Cooking with oats
 

I like cooking with oats, sometimes just porridge oats, sometimes big rolled
oats, and I tend to make big oat cakes with lots of fruit and honey.

Two questions.

How can I get octaves to be moist inside, they can be a bit hard. I do add
oil and sometimes butter, and use eggs.

Is it possible to make oats rise, like wheat, or to make a lighter, more
aerated oat loaf. I like to use little to no wheat, and have added baking
soda.


Many thanks

T

I'm probably not the right guy to respond to this, but nobody else has
stepped up, so I'll tell you what I know (or rather, what I think I
know).

On 2005-08-26, Xanadu <> wrote:
> I like cooking with oats, sometimes just porridge oats, sometimes big rolled
> oats, and I tend to make big oat cakes with lots of fruit and honey.
>
> Two questions.
>
> How can I get octaves to be moist inside, they can be a bit hard. I do add
> oil and sometimes butter, and use eggs.

I'm afraid I have no idea what an octave is in this context. I'm
going to guess you mean the oat cakes. Sugar is a good way to
increase moistness in cakes; too much egg will tend to make it drier.


> Is it possible to make oats rise, like wheat, or to make a lighter, more
> aerated oat loaf. I like to use little to no wheat, and have added baking
> soda.

Oats do not contain the right proteins to form gluten, which is what
makes wheat doughs capable of rising. If you use enough eggs and
incorporate gas either through vigorous mixing or baking soda, you
might be able to lighten the oats up a bit. I assume you're using an
oat flour of some sort? If you're just using cracked or rolled oats,
the texture is probably going to be too coarse to hold much air,
unless you make it primarly whipped eggs and fold in the oats. (And
in that case, what you've got is an oatmeal soufflé, which is probably
not what you're looking for.)

There are some substitutes for gluten that are commonly used by those
with gluten allergies. Xantham gum and guar gum are recommended
pretty frequently, and you can probably find them in health food
stores. You can also find gluten-free baking mixes that already
contain them or another gluten substitute. I've never tried any of
that stuff, so I can't really tell you how well it works.

--
Randall

Great info.


thanks


"Randall Nortman" > wrote in message
ink.net...
> I'm probably not the right guy to respond to this, but nobody else has
> stepped up, so I'll tell you what I know (or rather, what I think I
> know).
>
> On 2005-08-26, Xanadu <> wrote:
>> I like cooking with oats, sometimes just porridge oats, sometimes big
>> rolled
>> oats, and I tend to make big oat cakes with lots of fruit and honey.
>>
>> Two questions.
>>
>> How can I get octaves to be moist inside, they can be a bit hard. I do
>> add
>> oil and sometimes butter, and use eggs.
>
> I'm afraid I have no idea what an octave is in this context. I'm
> going to guess you mean the oat cakes. Sugar is a good way to
> increase moistness in cakes; too much egg will tend to make it drier.
>
>
>> Is it possible to make oats rise, like wheat, or to make a lighter, more
>> aerated oat loaf. I like to use little to no wheat, and have added baking
>> soda.
>
> Oats do not contain the right proteins to form gluten, which is what
> makes wheat doughs capable of rising. If you use enough eggs and
> incorporate gas either through vigorous mixing or baking soda, you
> might be able to lighten the oats up a bit. I assume you're using an
> oat flour of some sort? If you're just using cracked or rolled oats,
> the texture is probably going to be too coarse to hold much air,
> unless you make it primarly whipped eggs and fold in the oats. (And
> in that case, what you've got is an oatmeal soufflé, which is probably
> not what you're looking for.)
>
> There are some substitutes for gluten that are commonly used by those
> with gluten allergies. Xantham gum and guar gum are recommended
> pretty frequently, and you can probably find them in health food
> stores. You can also find gluten-free baking mixes that already
> contain them or another gluten substitute. I've never tried any of
> that stuff, so I can't really tell you how well it works.
>
> --
> Randall

> "Randall Nortman" > wrote in message
> ink.net...
[...]
>>> Is it possible to make oats rise, like wheat, or to make a lighter, more
>>> aerated oat loaf. I like to use little to no wheat, and have added baking
>>> soda.
>>
>> Oats do not contain the right proteins to form gluten, which is what
>> makes wheat doughs capable of rising. If you use enough eggs and
>> incorporate gas either through vigorous mixing or baking soda, you
>> might be able to lighten the oats up a bit.
[...]

One thing I forgot to mention is that baking soda doesn't produce any
gas unless it is combined with an acidic ingredient, such as
buttermilk, lemon juice, etc. If there's nothing particularly acidic
in your recipe, use baking powder instead, which is a combination of
baking soda with one or more acid-producing ingredients.

--
Randall