I also tried soaking whole wheat berries in whey and water and then blended the soaked berries the next day. I did add some sourdough to this dough for flavor. I got GREAT bread but almost burned out my blender. I formed two batards on parchment paper, and when they had risen, I put them in a cold oven and set it to 400 degrees and set the timer to 45 minutes.

The texture of this bread is like soft white bread. It seems pretty magical and has a nice artisan crust. The dough is at least 2/3 whole wheat (by weight) , so this is a nice surprise. The bread has nice pieces of wheatberries in it with a lovely texture. Wow! I have never gotten this crust with this much whole wheat. I believe the gluten in the whole wheat was preserved since the acid medium soak was on the outside only and didn't destroy the gluten which happens a lot to me when I make sourdough bread.


If you own a Bosch Universal, will you try blending soaked wheat berries in your Bosch with the amount of water you usually use for your bread recipe? I'd like to know if the Bosch can handle it.

Note: My wheat berries weigh about 8 oz./cup and flour usually weighs 4.5 oz./cup so my usual recipe of 3+1/2 C. flour to 1+1/2 C. water makes this about 2/3 whole grain bread. And you don't have to have a grain mill.

Gravy made with Beef Broth and Oatmeal

Oat Groats

I love gravy. I am also tired of soup at the moment. It doesn't last long, but it happens sometimes. So I decided to make gravy because I can never get enough.

Grind Oat Groats in a food mill and mix with water and whey to make a slurry.

Or put 1 C. groats in blender and add 1 C. water plus whey, blending for three minutes, drizzling in water to maintain a vortex.

I use about 2 T. whey per quart of mixture. Soak this overnight and then keep in refrigerator to use whenever you get hungry for gravy or need to thicken something. You can even cook this with water for breakfast and call it gruel.

To make gravy, heat beef broth and pour in a little slurry of oatmeal, add salt, and cook for a few minutes. You can make it any thickness you desire and can keep adding oat mixture to keep thickening it.

Tonight I baked lamb shanks and necks, covered in my le Crueset, and after they were soft and browned, I poured in water and oat mixture and put it back in the oven until it thickened.

I prefer beef or lamb flavor with oatmeal but did not like the chicken/oatmeal flavor.

Nixtamalized Blender Corn Pancakes a la Sue Gregg

I've been having such fun with Sue Gregg's Blender pancake recipe. I tried it with whole corn kernels that I nixtamalized, washed, and then ground in my blender.

1 1/2 C. Nixtamalized whole corn
1 Egg
1 1/2 T Olive Oil
1+ C. water drizzled in to make a vortex

Blend 3 minutes on high beginning by pulsing.

Using a funnel in the top of my blender, I added:

1/2 t. Soda
1/2 t. Baking Powder
3/4 t. Salt

Blend only a few seconds to distribute the leavening agents.

Pour onto hot griddle. My batter was a rather thin which I really liked. These have a marvelous flavor which is really enhanced by the nixtamalization. They are very nutty and ready for spicy toppings. I had my first one with butter like a pancake. The amazing thing about this recipe is that you can have dried corn available in the pantry and then without a grain mill, you can easily use the whole grain for cooking. I froze some of the wet corn since I wasn't ready to use it. This is very handy in case I get inspired on the spur of the moment.

Sue Gregg's Blender Pancakes-Judy's Version

I love Sue Gregg's Blender Pancake recipe. It's the perfect blend of traditional cooking and technology. Her website has many variations listed and if you are overwhelmed with the information, I've extracted a simple recipe.

Night before you serve pancakes:

1 C. mixed whole grains (not flour), put in blender and add,
1 C Yogurt, Kefir, or Buttermilk.


Blend 3 minutes on high and maintain a VORTEX by drizzling in a little water. The Vortex is important in getting all the grains blended and looks like a funnel or tornado in your blender and ensures that everything is blended well. Let sit overnight or 7 hours at least for the acid medium to remove the phytates on the grains. Phytates are an anti-nutrient which keeps you from absorbing other nutrients you are eating. In history, people just soaked their grains without knowing why. It's very traditional to do this.

In the morning, add the following. Get the dry ingredients ready to dump in all at once.

1 T. Flax seeds-optional
1 Egg
2 T. Olive Oil or melted butter

3/4 t. Real salt
1/2 t. Baking Soda
1/2 t. Baking Powder

Put the egg, flax and oil in the blender and blend on high while maintaining a vortex using more liquid.

When the flax seeds seem to be ground up, add the dry ingredients into the vortex. The easiest way is to place a funnel in the top of your blender and dump them in. The funnel makes them hit the right spot. Blend only a few seconds after the leavening is added because it thickens and that's the way you want it.

Pour batter onto heated griddle and serve with butter and maple syrup and bacon on the side!

This is part of the Nourishing Gourmet's Handmade Gift Carnival.

Update, 11-14-09: If you use Kefir, beware that storing the leftover batter with a tight lid causes pressure to build up and the jar may explode, if not with broken glass, then all over you. Kefir has good bacteria that continues to grow.

Grain Mix for Blender Pancakes-Favorite

Using Sue Gregg's Blender Pancake recipe. I like this mix of whole grains:

2 parts Kamut
2 parts brown rice
2 parts buckwheat
2 parts oat groats
1 part rye berries

These can be changed at whim from what I can deduce. You can go gluten-free easily and maintain excellent flavor and texture. This is a pretty amazing recipe. One of those better than could be imagined. Making pancakes from this is unlike trying to use 100% whole wheat bread which is really hard to make light and tasty. One can get used to it of course, but the pancakes can be passed off as "regular" to anyone, even skeptics of healthy eating. I refrigerate the leftover batter for several days without loss of quality.

Since grains can be stored whole easily, I think it's the perfect marriage of tradition and technology.

Pepper Parmesan Blender Dressing-No Mess

First, check to see if your blender blades screw onto a standard mason jar. If it does, you make this without much clean-up.

I use a 12oz. mason jar, but a pint would be fine too.....into the jar add:

1 clove garlic, peeled
1 egg yolk, free range
3 T Lemon juice, fresh
2 t. Dijon style mustard, I don't bother to measure this
1/2 C. Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 T coarse ground pepper
1/2 C. grated fresh Parmesan cheese
1/2 t. salt, "Real Salt"

I screw the blade/base component onto the jar and turn "up-side-down", place on the blender and pulse several times, and then blend at a medium speed. The mixture seizes up nicely for me even though I haven't drizzled in the olive oil like Julia Child says to do. I don't even bother to have everything room temperature which is supposed to be better.

This is very intense and satisfies those who need some real zing with something else bland. I screw on a regular lid to store and only need to wash the blades of the blender.