Table of Contents[Hide][Show]
Several readers have emailed me recently inquiring about how to best go about making homemade granola.
One person carefully soaked oats for 24 hours in water with an acidic medium and then dehydrated before mixing with the other ingredients and toasting in the oven.
Another used sprouted, organic rolled oats and baked in a 200F oven with various other ingredients to make her favorite version of homemade granola.
While both of these approaches to making granola are certainly a huge improvement over any of the granolas to be had at the store, the fact is that even organic granola made with rolled oats that have been sprouted or soaked is not an easily digestible food.
The proteins in grains are extremely difficult to digest. They have the potential to cause health problems over the long term, which is why traditional societies took such great pains to soak, sprout, or sour leaven them before consuming.
Not only did traditional peoples soak, sprout, or sour leaven their grains, they also thoroughly cooked them as the final preparation step before eating.
Why Granola is SO Difficult to DigestÂ
The dry heat of an oven at the proper toasting temperature is simply not hot enough to complete the breakdown of anti-nutrients in oats or other grains. Thus, even homemade granola is extremely difficult to digest. Eaten often, it can damage the gut over time.
Perhaps if a person has an iron gut, then homemade granola that is soaked or sprouted might work on occasion. The reality is that most people have sensitive guts anymore due to several generations of children raised on antibiotics and processed foods. Most people have some sort of digestive sensitivity to grains even if there are no grain allergy symptoms present.
I know for me, I bloat terribly if I eat homemade granola that has been soaked or sprouted and then toasted. I have no grain allergies and my digestion is in pretty decent shape. Interestingly, thoroughly cooked unsoaked oatmeal digests far better. The lesson at least to me is that the final cooking step is very important!
I have only made granola for my family once or twice. However, I stopped after observing the undigestibility of consuming this non-traditional food even when seemingly prepared in a traditional fashion.
Do your digestion a favor and opt out of any grain based granola entirely. Even homemade, organic, and soaked and/or sprouted versions aren’t good for your long term gut health.
Healthy Alternatives to Granola
Don’t hesitate to use soaked or sprouted grains that are fully cooked for all your other dishes and baked goods!  This article plus video tutorial for a healthy cold breakfast cereal recipe is a very digestible alternative to granola.
Another alternative is to make grain free Paleo granola using the linked recipe.
Sarah, The Healthy Home Economist
Â
Sources and More Information
Nourishing Traditions, p. 454
Soaked Oatmeal Benefits Without the Soaking?
Would that mean that the baked oatmeal that I make in the oven (with soaked oats) is not good either? So pretty much any recipe with oats that are only baked in the oven, are not broken down enough to digest? Just want to confirm before I ditch my baked oatmeal recipe :-/
Thank you!
Baked oatmeal would be fine because you are still cooking it in hot water just in the oven not on the stovetop. When you dehydrate it in the oven, the oats aren’t being cooked only dried out, so the anti-nutrients aren’t being broken down.
No Granola is Good Granola – The Healthy Home Economist
http://t.co/Ul90uFus
What do you think of this recipe for dehydrated fermented granola?:
Actually, this process looks very much in line with the Weston A Price Foundation teachings. It’s well fermented before being dehydrated. And the very last note is that an optional method of preparation is to use leftover soaked, cooked oatmeal, which can then be flavoured with dried fruit and spices before being dehydrated. I’m very interested to hear Sarah’s opinion on this!
Leftover soaked, cooked oatmeal would work. The issue that Sarah raises is that traditionally oats need to be soaked/sprouted AND thoroughly cooked. And oats cook well in liquid (like oatmeal) but not well in a hot oven where they merely toast. Another thing to note is that oats are low in phytase so soaking them with a higher phytase grain like rye or buckwheat (GF) helps eliminate a more significant amount of the phytates in oats.
I second the Paleo granola. So yummy! I have to be careful not to eat too much.
I actually make a “paleo” granola now that is all nuts (soaked of course) and dried fruit roasted in
the oven in a little honey and coconut oil. So delicious.
Yes, that is a great alternative.
I tried soaking almonds and then dehydrating them in the oven according to directions found here or some other traditional foods site. They were AWFUL. No matter how much time in the oven they stayed mushy. Yuck. Who wants to eat mushy nuts? I wasted a very expensive bag of almonds, wish I hadn’t done it. Wouldn’t have done it if I’d known that was the outcome.
Melinda I’m sorry your nuts did not turn out. The first time I did them they turned out squeaky but were dry. Since then I have not had that problem. I don’t think that I did anything different than the first. Maybe try again with a smaller amount and see how they turn out? At least then it would not be the entire bag!
Mine were hard to dry in an oven so I bought a food dehydrator. Works very well.
I think this is a great example of why we each need to listen to our own bodies. If I eat even 1/4 cup of paleo “granola” I bloat up, look pregnant and am uncomfortable for hours. (Even with sprouted nuts.) I can eat store-bought organic granola and feel great although I highly prefer my homemade fermented granola made in my Pickl-It.
I avoid nuts even soaked and/or sprouted nuts. I thought I read that the anti-nutrients aren’t broken down even after they are soaked/sprouted and cooked. Well, then again, maybe the anti-nutrients aren broken down but then once you cook them you kill the enzymes to help digest them. I think I might be a little confused….
Molly, would you be able to post your “paleo” granola recipe? Thanks!!!
Also, granola is too “scratchy” for your digestive system, so a big no no for people with digestive problems. Same goes for bran,
Peggy at To Your Health sells raw sprouted oat groats that can be flaked and cooked in 5 minutes. It is not necessary to soak them. I think if you use these, granola would be fine to eat. If you wanted to make them even more digestible, you could flake them and then soak them prior to dehydrating.
No you can’t use those either. Oats must be cooked even if sprouted.
If you cook first that’s ok.
Dehydrating or drying in the oven is not cooking though.
Sorry for all the comments 🙂 The point is the oats must be soft as in after a thorough cookin .. if they are still crunchy and hard like what granola is supposed to be like, no go for digestibility.
Thanks for all of your helpful information. I’m curious why soaking then baking granola (at 350 or 375 would not compare to soaking bread dough, then baking it in regards to digestability. Thanks!
If it’s nice and soft, then it should digest fine 🙂
I have another batch of homemade breakfast cereal soaking as I type. My husband is a man of convenience. Even though it is grain based it is better than store bought. I do make him breakfast several days of the week but it is nice to have this as a back up for days that start off in an unusual manner. It is a great recipe. My favourite addition to it is unsweetened carob chips!
Sarah,
I have tried dehydrating my “soaked and baked” oatmeal recipe and it’s more chewy than crunchy. However, do you think this would probably make it more digestible? Most people find it hard to give up granola since it is so good & satisfying.
If it is really mushy and soft probably ok. Many people confuse “satisfying” as food sitting like a brick in their stomach though. Satisfying is that it is light in the stomach, easy to digest, and doesn’t slow you down or make you tired after eating.
Are quinoa flakes ok for the gut? You could substitute them for the oats. Technically they are not a grain?