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Simple and Healthy Homemade Granola

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This homemade granola is perfect to start your day…loaded with oats, seeds and nuts, with a touch of honey…

Can you believe that this is my first attempt to make granola? It is true that I have seen homemade granola in so many posts, but never had the desire to make until one day at Costco, after trying it and bringing it home, we somehow got into granola…

We were adding the granola to yogurt, cereal, yes, cereal just to give different texture…until I carefully read the content of sugar and decided right there to make my own.

– Why is great to make your own granola?

Not only you can control the amount of sugar and oil you add, you can add all your favorite nuts, seeds and so on.

– How easy is to make granola?

It is just like counting one-two-three.  Gather all the ingredients you want…main ingredient is organic rolled oats…after that be my guest and add whatever you want.

– Do you like cluster or loose granola?

I like my loose since I do not tend to snack on it…but, you can have it both ways, for clustered granola, just press it against the pan and break into chunks. For loose, spread it lightly and mix once out of the oven.

– How long can you keep homemade granola?

Once it totally cooled, store in an airtight container and it should be good for 2-3 weeks. I prefer to add the dry fruits such as cranberry, raisin, blueberry when I am serving the granola, this way I make sure that my granola has not contact with any moist. Moreover, if I have fresh fruit I skip the dry ones on my yogurt…I think it makes sense right?

– Are you ready to see what I mix on my granola?

Ingredients:

  • 4 cups old fashioned organic oat
  • 1 cup slivered almonds
  • ¼ cup chia seeds
  • ¼ cup hemp seeds
  • ⅓ cup pumpkin seeds
  • ⅓ cup sunflower seeds
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • ⅓ cup of honey (or a mix of honey and maple syrup)
  • ¼ cup vegetable oil (sunflower)

Method:

Preheat oven to 325oF.

In a large bowl, stir together oat, almond and the seeds.  Mix well and set aside.

In a separate small bowl whisk to combine oil, honey, vanilla extract, salt and cinnamon.

Pour the honey mix into the oat mix and toss to coat.

Spread the granola onto a silicone mat or parchment paper lined sheet pan and bake for 20-25 minutes.

If you like clustered granola, bake it undisturbed. For loose granola, stir the granola halfway through baking.

Let the granola cool completely before storing in an airtight container.

– Looking for more breakfast recipes? Check these out…

Did you know that granola, due to high amount of oat are a great source of fiber and iron? Adding nuts and seeds will add good fat such as unsaturated fat to your diet. The good thing about making your own granola is that you are in control of the amount of sugar and fat you add to it.

Thank you for visiting Color Your Recipes…have a colorful week!



Multi-Seed Sandwich Bread

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This soft and cottony bread is loaded with many kind of seeds, super healthy and so tasty.

– Do you remember the post about no-knead multi-seed sourdough bread?

Well, this is pretty much using similar ingredients…without the sourdough starter but with the water roux.

– What is the texture of this multi-seed bread?

It is amazingly soft, so soft that you cannot even tell that is a healthy bread loaded with seeds. This is because I used the tangzhong or water roux method to make this bread.

– How the bread taste?

The bread is super aromatic due to the combination of seeds, especially the black and the white sesame seed.

– Want to learn more about tangzhong or water roux method of bread making?

Please check this post about starch gelatinization.

– Ready to have your hands on the dough?

Ingredients:

Tangzhong or water roux

  • 50 g bread flour
  • 250 g water

Multi-seed bread dough

  • 450 g bread flour
  • 100 g whole wheat flour
  • 30 g flaxseed meal
  • 140 g water
  • 8 g salt
  • 8 g vital wheat gluten
  • 8 g yeast
  • 60 g brown sugar
  • 20 g poppy seeds
  • 30 g flaxseeds
  • 30 g chia seeds soaked in 70 g water for about ½ hour
  • 50 g toasted sesame seed (black and white)
  • 30 g hemp seeds
  • 55 g butter

Method:

Tangzhong or water roux

Whisk together the water and the flour until the mixture is well blended and free of lumps.

Stir the mixture while it cooks over the medium heat to reach 65oC/149 – 150oF. It takes about 2-3 minutes.

Continue whisking until the mixture starts to thicken. The mixture of flour will have “lines”.

Remove from the heat.

Transfer to a bowl, cover with a plastic film to avoid “skin” from forming.

Ready to add to the bread dough once is cool.

Tangzhong or water roux can bend kept in the fridge for up to 48 hours.

Multi-seed bread dough

In the mixer, add all the water roux, all the flours and flaxseed meal, chia seeds except for the other dry seeds and butter.

Turn the machine and stir for 2 to 3 minutes, until a uniform very wet and sticky dough.

Add the remaining seeds and increase the speed to “2” and let it mix for 15 minutes. The dough should be still somehow sticky. Do not add extra flour as the dough will be less sticky as gluten forms.

Add the butter and mix for 10 to 12 minutes more. Take a small portion of the dough (like a golf ball) and stretch gently until a very thin and transparent membrane (windowpane) and you can see light through it.

If the dough tears mix for another 2-3 minutes until the dough pass the windowpane test. demonstrating that the gluten is very well developed, and it will create a very light crumb. The dough should be very elastic.

Remove the dough from the mixer and place in a bowl by covering with a plastic film.

Let dough proof until the dough tripled to its original size.

Knock back the dough and split the dough into two large balls and each large ball into 4 smaller balls. Flatten the small balls making sure that the air is removed, fold into thirds and then roll it like a Swiss roll.

Place the Swiss rolls into a bread pan and let it rise until triple of its original size.

Bake in a preheated 350oF oven for approximately 25 minutes.

Remove the pan from the oven and let the bread cool on a wire rack. Slice according to your like.

– If you enjoy this recipe of multi-seed sandwich bread, you might to check on these other bread recipes…

Thank you for visiting Color Your Recipes…have a colorful week!



No-Knead Multi-Seed Sourdough Bread

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This sourdough bread is exceptional, super hearty…loaded with a variety of seeds which gives each bite a very complex and amazing texture, not to mention the flavor.

This sourdough bread recipe is mainly based on the one that I posted a few weeks ago…after baking so many sourdough breads I needed more challenges and decided to add seeds into the dough.

– What kind of seeds can I add to the sourdough bread?

You can pretty much add anything you like, I chose to add chia seeds, poppy seeds, black and white sesame seeds, hump seeds and sunflower seeds…I did add pepitas (pumpkin seeds) and flaxseeds in the addition of the previous mentioned.

– How this bread tastes?

Oh…it is hearty, chewy and nutty…every bite is loaded with lots of seeds.

– Are you ready to try this 5 seeds sourdough bread?

Ingredients:

  • 240 g mature sourdough starter (100% hydration)
  • 410 g bread flour
  • 90 g semolina flour (or use all bread flour)
  • 300 g water
  • 10 g salt
  • 20 g poppy seeds
  • 30 g chia seeds
  • 40 g toasted sesame seed (black and white)
  • 30 g hemp seeds
  • 50 g raw sunflower seeds
  • 100 g water

Method:

In a medium bowl whisk the bread flour and semolina flour (if using) with 300 g water until all the water is totally incorporated into the flour. Cover and let it rest for about 2 to 3 hours, this process is called autolyze.

In the meantime, place the chia seeds, poppy seeds into a small bowl with 100 ml of water and let it sit for 2 to 3 hours until the dough is ready.

Add the sourdough starter and the seeds soaked in water to the dough and mix until the starter and seeds are completely mixed to the dough. Use the stretch and fold method around the bowl, approximately 50 times. There will be gluten forming.

Cover the dough and let it rest for 30 minutes.

Add the salt, hemp seeds and sesame seeds. Mix again using the stretch and fold method until all the salt and seeds are incorporated into the dough.

Rest for 30 minutes. Spray the counter with a little water and place the dough on it.  Laminate the dough and fold into thirds, twice. Place the dough back into the bowl and cover.

Rest for another 30 minutes. Sprinkle the counter with a little amount of flour and place the dough on it. Stretch and fold the dough to the center, 4 times around it. Place it back to the bowl and cover.

Rest for 45 minutes, add the sunflower seeds and repeat the stretch and fold the dough to the center.

Rest for 45 minutes. Place the dough over the moist counter and fold and coil the dough twice.

Rest for 45 minutes and repeat the fold and coil.

Rest for 45 minutes.  Sprinkle flour on the counter and on the top of the dough. Flip the bowl on the counter and let the dough fall on the flour surface.

Pre-shape the dough by stretching and folding to the center of the dough.

Flour well the banneton and place the dough seam up.

Place the dough in the refrigerator overnight, uncovered.

Next morning, pre-heat oven to 475oF with a tray of water.

In the meantime, boil more water.

Flip the dough from the banneton to a floury surface. Using a soft brush, gently brush off excess of flour. Make the cut on the dough and spray with water. Place the dough into the hot oven.  Carefully add the boiling water to the tray. Close the oven door.

Spray more water on the dough every 3 minutes, 3 times. After 15 minutes of baking, remove the water tray and the parchment paper underneath the bread. Lower the temperature to 375oC, bake for another 20 minutes.

Remove the bread from the oven and let it cool on a wire rack. Make sure the bread is completely cool before slicing.

– Looking for more bread recipe? Check these out…

Thank you for visiting Color Your Recipes…have a colorful week!