Sourdough Granola Recipe

And a #bakeforukraine update

So my #bakeforukraine bake sale went great. I sold out of all the items I had on offer within a few hours of posting the listing, and raised about $300, which as I mentioned last week, went to José Andrés’ World Central Kitchen Ukraine fund. I had lots of essential help making cookies, granola, and packaging items from my wife, without which I wouldn’t have been able to get everything done & shipped off by Sunday. Even so, the weekend was a little exhausting, and I found myself wishing that I had a real bread oven, rather than a too-small range oven and an even-smaller Anova Precision Oven (which was quite handy to have in this case).

The sunflower-seed seven-grain porridge bread (which I shared last week) is really great, and one I’ll be keeping in regular rotation here from now on. And Olia Hercules’ Ukrainian Easter bread was also lovely, especially once I got the hang of the shaping it.

The gingersnaps were the same ones I taught in the Edible Boston workshop last month, and will be featured on another top-secret-for-now website very soon, so stay tuned for that.

As for the granola: it’s from a recipe is inspired by my friend Jessica Fechtor’s granola formula—itself inspired by one from Jamie Oliver—which is sadly no longer online. It also borrows a key trick from a recipe by Mitchell Davis, who had the genius idea to use sourdough discard as the binder. Not only is that a great way to get the granola to clump without needing to use egg whites or an excess of sweetener, but it also lends the granola a nice savoriness. (One interesting thing I have noticed with baked-to-dryness sourdough discard recipes like this one is that the volatile acetic acid sourness dissipates in the oven, leaving behind only a pleasant lactic tang, even when the discard is on the old side.) The recipe is attached below...

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As I also mentioned last week, I’m not done with my Ukraine fundraising—next Tuesday, March 15 at 6:00pm EST, I’ll be teaching a 90-minute workshop detailing and demoing my new collection of soda bread recipes, with 50% of the proceeds going to Ukraine relief. I’ll be teaching two base recipes, one for an Irish-style brown soda bread—just in time for St. Patrick’s Day—and one for an American-style soda bread, with instructions and guidance on how to vary each of them. Both include cooked oatmeal, which makes for an ultra-tender and long-keeping crumb.

And infinite potential for variation. I recruited my friend Posie Brien to help me riff on variations, and here are just a few of the ideas we’ve come up with so far: ploughman’s lunch: cheddar & chopped cornichons; lemon curd & preserved lemon; strawberry-pistachio; sour cherry, luxardo, & almond; kimchi-cheddar; black tea, honey, lavender…

As always, if you can’t attend the class live, not to worry, you’ll receive the recipes and a link to download the recording within two days after it is held. I hope you’ll join us!

—Andrew

Sourdough Granola

Makes about 5 cups/~800g

Sourdough Granola

1.37MB ∙ PDF file

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120g (1/2 cup) 100%-hydration sourdough discard (or freshly-fermented levain)

56g (1/4 cup) olive oil

85g (1/4 cup) liquid sweetener (maple syrup, honey, malt syrup, etc.)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

178g (2 cups) whole rolled oats

106g (¾ cup) raw nuts, coarsely chopped (almonds, walnuts, cashews, etc.)

80g (1/2 cup) seeds (pumpkin, sunflower, flax, sesame, millet, quinoa, etc.)

52g (¾ cup) unsweetened shredded coconut

150g (1 1/2 cups) dried fruit, coarsely chopped if large (apricots, cranberries, cherries, raisins, dates, etc.)

1 teaspoon kosher or flake salt

1. Whisk the sourdough discard, olive oil, liquid sweetener, vanilla, and cinnamon in a large bowl. Fold in the oats, nuts, seeds, and coconut, until thoroughly coated. Cover and let sit at room temperature for 1 hour.

2. Adjust an oven rack to the upper-middle position and heat the oven to 250 degrees. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.

3. Sprinkle the oat mixture with salt and stir to combine. Transfer to the prepared baking sheet and spread into a thin, even layer. Using a stiff spatula, compress the oat mixture until it is very compact. Bake until lightly but evenly browned, 90 to 120 minutes, rotating pan once halfway through baking.

4. Remove the granola from oven and cool on a wire rack for 5 minutes. Using a stiff spatula or a bench knife, break up the granola into large chunks and invert and separate the pieces. Allow to cool to room temperature, then break into pieces of whatever size you like. Stir in dried fruit.