Good to the Grain: Baking with Whole-Grain Flours [Hardcover]

When Kim Boyce left the world of professional pastry chefs to stay at home with her two small children, she soon realized that her attempts to feed them good, homebaked treats left them hyperactive and crashing in the afternoon. Too much sugar, too many refined flours, not enough wholesomeness at all. She started experimenting with her favourite recipes, using whole grain flours like graham and buckwheat, turning out muffins and cakes that had great flavour and didn't make a nutritionist blanch. Boyce feels that baking with whole grains should be about flavour as much as anything else. Imagine health-food ideals combined with seasonal fruits, pastry chef flair, and deliciousness. "Good to the Grain" is for anyone who respects the ideals behind the real food movement, but wants to eat food that is unmistakably delicious. It will appeal both to novice bakers making their first muffin and to accomplished bakers yearning for old time favourites with updated ingredients. The grains featured are barley, corn, oat, quinoa, buckwheat, kamut, millet, rye and spelt. "Good to the Grain" gathers together some 75 recipes for muffins, biscuits, scones, pancakes, waffles, crepes, cakes, breads and porridges. Recipes include Oat Muffins with nutmeg and crumble; Multigrain Biscuits that have all the lightness of their white flour counterpart combined with the malty goodness of barley flour; Raisin and Wild Rice Pudding; Cornmeal Waffles topped with raspberry compote; Oatmeal Pancakes made with maple sugar, lending a delicate sweetness; and, an Apple Graham Coffee Cake. Readers will find recipes for a sandwich loaf that can double as a pizza dough, a crunchy granola bar packed with oats and seeds, and a quick guide to making fruit and nut muesli to store in a big glass jar. The book will explain the benefits of whole grains, and will be backed with helpful information, from tools to insider baking tips to how to shop for fresh grains in a world of packaged goods. Chapters include: Weekend Baking; Jams, Spreads, and Compotes; Breads; Cakes; Cookies; Porridge, Granola, and Muesli; Crepes; Pancakes and Waffles; Biscuits and Scones; and, Muffins.