I sometimes like to sieve out the roughest bran from our flour, which means that I can produce a lighter loaf or cake from the wholemeal flour. But it’s always bothered me: what I can then do with the bran. Soaking it to put back in the bread dough confused me, using it to flour bread tins worked but didn’t necessarily use it all up, and feeding it to the hens felt like a waste! But thanks to Danette from Kingsland Farm, I discovered that it was possible to make your own Bran Flakes, and this has changed my world.
Ingredients
- 100g bran
- 5g brown sugar
- ½ tsp cinnamon
- ¼ tsp baking powder
- Milk to bind
- Pinch of salt
These quantities are chosen to be easy to multiply up for larger amounts. For example, if I have 270g of bran:
- 100g x 2.7 = 270g bran
- 5g x 2.7 = 13.5g sugar
- ½ tsp x 2.7 = 1.35 tsp cinnamon (approx. 1 1/3 tsp)
- ¼ tsp x 2.7 = 0.67 tsp baking powder (approx. 2/3 tsp)
I save up my bran from a number of bakings until there is enough to make it worth the time. It can then go in the oven at the same time as your bread.
Method:
Mix the dried ingredients together thoroughly, then add a splash of milk to bind it all together. I mix it with my fingers, adding milk slowly until it is moist enough to hold together as a compressed ball.
Leave the bran ball to sit for half an hour. This gives the bran time to soak up the milk and form a cohesive dough, making it possible to roll out.
Place the bran ball on a sheet of grease-proof paper and cover with a second sheet. Roll out until the dough is between 1mm-2mm thick, then gently peel the top sheet of grease-proof paper off.
Put into a hot oven for approx. 10 minutes, until the dough has baked into a rubbery sheet that you can pick up. Break the sheet into small sections roughly 1cm by 2cm then return to the oven for another 5 minutes, until crunchy.
Leave to cool before placing in an airtight container, and enjoy for breakfast – or as a crunchy snack in the day, just like crisps.