Baking Day

BakingSunday, originally uploaded by apkoski.

Sundays are traditionally my big in the kitchen day. I start the beans soaking, make cereal for the week, or maybe try a new bread or a treat recipe. Experimenting with granola flavors is a fun weekly chore. Since we're exiting winter, I'm squeezing in the last few batches cold weather flavors: maple walnut, apple cinnamon, pumpkin spice... and moving toward summer mixes like strawberry cherry, ginger peach, and blueberry nut. Yum!
This weekend I used a traditional recipe from Moosewood that had maple syrup, several kinds of nuts, plus the standard wet ingredient list. Not bearing to let the recipe stand on its own, I also snapped in a couple handfuls of leftover pretzels. It's pretty drn goot! Here we go:

1/2 C. Water
1/3 C. Canola Oil
1/4 C. Sugar
1/4 C. Maple Syrup
pinch salt
4 C. Rolled Oats
1/4 C. Ground Flax Seed
scant 1/4 C. Oat Flour
1/4 C. Wheat Bran
1+ C. nuts: walnuts, sunflower seeds, almonds
2 handfuls pretzels

Bake at 200-220 for 2-3 hours on a cookie sheet, turning/stirring once toward the end. (Low temp. is important if you want chunky granola. If you want fine cereal, bake at 350 for 30 minutes, turning/stirring every 5 minutes.)

-A