# Roasted Oats



## goodgiver (May 22, 2006)

I read a recipe in the Doctor office waiting room magazine the other day about roasting dry oatmeal. Why would anyone do that and what do they taste like and how do you do it.


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## Haggis (May 22, 2006)

What Americans know as granola (and everyone else as toasted muesli) is made from roasted oats.

If you mix milk with oats and eat straight away they can be quite chewy and almost tough in texture. When you roast the oats (as in granola) they turn almost crispy. Hence, when you mix with milk not only do they retain this crispyness but also they lose most of the chewyness.

They taste like...toasted oats . It adds a bit more of a slightly nutty taste...like lightly toasted nuts.

To do it generally you use oil (most commerically bought granola and toasted muesli uses it) to keep the grains seperate and aid in the browning process. I do it without oil, preheat an oven to around 150'C, add the rolled oats to a baking tray, shaking them out till they are just in one layer. Whack them in the oven and check regularly as they can burn very quickly (though the fairly low lower oven temperature of 150'C will help prevent this).


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## Gretchen (May 22, 2006)

What Haggis said. My granola recipe begins with roasting the oats first and then adding and finishing.


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## Ishbel (May 23, 2006)

We use a lot of toasted oats for cakes and biscuits and of course, cranachan!

Another good way is to lightly toast the oats and then add them to caramelised sugar.  Spread out on a greased surface, as evenly as possible.  When cold, crush with a pestle and mortar - but not too finely - it's a kind of interesting peanut-brittle sort of thing, great as a subsitute for plain toasted oats in cranachan style dishes, or sprinkled over greek style yoghurt and fresh raspberries or rhubarb compote.


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