Sigh. I’ve done it again.
Last week, when I popped into Southern Cross Supplies (to get more salt, but we won’t even go there), I passed sacks of Mauri grain mix on the clearance pallet. These had expiry dates of September and October this year. It’s worth noting that the instructions on the sack are to “use at 20%” – in other words, add 200g grain mix to 1kg of flour in a batch of dough.
So 20 KILOS…is quite a lot.
The grain mix normally wholesales at $78 per sack, and the clearance price was half of that. But the weather has warmed up in Sydney, and $39 was too much to punt on a bag of potentially bug-infested grain, so I asked them if they’d take less (my Chinese ancestors would have been so proud). In the end it only cost me $25, and it’s in perfect condition…
It’s a great mix of grains and seeds…
I immediately stashed half the bag in the freezer (confession: in thick plastic bags) and kept the rest for sharing and experimenting with. I made a batch of Em’s Mighty Multigrain from Artisan Sourdough Made Simple…
I then adapted an idea from Dan Lepard’s The Handmade Loaf and boiled the grains briefly, drained them, then macerated them overnight in a pint of Little Creatures Pale Ale. The following morning, I blithely threw about a kilo of soaked grains into my usual sourdough recipe, which of course completely messed up both my salt and water quantities.
After adjusting by feel (never a process that works well for me), I ended up with a very wet dough that tried to slide off the table as I was shaping it. The final result was six large, slightly flat loaves…
My ever supportive neighbours tried them…and loved them! The crumb was very soft and the grains chewy rather than gritty. I’m off to raid the rest of Big Boy’s IPA stash…
. . . . .
Apart from bread, I thought I’d try the grain mix in muesli bars (or flapjacks, as they call them in the UK). These worked brilliantly – so much so that I’ve just baked my third batch! They’d never pass as a health food, but they are deliciously moreish and quite filling…
Here’s my recipe, adapted loosely from the one in The River Cottage Cakes Handbook by Pam Corbin, and it’s dead easy…
- 175g unsalted butter, cut into pieces
- 40g treacle
- 150g raw sugar
- 200g rolled oats
- 100g grain mix
- 100g organic sultanas
- pinch sea salt
1. Preheat oven to 160°C with fan. In a large saucepan, gently melt together the butter, treacle and sugar. Be careful not to split the butter – once it melts a bit, take it off the heat and stir everything together until combined.
2. Stir in all the other ingredients and mix well. Turn the mixture into a lined 20cm x 25cm x 5cm baking pan. Spread everything out evenly, and then give the mix a good pressing in with the back of a spoon – you want to squish it as flat as possible.
3. Bake for 25 minutes until dark golden brown. When you pull the pan out of the oven, the mixture will still be bubbling and very hot – let it cool completely on a wire rack before removing to a board and cutting into bars. The base of the bars will be quite oily, so I blot them on a clean tea towel (you could use paper towels) before storing in an airtight container.
These are remarkably addictive and nothing like the boring supermarket versions! The original recipe used 250g oats and no grain mix, in case you don’t have a 20kg bag of the latter lying about…
. . . . .
I’m not a fan of bircher muesli, but I’d love any other suggestions you might have for the grain mix. A friend suggested granola last night – might have to give that a go next! ♥
Fig Jam and Lime Cordial 
Oh Lordy, you are the ONE!! All I can say is Brilliant! I’m proud of you also :) such a deal. I’m jealous!
For the muesli bars, how about toasted pepitas, moist coconut flakes, sesame seeds and chopped cocoa nibs. And dark chocolate on top. If you’re going to be naughty, you might as well do it properly…
I’d love to buy bulk flour and grain, but in this climate (north QLD), it would get rancid too quickly, and my freezer is already packed.
Wow, Celia, your bread looks awesome and what bargain. I have just (5 mins) purchased Artisan Sourdough by Emilie ..I live in Thailand and it is advised not to drink the water, however, I use it boiled with no ill effects …Would boiled cooled be ok for sourdough or bottled water. Thanks :)
Carol, water that is boiled and then cooked should be fine!
Thank you, Celia..Wish me luck :)
Hi Celia, I love your bulk purchasing stories – what a bargain! I’ve been playing with adding wholegrains & seeds to my sourdough, & find that about 750g of flour to 250g grain/seed mix per loaf (so 25% I think?) works well for me.
I’ve been measuring out the grains & seeds, covering with boiling water and soaking overnight, but you have just blown my mind with the soaking in BEER idea (especially as The Man homebrews so we literally have it on tap).
The muesli bars look great! Do try granola – we haven’t bought granola since making our own, as you can make it exactly to your taste.
I often add rolled oats to pancake batter, maybe you could try adding to pikelets/pancakes?
Cheers, Sally at One Family, One Planet blog
That’s a great story. I have seen Mauri Grain Bread Mix but not Mauri Grain Mix. I presume that these are two different products?
Hi Merle, I think they’re different – the grain bread mix will probably have flour in it, whereas the grain mix I bought is just grains. :)
Didn’t want to read this, I buy one of those every 3 months for my multigrain standard loaves. I stick it in the freezer for a few days to make sure nothing islikely to breed. Great buy.
Wow that is a huge amount of grains but so much fun to play with – your bread looks amazing. I think this would work really nicely in a fruit crumble – or maybe even on top of a bake like cauliflower cheese – perhaps slices of pumpkin, some cheese and some grain mix all baked til crispy would be delicious. Coating on burgers or mix into burgers or rissoles? I went to an asian restaurant on the weekend that had seeds on the dumplings which I really liked but not sure if the mix is too grainy for the same taste. Enjoy your grains!
I always enjoy reading what you are up to…LOL. don’t change
Wow what a brilliant deal. I make savoury biscuits with seeds and grains, usually with whatever I have at hand, so they are different each time. Not super thin & just rolled between baking paper. These would work with your mix quite well.
Oh that’s a good idea, thank you!!
What a fantastic bread that must have been!
I make sourdough crackers with leftover sourdough batter, and the grain mix would be a great addition to them.
What a huge bag of goodness. And perfect stashed in the freezer. I hate grains that either go rancid or get bugs, although my chooks love chuck outs. Nice looking bread. . I like shapes that are a bit surprising and not quite so perfect looking. The wabisabi approach to bread making. xx
I’ve made a lovely seed rye bread from Joanna’s recipe for years. I will try some of your lovely muesli bars
Chookies? I think they would love these grains as afternoon treats.
I received a bag of coconut flour and bag of shredded coconut, any recipes, please!
Sorry Shelley, I can’t stand the stuff, so no recipes to offer you. Google should turn up a stack of them though.
Hi Celia, Many apologies in advance for this off topic question. I’ve been making your original overnight sourdough method for a couple of months and I’m having a problem with the consistency of the dough – I follow your quantities exactly. After the overnight prove when I scrape it out into the bench it just slumps. There is no way I can get it looking like yours and it’s impossible to shape. I just pour it into a banneton and after the next prove bake it following your method. It makes delicious bread but it has a low profile. Any suggestions?
Thanks!
Andrew W
Andrew, sometimes flours absorb different amounts of water – possibly yours is absorbing less so the resulting dough is wetter? Try reducing the water a bit (say by 50g) to see if that will give you a more manageable dough. You might end up with a tighter crumb, but a better rise. Secondly, really wet doughs can produce a good shape but they take a bit of handling. If you’re able to time it, giving your dough a good stretch and fold several times during its prove will give it more strength (not always manageable overnight, I know). Lots of semolina on the bench will help. When you’re shaping, what you’re aiming to do is create as tight a skin as possible on the outside, which helps to hold everything in shape as it bakes. If you have a look at my latest tutorial (sourdough cooking class 2018) there are some pics on what I mean re folding and stretching the dough, plus some shaping videos. Hope that all makes sense!
Hi Celia, it’s very good of you to answer so promptly and so comprehensively. Thanks so much! It all makes sense.
I’ll try your suggestion of reducing the amount of water for my next attempt :-) I haven’t been using semolina but I’ll get some and see if that helps. And I’ll check out your latest tutorial too. Thanks again for the great advice.
BTW I think you know my (twin) sister Deb (Debbie)?
cheers
Andrew
Andrew, I’ve never met her but there was Deb Wilson who used to leave comments here a few years ago. Is that her? If so, please give her my best! Are you using her starter?
Sorry! I thought she had met you but yes, that’s the one. I am using her starter which she dried and sent to me in Tasmania where I live. I successfully revived it using your instructions and it’s going fantastically. Thanks again for all your help.
Cheers
Andrew
Andrew, I was in Tasmania recently with my friend Roz and she had the same problem as you – her doughs were too wet and her starter a bit flat as well. We figured out that the Wallaby flour she was using wasn’t absorbing as much liquid as the flours we have in Sydney. We cut the water back in both her starter AND her dough, and she found them much easier to handle. Could be the difference in humidity down there?
Yes, it could be the difference in humidity. I’m on the East Coast which is normally not very humid although we have had a lot of rain recently so there is more moisture around. I use a nice bread flour I get from a mill in Launceston – Tasmanian Flour Mills. Luckily my starter is really going well – lots of activity and bubbles. I’m using Deb’s method for feeding the starter so it gets 100gms flour and 100gms water every 12 hours (less water than your method I think). I’ll definitely make the next loaf using a reduced amount of water and see how that goes. I’ll let you know how it turns out.
That grain mix looks amazing! I would love some for my sourdough but it would take me a lifetime to get through that much!
I make granola every week now – KP loves it. I soak dates overnight and blitz them to a paste with some water as the sweetening agent. Works a treat. I’m sure this grain would be brilliant in granola
Hi from Scotland
Just came across your site when looking to use romertopf to cook a small goose so trying your edited duck instructions. However had a look at rest of your blog, plenty ideas and I like your style of grabbing a bargain before you know what or whether you can use it. Much the same myself.
Just wishing you and your family a Very Happy Christmas, and Good 2019!xxxxx