Several decades on, I am still an oat-lover (in fact, I’m such a fan that I’m currently writing a book on traditional British uses of them). But if you look in my kitchen now, you’ll find many more types of oats than just my childhood rolled ones.

The choice on our shelves these days can be bewildering – groats, rolled, thick, old-fashioned, quick, instant, oatmeal, pinhead, steel-cut, sprouted, black and naked. This article is a comprehensive guide to the types of oats available, how they’ve been processed and how to use each type the traditional way.

What are oats?

Almost all of the oats you’ll find in kitchens throughout the world are seeds of the grass genus Avena Sativa. These grow covered by a hard, inedible hull which has to be removed before the seed can be used as a grain. The hull adheres strongly to the seed and in the process of removing it the grain is very often damaged and exposed to the air. This activates an enzyme called lipase which degrades the fats in the oats causing them to go rancid, giving them a bitter taste. To avoid this happening, oat grains are ‘stabilised’ (heat and steam treated) at the very early stages of processing.

Most of the oats we buy are already ‘cooked’

This stablilsation means that the oats that make it to our kitchens (unless they are naked or sprouted oats) have been ‘cooked’ using a mix of heat and moisture (at an average temperature of 90-100°C).

Once the dehulling and stabilisation has been completed, oats are processed in a number of ways. This article explains what you might see at your mill or supplier, sorted from the least-processed to the most-processed:

Types of oats, how they’ve been processed and how to use each the traditional way

Oat groats

These are whole, unground, uncut oat grain. As they are whole grains, they take the longest to cook of any oat.

These weren’t often traditionally-used for porridge (though our ancestors in the UK did use the for savoury ‘puddings’), but I think they are great cooked this way.

If you want to use oat groats for porridge/oatmeal, cook them as an alternative to rice or add them to a stew, I suggest soaking them overnight in water. The next day, drain and rinse them, before cooking for at least 35 minutes. For a cup of soaked groats, you’ll need around 3 cups of liquid (broth is a great savoury choice instead of water here!)

Stone-milled oats:

The only way of making the whole oat grains into smaller pieces, more suitable for cooking, until well into the 1900s was to process the grains in stone mill. This created a meal (rather than the more commonly found rolled oats we see today). This meal is what our European oat eating ancestors (who didn’t have rolled oats) would have eaten.

Why Our Scottish Ancestors Didn’t Eat Rolled Oats (link to article)

Stone milled oats are still available, though can be harder to source outside of the UK. They come in three grades:

Pinhead oatmeal

Oat groats ground between two millstones set very widely apart to break the groat into a few pieces.

This was traditionally used for porridge (oatmeal), particularly in Ireland.

To make a traditional pinhead oatmeal porridge, soak the oatmeal in water overnight using one part oatmeal to four parts water by weight (you can add a tablespoon of something acidic, like apple cider vinegar to aid digestion) and then, in the morning, cook the mix, adding some salt (traditionally porridge was salty, not sweet), for 20 minutes, stirring regularly.

Medium oatmeal (often called Scottish oatmeal in the US)

These oats have been stoneground with the millstones set to create a medium meal.

Medium oatmeal was traditionally used for porridge in Scotland and in many other parts of the UK. It was also used in haggis, in puddings and sausages and as a coating when frying fish.

To make a traditional medium oatmeal porridge the Scottish way, bring water to the boil and, when it’s boiling, sprinkle in the medium oatmeal, stirring constantly. Once all of the oatmeal is incorporated, turn the pan down low, add salt (traditionally porridge was salty, not sweet) and simmer for 25 to 30 minutes, stirring regularly. To serve three people I use 180g medium oatmeal, 900g water and a half teaspoon salt.

Fine oatmeal

By stone-grinding the oat grains with the millstones more closely together, a fine oatmeal is produced.

Fine oatmeal was traditionally used for oatcakes – a savoury oat cracker – as well as a thickener for soups and stews.

Try my recipe for Naturally-Fermented Staffordshire Oatcakes which makes a delicious crêpe-like pancake or my Traditional Scottish Oatcakes recipe which will give you authentic Scottish oat crackers, great with soups or some cheese!

(If you want to try these two recipes and you don’t have fine oatmeal, don’t despair, they can easily be made with rolled oats too – follow the instructions in the recipes!)

Oats produced in steel mills:

In contrast to this traditional stone milling, most of the oats on our shelves today have been processed in modern steel mills. Here’s what you can find:

Steel Cut/Irish oats

Steel cut oats are so called because steel blades cut the whole groat into two or three pieces.

This type of oats are often called Irish oats in the US because the pieces are the same size as pinhead oatmeal, the type of oatmeal historically used to make porridge in Ireland.

In the kitchen, steel cut oats work in a similar way to their stone-ground cousin, pinhead oatmeal. If you want to make a traditional porridge with them, follow the instructions in the pinhead oatmeal section above.

Rolled Oats:

Rolled oats are so ubiquitous these days that one might think they’ve always been around. They are, however, a modern creation; the process of rolling oats only having been invented in 1877.

The Differences Between Rolled Oats and Oatmeal (link to article)

All rolled oats, whether large or small, are steam processed (for a second time, remembering they’ve already been steamed to prevent rancidity) before being rolled. This makes them softer and less likely to create dusty waste.

‘Old-fashioned’ Oats/Rolled Oats/Jumbo Oats

These, being the largest form of rolled oats, are whole oat grains that are re-steamed and run through roller mills to create large flakes.

These can be used to make a non-traditional (but very tasty!) porridge. There’s no need to soak them, cooking for 10-15 minutes on the stove does the job. If you’d like to serve traditionally, add salt during the cooking time.

I also have some traditionally-inspired recipes that use rolled oats! Try my cheesy oatcake-topped cottage pie or my sourdough oatcakes.

‘Quick Cook’ Rolled Oats

To make these smaller flaked oats, broken oat grains are re-steamed and put through roller mills.

These take just a few minutes on the stove to produce a porridge.

‘Instant’ Rolled Oats

These are the smallest, and hence the quickest cooking, form of rolled oats. They were brought to the oat market in 1966 by Quaker (who are now ownedi by Pepsi). Small pieces of oat grain are re-steamed and put through roller mills to create tiny, thin flakes.

I don’t think our ancestors would recognise instant oats (in texture or flavour). As a real food oat-lover, I’ve never used these.

The oat challenge:

If you’ve only ever used rolled oats, try something different this week. It’s easy to get hold of pinhead or steel cut oats – soak them before bed and take a few more moments in the kitchen to cook up your porridge the next morning. I think you’ll be surprised at how great it tastes!

Different Types of Oats – FAQs

Which type of oats is the healthiest?

Generally, the less a food is processed, the healthier it is. With this criteria, oat groats, that have had no further processing than their initial dehulling and stabilising are the healthiest.

But I am of the mind that the real food that you like is the healthiest. If you’re buying, cooking, and eating real food that you will like you’re more likely to continue with it – so choose the type of oat you like best.

How can I access stone-ground oats outside of the UK?

There are companies that import oats that have been stone-ground in the UK to other parts of the world. Check online to see if there’s one near you. In the US, Bob’s Red Mill sell a product called ‘Scottish oatmeal’ which is stoneground oats that are similar to British medium oatmeal.

Can I roll my own oats at home?

Yes you can! And they taste so much better rolled at home! Have a look at my article How to Roll Oats at Home (& 3 Good Reasons To Do It!).

Can I stone-grind my own oats at home?

It is possible to stone-grind oats from groats at home, but it is very difficult to replicate the pinhead/medium/fine grades of oatmeal that are available from large stone mills. This is because the stone mills use a number of sieves to sieve the meal into uniform sizes.

If you have a Mockmill, you can grind oats on any number above #3 (do not grind them on numbers #1 or #2 – the grain is too fatty and will clog up your meal). Using #3 or above will grind the oats but will give you a range of particle sizes from very fine dust to large chunks of oat groat. For making porridge this method works practically but does not replicate the porridge that you would make with uniform-sized commercially-produced oatmeal

How To Make Stone-Ground Oats in the Mockmill (link to article)

I love porridge/oatmeal. What else can I make with oats?

So many things! Here’s a selection of my traditional and traditionally-inspired recipes:

Traditional Scottish Oatcakes

Naturally-Fermented Staffordshire Oatcakes

Sourdough Oatcakes

Cheesy oatcake-topped cottage pie

Sowans: The Scottish Oat Ferment

You can get three traditional oat recipes in my free download The Heritage Oat Collection. Enter your details below and I’ll send to your inbox:

I am currently in the process of writing a book to be called Oats: Recipes & Stories from the British Isles. It will include 50 recipes along with the stories of how this grain sustained many generations of people in the UK. Stay in touch via my newsletter (there is a sign up at the top of every page on this site) to hear the latest on this.

How can I make my oats healthier?

Fermenting your oats will unlock more nutrition and make them easier to digest. Learn how in my comprehensive article:

How to Make Fermented Oats

Is buying organic oats important?

I would always recommend buying organic oats. Choosing organic means that you are supporting farmers who care for our soil and our environment, stewarding it for the next generation. It also means that any residues left over from pesticides or fertilisers aren’t on your grains.

What are ‘naked’ oats?

‘Naked’ oats are a type of oat that, instead of having a hard difficult-to-detach hull, has a paper-thin hull. It is easier to prepare these grains for human consumption – it takes a lot of energy to remove the hard hull on standard oats; not as much energy is needed to remove the paper-thin hull on ‘naked’ oats.

Because these ‘naked’ oats do not have to go through a tough, damaging, process to remove their hulls, they are not heated before they get to our shelves. This results in a oat that is raw.

What are sprouted oats?

Sprouted oats are raw oats that have gone through a soaking and germination process to sprout them. This process is then halted by drying and the sprout knocked off. The sprouted groats can then be used as you would use a standard oat.

What are black oats?

Black oats are a type of oats that has a black hull. They were traditionally grown in large areas of Scandinavia and in Wales. Here are some I saw on a visit to Holden Farm in Wales:

What about oat flour?

Oat flour is a modern phenomenon which is finer than fine oatmeal. It can be purchased but can also be made from oatmeal or rolled oats by processing them in a high-powered coffee grinder or mixer.

You might also like:

The Heritage Oat Collection

The Difference Between Rolled Oats and Oatmeal

Sourdough Porridge

The Fascinating History of Jannock: The Giant Oat Bread That Defined Authenticity!

The Best Way to Soak Oats

Traditional Scottish Oatcakes

I make 100% wholegrain sourdough rye loaves in my kitchen every week. The flavour is deep, rich and tangy and the breads – which I can slice and make into sandwiches – are always finished too quickly! That’s where these sourdough rye crackers, made again with 100% wholegrain rye flour, save the day. I can make up a batch at the weekend and they will keep all week, filling holes in my families nutrient-dense food when they are needed.

Simple ingredients

The recipe is deceptively simple. It can be made with a fresh sourdough starter or with sourdough discard. Aside from the flour and starter, all your need is a bit of fat and some salt/flavourings.

For the crackers you see in this post, I used rye flour that I freshly-milled at home using rye berries from Grand Teton Ancient Grains. Freshly-milled flour is the icing on the cake when it comes to these crackers, but they can easily be made with pre-milled wholegrain rye flour too.

By hand or food processor

I mix the dough by hand. It’s not difficult and I’ll walk you through the steps. If you prefer to use a food processor, it’s even quicker!

I cut these into rounds using a 3-inch (7.6cm) cookie cutter. There’s no need for you to do this though, you can score the dough manually into squares before cooking or even bake as one whole sheet of cracker (it’s fun to break this by hand when it’s crispy!)

Wholegrain Rye Sourdough Crackers Recipe

• Makes: 28-30 3-inch crackers
• Prep time: 25 minutes (plus overnight rest)
• Baking time: 12 minutes

Ingredients:

• 100 g (approx 1 cup) wholegrain rye flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp caraway seeds
• 50 g lard (can be substituted with butter or olive oil)
• 100 g (approx half cup) sourdough starter, can be discard
• 1- 4 tbsp water, if needed

Method:

• In a bowl, mix the wholegrain rye flour, salt and caraway seeds.
• Measure in the lard (or butter) chopping it into small pieces as you do so.
• Using your fingers, rub the fat into the dry ingredients until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
• Measure in the sourdough starter (or discard), mix this in well – the dough should start to come together as you do so.
• Depending on the hydration of your sourdough starter, your dough may need more water to adhere together well. You want your dough a little sticky, this way it’ll crack less when you roll it out. Make a judgement and add more water if necessary. (When I make these crackers using freshly-ground rye and my 70% hydration wholegrain rye sourdough starter, I generally need to add 2-4 tablespoons of water to get a good dough.)
• Bring the dough together into a ball and wrap it or place it inside a sealed container before putting it in the fridge overnight.
• The next day, when you’re ready to make the crackers, preheat your oven to 180°C/375°F.
• Liberally coat your work surface and rolling pin with wholegrain rye flour.
• Uncover your dough and, using a knife, chop it in half.

• Gently work the first half into a ball, place it on your floured work surface and, using your palm, push it down into a circle.
• Sprinkle the top of the circle with wholegrain rye flour and roll the dough out. You are aiming for a thickness of 2 mm or under. Turn the dough often and liberally apply extra flour to avoid it sticking to your surface or your pin.
• When the dough has a thickness of 2 mm or under cut circles of cracker out from it and place them on a baking sheet/sheet pan.

• Gather up the offcuts, add them to the second half of the dough and repeat the process until you have used all of your dough.
• Bake the crackers act 180°C/375°F for approximately 12 minutes. Close to the end of the time, keep a careful eye on the crackers, removing the ones from the edge of the sheet pan if they start to look as if they will burn.
• Remove the crackers to a cooling rack and allow them to come to room temperature before enjoying.

FAQS

How should I store these rye sourdough crackers?

Because of their thinness, these crackers are dry. They will store well in an airtight container for up to 5 days.

How do you like to eat these sourdough rye crackers?

It’s hard to resist eating them straight from the cooling rack! Thankfully, making a batch of 30, there’s usually loads left over after this. They are great spread with butter, eaten with cream cheese or as a simple side to a salad. I love the flavour of avocado with rye, so will often top these crackers with sliced avocado or avocado mashed with olive oil.

What’s the best fat to use in these crackers?

I like to use lard, which I home render, for these crackers. You can easily substitute unsalted butter.

Can I use olive oil instead of lard/butter to make these rye sourdough crackers?

Yes, olive oil is possible. If you’d like to use it and it at the same time as a sourdough starter.

Do these crackers work with freshly-milled rye flour?

Yes, I make them with freshly-milled rye flour ground in my counter-top Mockmill. If you don’t have one of these, shop-bought wholegrain rye flour works well.

Can I use sourdough discard to make these crackers?

Yes, these crackers work with sourdough discard as well as fresh sourdough starter. Your starter does not need to be wholegrain rye – you could use a spelt, wheat or gluten-free starter with the crackers.

Do I need to/can I roll these crackers out using parchment/greaseproof paper?

Parchment/greaseproof paper can be used instead of the flour to create a surface upon which to roll out the dough. If you then struggle to move the crackers from this, you can lift the entire sheet of paper onto your baking sheet/tray. I prefer to use rye flour to stop the dough from sticking to my surface or pin as it is simpler.

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How to Make Wholegrain Rye Sourdough from Scratch

100% Wholegrain Rye Sourdough Bread

Russian Bread Kvass

Einkorn is the ancient grain of all ancient grains. It is the oldest cultivated variety of wheat and also, genetically, the simplest. It’s remained unchanged for over 10,000 years meaning that, when we cook with it in our modern kitchens, we really are bringing to life a grain of our ancestors.

The word einkorn comes from the German language, meaning single corn. It’s grains are small, helping me see why, when I lived in Italy, I knew this grain as ‘farro piccolo’.

I am lover of ancient grains – over 10 years of making sourdough and I’ve never baked with modern wheat. Having explored einkorn’s cousin, spelt, so deeply, I was really keen to metaphorically step back in time and play with the ‘original’ ancient grain!

So, when I was gifted a bag of einkorn berries by Grand Teton Ancient Grains, I couldn’t wait to use them.

Having previously developed a sourdough bread recipe with their emmer berries, I wanted to try something a bit different. My son loves chocolate, particularly in cookies, but, he can’t eat egg. This means that a lot of cookie recipes out there are a no-go for us. I knew I wanted to get him involved in the actual making – being in our kitchen is part of his home-school life – so chocolate cookies seemed like a great option. I’d keep it simple, avoid eggs and develop the recipe with him.

These crunchy wholegrain einkorn chocolate chip cookies came out of our third kitchen session. This recipe was the clear winner – the addition of milk kefir making the resulting treat delightfully airy and crisp.

Why wholegrain?

These einkorn chocolate chip cookies are made from wholegrain. A couple of years ago I invested in a Mockmill counter-top grain grinder and I freshly-grind whole berries in my own kitchen. This practice has transformed the flavour of my grain products, saved me money and is connecting me more deeply with my food.

A lot of the nutrition of grains is in the bran. If you use white flour, this has been stripped out. Store-bought wholegrain flour often sits on the shelf, losing vital nutrients. By freshly-grinding whole berries, you get as much nutrition and flavour as you can.

Let’s talk about the sugar

The sugar in these cookies is minimal. Having been away from processed food for years, my family find they don’t need (or want) the same levels of sweetness in their food. The sugar amount in this recipe is to their taste. If you’d like them a bit sweeter, feel free to increase the sugar.

…and, of course, the chocolate

The chips in these chocolate chip cookies are hand-chopped from a bar of 90% cocoa chocolate. We love the depth that this level of cocoa brings. If you prefer your chocolate sweeter (or want an overall more sweet cookie) choose a chocolate with a lower cocoa percentage.

Wholegrain Einkorn Chocolate Chip Cookies

Makes 8 cookies
Preparation time: 25 minutes
Cooking time: 12 minutes

Ingredients:

145g wholegrain einkorn flour
1 tsp baking powder
60g salted butter
25g soft dark brown sugar
28g dark chocolate, cut into chips
20–25g milk kefir
For the topping:
½ tsp cinnamon
2 tsp dark brown sugar

Method:

• Preheat your oven to 180°C/375°F and prepare a baking tray/sheet, lining it with baking/parchment paper
• Measure the einkorn flour and baking powder into a mixing bowl and combine well.
• Cream together the butter and sugar.
• Put the creamed butter and sugar into the bowl with the einkorn and baking powder and, using your fingers, combine into a breadcrumb-style mix.
• Stir in the dark chocolate chips.
• Bring the mix together into a dough using the milk kefir to help bind. Start with the less milk kefir and, checking the consistency, add more if needed.
• When the dough is well combined, break off a small amount to make each cookie. I aim for each portion to be 30g.
• Squeeze this piece of dough a few times forming it into a ball. Place the ball onto your lined baking tray and flatten with the palm of your hand. Shape the dough into a 2 inch circle, pinching the outside edges together if they begin to crack.
• Repeat this process for the remaining dough, ending up with eight cookies.
• In a smaller bowl, for the topping, mix together the cinnamon and dark brown sugar.
• Sprinkle this topping generously over the cookies before placing them in the oven.
• Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, watching towards the end of the cooking time to make sure the edges don’t burn.
• When the cookies look golden brown and feel hard on outside, remove them to a cooling rack.

FAQs

I don’t have a grinder, can I use store-bought wholegrain einkorn flour?

Yes these chocolate chip einkorn cookies will work just as well with store bought einkorn flour as they do with freshly-ground flour. Just remember to choose wholegrain, not white, flour.

How long do these cookies keep for?

These cookies will keep for 3 to 4 days in an airtight container

Where did you get your grain grinder?

I purchased my grain grinder from Mockmill. You can read about my experience here.

Can I use other grains for these chocolate chip cookies?

Yes! I have also made these with freshly-ground wholegrain spelt flour and I think they would also work really well with wholegrain emmer flour, which has a naturally sweet flavour.

Can I use different chocolate?

You do not have to use 90% cocoa chocolat}e for this recipe. Feel free to use a darker, or lighter, chocolate or even a flavoured one.

I don’t have milk kefir, can I use something else?

The milk kefir works with the baking powder to make these cookies light and airy. You can buy milk kefir in many stores, if you don’t make it yourself. If you can’t find milk kefir, another acidic, creamy option – like yoghurt – would work.

Thank you so much to Grand Teton Ancient Grains for sponsoring this post, allowing me to develop, test and write up this recipe.

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Traditional Scottish Oatcakes

I am used to baking with ancient grains. I have cupboards full of non-wheat cereals: spelt, rye, buckwheat, millet, einkorn…I bake with them all every week. But, up until recently, I’d always been a bit daunted by baking with emmer. I’d heard that it was difficult to handle, that it made a dough that felt like wet sand and that it wouldn’t rise.

And so, when I was gifted a big bag of emmer by regenerative, organic farm Grand Teton Ancient Grains, I knew it was time to take on the challenge of creating a good sourdough emmer loaf.

At first, I tried the same techniques I use for spelt. I’m good with spelt (I’ve written a book on it). But my spelt recipes didn’t work with emmer. I could make a passable loaf using the same techniques I use with spelt, but the dough was so sticky and the rise I was able to obtain was not great.

I knew I had to try a different approach. After failed attempts with autolysing the flour (that is mixing flour and water and leaving it overnight to ‘settle’) and failed attempts at intensive kneading, I decided to turn to the techniques that I use to make sourdough rye bread.

Using these techniques, designed for the low-gluten rye grain, was a revelation with emmer. The loaves bloomed – the mixing was a dream and they rose well in the oven.

Tasting this sourdough loaf made with emmer was a revelation. The flavour is like nothing else; it is incredibly sweet and also fragrant and nutty. It leaves your mouth happy in a way that I’ve not experienced with other ancient grains.

As you might guess, this loaf is now regular part of my ancient grains sourdough baking!

If, in the past, you’ve tried and failed to make a sourdough loaf with emmer or you’ve read that it’s a difficult grain to handle in breadmaking, this recipe will dispel all your fears. It’s simple, it’s foolproof and it makes the most amazingly flavoured ancient grain sourdough.

First of all, let’s dive a little bit into emmer:

What is emmer?

Emmer is an ancient grain, that is, a cereal grain that has been used for thousands of years and comes to us, in the modern era, virtually unchanged genetically.

It is much lower in gluten than wheat, and, as an ancient grain, many people who have problems with wheat find they are able to digest emmer – especially when it’s made into sourdough – without problems.

For answers to more questions about emmer, including its similarities to and differences from other ancient grains, see my FAQ section below.

Is emmer good for sourdough?

Yes, emmer makes the most amazingly-flavoured sourdough. It is not, however, easily to get good results from emmer if you apply the same bread-making techniques that would be applied to wheat. A different process is needed. To get good results from emmer, I found it best to employ the same techniques I use when making rye bread – that is no kneading, a pre-ferment and a very high-hydration dough. When treated this way emmer makes a glorious sourdough bread with flavour that is unbeatable. My recipe will show you how!

The practical stuff:

This bread needs to be started the night before you wish to bake it. At that time, you create a pre-ferment along with soaking the sunflower seeds. Both of these are left on the counter overnight before mixing the main dough in the morning and baking it around lunchtime.

You will need a loaf pan and ideally it will have a lid. This bread comes out best for me in my 1kg/2lb Emile Henry ceramic loaf pan. If you don’t have a lid you can improvise one by tenting your pan with aluminium foil.

I make this loaf using emmer berries from ancientgrains.com, ground at home in my Mockmill. If you are in the UK you can source whole emmer grains from Hodmedods. If you don’t have a mill at home, using pre-ground emmer flour for work fine

Although this bread is 100% wholegrain emmer flour, it will work with sourdough starter made of any flour. I would not be without my rye sourdough starter (find advice on how to create one of these here).

Seeded Wholegrain Emmer Sourdough

Ingredients:

For the pre-ferment:

230g wholegrain emmer flour

230g water

45g sourdough starter (can be any grain)

For the main dough:

320g wholegrain emmer flour

9g salt

120g water

100g pre-soaked sunflower seeds

Method:

The night before you want to bake:

The sunflower seeds need to be soaked:

• Put them into a bowl and cover them with ample water, before leaving them on the counter overnight.

Make the pre-ferment:

• Combine the water and sourdough starter, mixing well. Stir this mixture into the flour.
• Clean the sides of the bowl and flatten the top of the mixture with wet spatula.
• Cover the bowl tightly with a plate or some clingfilm/plastic wrap.
• Leave this mix overnight in a warm place – when I created this loaf the daytime temperature of my house was 24C/68F; try to find a space that’s somewhere between 20C/68F and 24C/75F.

The morning of the bake:

• Retrieve the mixture that’s been pre-fermenting overnight. It should be visibly expanded and smell fermented The bowl should sound hollow when you knock the side of it and you may also see tiny pin holes on the top of the surface. If you’re unsure whether the mix is ready, you can dig a spoon into it – you should find honeycomb-style network of holes. If you are in any doubt that the mixture is ready, return it to your warm place and check it again in an hour or two.
• When you are ready to proceed, drain and rinse the sunflower seeds, before pouring them into the bowl that contains the pre-ferment.
• Add the water to this and stir until well combined.
• Stir the salt into the flour.
• Add the flour/salt to the liquidy pre-ferment, stirring until there is no loose flour and the mixture is well combined.
• Using a wet spatula, clean down the sides of the bowl before pressing down and smoothing the top of the dough.
• Cover the bowl tightly with a plate or clingfilm/plastic wrap.

• Leave in a warm place to ferment. In my kitchen, at 24C/75F, I leave this two hours.
• Prepare a loaf pan for the bread, greasing and flowering the inside.
• When the dough is ready (it will be bigger, smell active, and be airy) it’s time to get it into the pan. I find the best way to do this is to use a wet spatula and scoop portions of the dough out at a time, dropping them into my pan. Once I have all the dough, I wet my spatula again and shape/smooth the top of the loaf.
• Cover the loaf pan. If your pan doesn’t have a lid you can tent the pan with aluminium foil.
• Leave in a warm place to ferment. In my kitchen, 24C/75F, I leave this for an hour and a half.

• About 20 minutes before you judge the bread to be ready, preheat your oven to 210C/410C.
• When the loaf is ready (it will be bigger and may have tiny pin holes on the surface), ensure the lid is well fitting and place inside your preheated oven.
• Cook the bread at 210C/410F for 25 minutes and then reduce the temperature to 190C/375F. My loaf (cooked in a Emile Henry ceramic baker) takes a further 30 minutes at this temperature.
• The bread will be done when it registers 95C/200F at its centre with a probe thermometer. If you don’t have one of these, you can judge doneness based on the colour of the crust and the loaf sounding hollow when you tap it on the bottom.
• Remove the bread from its pan to a cooling rack and leave it to cool completely before cutting.

This seeded wholegrain emmer sourdough will keep at least four or five days in a bread bag or tin. If you are used to spelt loaves going stale after two or three days, you will be pleasantly surprised at the keeping qualities of emmer.

FAQs

What’s the difference between emmer and spelt?

Both emmer and spelt are ancient grains. They both have wheat-like qualities (as does their sister ancient grain, einkorn). Their similarities are shown by what the Italians call them. In Italian, einkorn, emmer and spelt are all part of the ‘farro’ family; einkorn is ‘farro monococco’, emmer is ‘farro dicocco’ and spelt is ‘farro spelta’. Emmer is genetically more complex than einkorn but simpler than simpler than spelt.

From the bakers point of view, emmer handles very differently to spelt. It stretches much more, but with its lower gluten content it is harder to use the methods of conventional wheat bread-making. This is why my recipe uses the techniques I would normally apply to very low-gluten doughs, such as those made with rye.

Does emmer contain gluten?

Yes, emmer does contain gluten. Therefore if you are coeliac you shouldn’t eat it. If, however, you have non-specific gluten intolerance you may find, as others do, that eating sourdough made with ancient grains such as emmer does not cause you problems.

What’s the difference between wheat and emmer?

Emmer is an ancient grain, a cereal that our ancestors have been using for thousands of years. Modern wheat that we buy in shops today is a product of an intensive selective breeding programme in the 1960s. This was designed to increase wheat yield, with no concern for flavour or health benefits. When you choose to bake with emmer you are choosing a grain that has sustained ancestors for many years and has not been messed with as has modern wheat.

You might also like:

5 Reasons to Bake With Ancient Grains

All About Spelt Sourdough (podcast episode)

How to Make Sourdough Rye Bread From Scratch

Thank you so much to Grand Teton Ancient Grains for sponsoring this post, allowing me to develop, test and write up this recipe.

Øllebrød is my new favourite breakfast! Who would’ve believed that such a complex-flavoured, adaptable, moreish dish could come from the combination of some stale rye bread and half a can of ale?! Pair it with a few flavourings (which I’ll share with you below) it’s like creating magic in your breakfast bowl.

What is Øllebrød?

Øllebrød is a oatmeal-style dish from Denmark that pairs previously-baked rye bread with beer to create a warm and hearty porridge. The earliest references to it are from the Middle Ages and, in its traditional form, it was a simple, frugal dish that provided nourishment from readily-available staples.

Why bread and beer?

Before industrialisation, communities depended on the crops that grew around them. Rye was a grain that worked well in Denmark, hence it was used to make bread. As firing an oven is quite an expense, this bread was often made in large batches and designed to be kept. As these breads aged, creative home cooks found ways to bring them to life, including this delicious porridge øllebrød.

 With bread-making comes beer-making – providing both was an unquestionable part of the household duties of women for centuries. And if we go back beyond a couple of hundred years, beer (or ale) was a day-to-day drink; given to the whole family at meals.

Bread and beer would have been part of our ancestors lives. Combining them into a daily dish just made sense.

A traditional version:

I first read about øllebrød in Alex Hely-Hutchinson’s book 26 Grains. Her version, like many of the øllebrød recipes you’ll find online, modernises the dish, leaving out the beer and adding sweeteners, fruit and spices. Whilst øllebrød does taste good this way, I love adding beer – it gives the dish a deep, rich flavour that is so distinctively different.

In this recipe, half of the liquid used is beer (I’ve used a stout as the flavours combine so well, but you could use any beer). To balance the flavours, I’ve also used a very small amount of sweetener. Taste your own øllebrød before it’s done and add more if you prefer it sweeter.

I make 100% wholegrain rye sourdough rye bread at home every week (my methods are in my course Rye Sourdough Bread: Mastering the Basics) and use the last slices of the loaf to make øllebrød. Sometimes, though, I am so keen to have the porridge that I’ll use fresh bread, or even make a loaf especially. It’s not important whether your bread is old or new, the flavour will be good with both.

You could use shop-bought rye bread, but, as with all industrially-made foods, the flavour won’t be as special.

My favourite spices and flavourings are below, but there are so many options to chose from. Using my suggestions and your imagination, you can make the dish a different experience every time.

Øllebrød needs to be started the night before you want to eat it by soaking the bread in beer and water. I suggest doing this in the saucepan that you intend to cook it in, saving washing up!

Traditional Danish Øllebrød

Serves: 3

Time to soak: overnight

Time to cook: 20 minutes

Ingredients:

250g rye bread, sourdough is best

300g stout (or any beer/ale)

300g water

1/8 tsp salt

1 tsp dark sugar

Spices/flavourings (I often change these up, but like this combination):

1 tsp cinnamon

1/8 tsp vanilla seeds

Zest of 1/3 of a lemon (c.1/2 tsp)

You could also experiment with orange zest/juice, caraway, cardamom, star anise and more!

Method:

The night before you want to eat øllebrød:

• Break the bread into chunks around 2 cms and place them in a saucepan.
• Pour over the beer and the water and stir to combine.
• Cover and leave on the counter overnight.

In the morning:

• Add the salt, sugar and spices to the bread mixture.
• Put the pan onto the stove on a medium-high heat, stirring frequently until you start to see it bubble.
• Turn the heat down to low and cook for 20 minutes, stirring regularly to avoid it sticking to the bottom of your pan.
• When the porridge is smooth, taste it for seasoning, adding more salt, sweetener and/or spices if you would like.
• Serve into bowls, add any desired toppings and eat straight away.

Serving suggestions:

• Øllebrød is great served simply with crushed nuts/seeds and some yogurt or cream (or my favourite, ghee!)
• If you’d like to, toasting nuts before topping øllebrød with them brings more flavour.
• Fresh, seasonal fruit is a nice option.
• For a special treat you could add honey or maple syrup; my son likes it if I infuse cardamom pods for 15 minutes in a 50/50 warmed honey/water solution and pour that over the top of his øllebrød.

FAQs

Can I use new rye bread?

Yes, I often use freshly-made rye bread to make øllebrød. I ends up being slightly more liquidy than if I’d used stale, dry bread, but you can extend the cooking period if you prefer it thicker.

Can I use standard rye?

Yes, you don’t have to use home-made sourdough rye. You can use yeasted rye or shop-bought rye bread. Bread with seeds in will work too, but your porridge will not be as smooth as a non-seeded loaf.

Can I use other breads?

Yes, I often make øllebrød with sourdough spelt bread. When I do this, I prefer to replace the beer with cider. The flavour is wonderful!

Do I have to use alcohol?

No! Øllebrød was traditionally made with beer, but you could soak the bread in water instead. A lot of modern recipes do this.

Can I use non-alcoholic beer?

Yes! Non alcoholic stout or beer works well for this recipes.

I don’t like stout, can I use another beer?

Yes, you can use any type of beer, ale, cider (even home-brewed ancestral ale!). The flavour will change based on the type of drink you use.

What other flavourings go well with øllebrød?

I have used lemon zest, cinnamon and vanilla in the recipe, but often use other spices. Caraway works very well with the deep rye flavours, as does star anise and cardamom. Lots of recipes online use orange juice and zest.

You might also like:

Russian Bread Kvass

Wholegrain Rye Sourdough Bread: Mastering the Basics (podcast episode)

How to Make Fermented Oats

And, if you want to get my go-to recipe for 100% wholegrain rye sourdough bread, plus tips for making sourdough rye at home, go here.

My son, who is 11, likes experimenting in the kitchen. His combinations are often weird and wonderful. I try to let them be – isn’t trying, tasting and evaluating a huge part of the process?!

Because of my desire to allow him to play, we’ve eaten some weird dishes (chocolate and cheese, linseed and cabbage…the list goes on!).

But when it came to the idea of a spelt bread stuffed with olives and mozzarella, I was quite enthusiastic. I’m a lover of the ancient grain spelt. Add two delicious Mediterranean treats; what’s not to like?! My son had the idea of layering the dough in a cake tin. I never seen anyone doing this before I wasn’t sure whether it would work, but it does!

We decided to called this dish layered spelt focaccia with mozzarella and olives. It’s delicious, luxurious and interesting. When I initially included a picture of it in one of my newsletters, I received emails asking for the recipe! My son was proud and together we baked the bread again, this time noting all the weights and the process.

The bread uses instant yeast. That’s a departure from all of my previous bread recipes which have all been sourdough. 11-year-olds aren’t as patient as I have learnt to become, so he wanted to use yeast. In practice, you can make this focaccia using sourdough, check my notes at the end of the recipe for specific details.

Layered Spelt Focaccia with Mozzarella & Olives

Ingredients:

270g white spelt flour

4.5g salt

5g instant yeast

115g water

2 tablespoons olive oil

175g mozzarella

110g olives

1 teaspoon rosemary

Method:

• Measure the flour, salt and yeast into a mixing bowl.
• Combine the water (if your environment is cool, warm the water that you use to around 30°C/86°F) and olive oil in a jug.
• Pour the liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix well, kneading till you have a soft dough.
• Use a little olive oil to grease the bowl, place the dough back in it, cover lightly and leave in a warm place until doubled in size (for me, at 28°C/82°F this took two hours).
• Remove the mozzarella from its packaging and dice it. Leave these pieces on a plate to rest and drain any liquid that comes from them.
• Depending on the size of your olives, chop them either in half or in quarters.
• Prepare a 7 1/2 inch/19 cm loose-bottomed sandwich cake tin by greasing and/or lining with parchment paper.
• Check your proofing dough. If it’s sufficiently risen, remove it from your warm space (if not, return it and keep checking).
• Flour your work surface and, removing the dough gently from its proofing bowl, divide it into four relatively equal portions.
• Stretch/push/roll the first of these four portions into a circle that will fit the bottom of your cake tin. When it’s the right size, place it at the bottom of the tin.

• Top this layer with a third of the olives, a quarter of the mozzarella and a sprinkle of the rosemary.
• Take the second quarter of dough, stretch/push/roll it as you did the first and place this over the top of the last one.
• Sprinkle this second layer with a third of the olives, a quarter of the mozzarella and a sprinkle of the rosemary.
• Repeat this process with the third quarter of the dough.

• Stretch/push/roll the last quarter of the dough and place it over the top. You should now have a quarter of the mozzarella to dot on the top. Add a little rosemary too.
• Cover the cake tin with a damp tea towel and move it back to your warm space for a final proof; at 28°C/82°F, I like to allow half an hour for this process.
• Whilst its proofing, preheat your oven to 180°C/355°F.
• When the layered focaccia is ready (it will have risen, not a great deal, but noticeably, in the tin), place it in the oven.
• Cook for 25-35 minutes, until the top is golden brown.
• Eat warm!

How to make this with sourdough:

If you’d like to make this a sourdough spelt focaccia, I recommend swapping the yeast out for 55g of active sourdough starter. It may take longer to ferment/proof.

You might also like:

Sourdough Spelt & Carrot Cake

Want to Freshly-Grind Grains for Bread?

How to Make a Sourdough Starter

To get all the details of how to brighten your morning with tangy, super-nutritious oatmeal, pop your details into the form below. I’ll email you a PDF which will walk you through all the details and give you recipe, plus links to other oat-focused dishes that you’ll love.

Cottage pie is a British favourite that’s been around for 250 years. It’s a frugal dish, developed by home-cooks as a way to use up previously-cooked meat and was traditionally topped with a UK staple: potatoes.

In this version, I’m being faithful to that heritage and using leftover beef (but, if you’d rather use raw ground beef/mince instead, I’ve got you covered). But I’m adding a twist; instead of finishing the dish with potatoes, I’m using rolled oats to make a cheesy biscuit topping.

Before wheat, oats were widely utilised in the United Kingdom – in many places being the only grain crop available. Hence this oatcake-topped cottage pie feels as if it honours traditional British food. Plus, it’s delicious!

Cheesy Oatcake-Topped Cottage Pie

Makes 4 generous servings. You will need a pie dish that is, ideally, 6cm deep. See my pictures below for the dishes I commonly use.

Prep time: 50 minutes

Cook time: 30-40 minutes

Ingredients:

For the filling:

2-3 tablespoon fat (can be lard, tallow, butter or olive oil)

1 medium onion

1 stick of celery

1 large carrot

8/10 medium-sized mushrooms

300-400g cold, left over beef*

1 tablespoon concentrated tomato paste

17g (1/8th cup) fine oatmeal (or rolled oats pulsed into flour in a food processor)

300ml beef (or chicken) stock

salt and pepper, to taste

*You can substitute the cold, leftover beef for uncooked ground/minced beef. If doing so, use a little more; I suggest 400-500g raw weight.

For the topping:

300g rolled oats

3.5g salt

155g cheese (a mild or medium Cheddar works best)

60g lard, tallow or butter

135g water

Method:

Make the filling:

• Dice the onion and put it into a medium saucepan on a medium heat with the fat. Give it a stir, then, whilst its cooking, dice the celery and carrot. Add them to the saucepan too, stir well, adjust the heat if necessary and continue to cook until the onions are soft.
• Slice the mushrooms and add them to the vegetables in the pan. Leave to cook, stirring occasionally, for another 10 minutes.
• Mince your leftover beef finely (you do not need a mincer to do this, just chopping it finely is good).
• Add the beef, concentrated tomato paste and oatmeal (or ground oats) to the cooking vegetables and stir well to distribute the oats.
• Add the stock and stir well. Reduce the heat to low, partially cover the saucepan and leave it to cook, stirring every now and again, whilst you prepare the oatcakes.

Make the oatcakes for topping:

Preheat the oven to 180C/375F.

• Grate the cheese.
• Put the oats, salt and 85g of the cheese (reserving the other 70g) in a heat-proof bowl and stir to distribute the cheese.
• Add the fat and water to a lidded saucepan, gently heat the water until the fat is melted.
• Pour the liquid into the dry mixture and stir well.
• Bring the dough together into a ball and cover the top of the bowl with a plate.
• Prepare the oatcakes to top your pie. The number of oatcakes you make and the size of them will depend on the dish you use. If you want to be super-specific, it’ll help you to know that the total weight of the dough you are working with is around 570g. Here is what I do for two different dishes:

For a rectangular dish that is 8inches/20cm by 10.5inches/27cm, I make 12 oatcakes, just over 2 inches/5.5cm in diameter, 1.8cm/2/3 inch deep and weighing 47.5g each.

For an oval dish that is 11 inches/28.5cm by 8inches/19.5cm, I make 9 large and 2 small oatcakes. All of there are 2 inches/5.5cm in diameter and 1.8cm/2/3 inch deep. The large oatcakes are around 58g each and the small ones are 24g.

• Once each oatcake is made, put it gently to one side.

Assemble and bake the dish:

• Once all the oatcakes are ready, try the beef mixture and season to taste. Then turn off the heat and pour the beef and vegetable mix into the cooking dish.
• Arrange the oatcakes on top of the beef and finish by sprinkling on the remaining grated cheese.
• Bake for 30-40 minutes (putting a baking tray/sheet under the dish if you think it might bubble over) until the topping is golden.

How to eat the Cheesy Oatcake-Topped Cottage Pie

Cheesy Oatcake-Topped Cottage Pie is great eaten hot from the oven. It’s easy to divide – the oatcakes give a natural serving size!

I like to serve with steamed or boiled greens and if we’re really hungry I’ll add another dish, such as my Tumeric Buttered Swede (Rutabaga)

How to store the Cheesy Oatcake-Topped Cottage Pie

This dish keeps really well in the fridge for a couple of days and leftovers can be reheated in the oven (I set it to 150C/300F for 20 minutes) before serving.

Variations on the Cheesy Oatcake-Topped Cottage Pie

• Remember you don’t have to use leftover meat. Swapping our for 400-500g of raw mince/ground beef works too.
• Use lamb instead to make this a Cheesy Oatcake-Topped Shepherd’s Pie!
• Mix in some pre-cooked diced or mince offal to add extra budget-conscious nutrition. I often add minced heart, replacing a quarter to a third of the meat.
• Add whatever vegetables are in season/you have in the fridge. Celery adds depth of flavour at an early stage; greens can be chopped finely and used instead of peas.
• Play with spices/herbs. Rosemary, thyme and oregano have often found their way into this dish in my kitchen!

Other posts you might like:

Traditional Scottish Oatcakes

Fermented Oat Bake

What Does Eating Ancestrally Mean?

Pulses can cause digestive issues. Here’s why:

• They contain complex sugars called oligosaccharides which humans do not have the enzymes to properly digest. These ferment in the gut causing discomfort and wind.
• Their thick skins can be particularly hard and problematic to break down.
• They contain compounds called ‘anti-nutrients’ including phytic acid and lectins. These can not only cause many health issues and but also block the absorption of minerals.

My family avoided pulses for over a decade. On a gut-healing journey, we had experienced great improvement in our health through dietary protocols (such as GAPS) but every time we tried to bring pulses back in to our diets, digestive issues returned and we had to swiftly remove them again.

For us, pulses caused excess gas, painful digestive issues and, as our son is sensitive to lectins, an anti-nutrient in all pulses, we were sure they were exacerbating his other health problems.

In order to be able to enjoy pulses and stay healthy, we needed to use all the tools at our disposal to address the problems that they can cause. I developed my anti anti-nutrient hummus to do exactly this. It uses every process I’ve learnt to neutralise the problematic compounds in pulses. Once this is done, it blends them into a delicious smooth hummus! With it, my family can now enjoy tasty, super-economical pulses without issues.

A digestible hummus: How the anti anti-nutrient hummus is different

We can have problems digesting hummus from the supermarket because its ingredients have not been prepared with nutrition and digestion in mind. The chickpeas in it contain high levels of indigestible oligosaccharides plus the anti-nutrients phytic acid and lectins. The tahini is made from sesame seeds which also contain anti-nutrients. In addition, industrial hummus usually contains seed oil, something that, if caring for our health, we want to avoid.

The anti anti-nutrient hummus solves these problems, Here’s how:

• We start with chickpeas that have had their skins removed.
• We soak the chickpeas for 48 hours, removing a lot of the oligosaccharides and greatly decreasing the anti-nutrients (1).
• We cook the chickpeas in a pressure cooker, which has been shown to remove oligosaccharides and lectins (2).
• We use whole sesame seeds which we soak, neutralising anti-nutrients.
• We include spices that aid digestion.

In addition, it’s great to eat this hummus with foods high in vitamin C, like red pepper, as vitamin C has been shown to negate the effects of many anti-nutrients.

The Anti Anti-Nutrient Beetroot Hummus

This vibrant hummus has a sweet, soft and gentle flavour. The beetroot gives the beautiful colour along with the earthy sweetness and the garlic, being roasted beforehand, imparts a delicateness, meaning that the resulting dish isn’t overpowering. It’s speckled with whole sesame seeds that share their bitter flavour as you bit into them.

Equipment:

You’ll need a pressure cooker and a food processor.

Ingredients:

200g chana dal/split chickpeas (chickpeas without the skin)

2 tbsp acidic medium for soaking – apple cider vinegar is a great choice here

50g sesame seeds

380g beetroot

3 cloves garlic

5 tbsp olive oil

5-10 tbsp water

1 tbsp lemon juice

1 tbsp ground coriander

1 tbsp whole coriander seeds

Salt and pepper

Time schedule:

As this process involves a 48-hour soak of the chickpeas, it needs to be started two days advance. For example, if you would like to eat this on a Sunday, start the process Thursday evening. The flavour of the hummus improves with time, so don’t be scared of making it the day before you need it!

Method:

Soaking the chickpeas and sesame seeds:

• Put the chickpeas in a bowl and cover with ample warm water (ensuring it isn’t any warmer than 40°C/104°F) .
• Stir in 1 tablespoon of an acidic medium such as apple cider vinegar or sourdough starter discard.
• Put a plate over the bowl and leave it in a warm place for 24 hours.
• After 24 hours has passed, drain the chickpeas and rinse them well.
• Return the chickpeas to the bowl and again cover with ample warm water (ensuring it isn’t any warmer than 40° C/104° F).
• Again stir in 1 tablespoon of an acidic medium.
• Return the plate to the bowl and again leave it in a warm place for 24 hours.
• At the same time as putting the chickpeas in for their second soak, measure the sesame seeds into a small bowl and cover with warm water. Leave these for a 24 hour soak, alongside the chickpeas.

To make the hummus:

• Dice the beetroot and roast the small pieces. I like to do this for an hour at 175°C/374°F as the resulting pieces are very sweet.
• Roast the garlic by popping the individual garlic cloves into the oven 15 minutes before the end of the beetroot cooking time.
• Drain and rinse the chickpeas.
• Add the chickpeas, plus 5 cups of water to the pressure cooker (I use an Instant Pot) and cook on high pressure for 25 minutes.
• Vent the pressure cooker and drain the cooked chickpeas.
• Once cooled, add the chickpeas, beetroot and garlic (by squeezing it out of the roasted shells) to the food processor.
• Drain and rinse the sesame seeds before placing them in a blender too.
• Add whatever spices you would like. I use both ground coriander and whole coriander seeds that have been previously crushed in a mortar and pestle.
• Measure the olive oil, lemon juice and half the water into the mix.
• Blend well, stopping several times to scrape down the sides of the bowl.
• Taste for seasoning and consistency, adding more water plus salt and pepper until it tastes and feels right to you.

How to eat the anti anti-nutrient hummus

This hummus is great to eat in so many ways. Here are a few of my favourites:

• As a dip for carrot sticks, slices of pepper, and, my particular favourite, slices of apple.
• Spread onto buckwheat pancakes or naturally-fermented Staffordshire oatcakes, then topped with salad or warm greens and folded or rolled up to eat.
• As a colourful topping for a slice of sourdough spelt or rye bread.
• Scooped up and eaten on top of a crispy Scottish oat cake.

It’s great for main meal alternative to animal protein but also indispensable in the fridge as a snack for busy days. It’s particularly appealing to children because of its colour!

If you still experience digestive discomfort after eating this hummus (or any soaked/pressure-cooked grains), try introducing it slowly, to allow the gut bacteria that digest pulses to build up. A tablespoon or two of hummus at a meal or a few cooked pulses in a stew are great ways to start.

How to store the anti- anti-nutrient hummus

The flavour of this hummus gets even better with time! You can store it in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 5 days. It also freezes really well – pack it into a container and freeze for up to a month. Get it out the night before you want to eat it, place it in the fridge and it will be ready for you the next day.

Variations on the anti anti-nutrient hummus

Spices: You do not need to restrict yourself to coriander. I will often use whole cumin seeds (sometimes I’ll pre-roast them) or nigella. Herbs are also possible – fresh coriander works beautifully and sometimes I use rosemary.

Sesame seeds: if you’d like to make a tahini for this hummus, you can roast the sesame seed after soaking and blend them into a paste in a heavy duty grinder.

Beetroot: This hummus can be made without the beetroot. In addition, you could swap out the beetroot for sweet potato, squash, parsnip or any other roasted root vegetable. If you really wanted to up the vitamin C, you could use some raw, grated beetroot.

Garlic: if you prefer your hummus to be more strongly-flavoured, use more garlic or add the garlic raw.

Other posts you may like:

The Low Down on Oats and Phytic Acid

Sourdough Oatcakes

Tumeric Buttered Rutabaga (Swede)

1. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/234842668_Effect_of_Natural_Fermentation_on_the_Lectin_of_Lentils_Measured_by_Immunological_Methods
2. https://gundryhealth.com/5-proven-methods-to-reduce-lectins-and-embrace-a-healthier-diet/#:~:text=2.,and%20lectin%2Dreducing%20culinary%20solution.

I’ve never had a big kitchen. In fact, most of my kitchens have been tiny (you can see my latest here). And I’ve always been on a very tight budget. This means I’ve been very selective about the equipment that I ‘need’. Below your find my current favourite kitchen equipment; the things that, given the choice, I just would not be without!

There are some links on this page which, if you follow and buy from, I will get a small commission (you won’t pay any extra). I only do this with companies I believe in. If you would like to support my work and buy the same piece of equipment I have, please do use my links. Thank you!

My Favourite Kitchen Equipment

Mockmill grain grinder

I’ve been making my own sourdough bread from ancient grains for a decade but it was many years before I took the plunge and got my own grain grinder. It was a study that talked of the deleterious effects of previously-ground flour on lifespan that pushed me over the edge (I talk about it in this podcast).

I purchased a Mockmill two years ago and have never regretted it. I now grind flour for all my sourdough breads – spelt, rye and gluten-free – freshly. It is so convenient, taking moments. And I know, by doing this, I am not only ensuring the most nutrient-dense flour possible for my family but also, by buying grain in bulk, saving money. Plus, it tastes amazing!

It’s not only for loaves that I use the Mockmill. I often make chunky, stone-ground oatmeal using freshly-ground oat groats. I grind buckwheat for pancakes. I make millet polenta and polenta bread using freshly-milled grain. And I freshly-grind rye to add to my fermenting oats in order to most effectively deactivate phytic acid (you can see me talk about this more here).

The Mockmill is a stone grinder – inside it are two stones. This retains as much as possible of the grains nutrients, replicating how our ancestors would have created flour. I have the 100 model, which I find amply quick enough for my kitchen. Despite having minimal counter space, my Mockmill has, because of its daily use, pride of place on my work surface.

The Mockmill I bought in the USA shop.

The Mockmill I bought in the UK Deliver Deli Mockmill shop.

The EU Mockmill shop (use code P2024-AK-03 to get a 3% discount).

The ‘rest of the world’ Mockmill shop (use code P2024-AK-03 to get a 3% discount).

Listen to me explaining why milling is so beneficial and talking about various mill options in the podcast above, or read more about my Mockmill here.

Wooden boards

I love wood in the kitchen. It’s warm on the eyes and hands, it’s naturally hygienic and, if sourced well, an ecological choice. I also love to chop on wood – the surface responds well to my knife and cleaning up is easy.

I have three wooden boards in my kitchen. One is the big and stays out permanently. It raises the counter about 2 inches and provides the space for almost all of my food prep. The other two smaller and lighter; easy to pop in and out of the cupboard to use for ad hoc tasks or as a rest for hot pans when we eat.

Glass mixing bowls

I have four stainless steel mixing bowls that I use daily in my kitchen, which I like because they are light and virtually indestructible. But, in addition to these, I love to also have glass bowls on hand.

These are invaluable to me as part of sourdough bread baking. I can put a rye pre-ferment or a sourdough leaven into one of them and, because of the glass, clearly see how the fermentation is progressing without having to guess using my nose alone or by digging into the fermenting flower with a spoon.

Silicone spatulas

I hate wasting food; silicone spatulas are invaluable in my kitchen because they are incredible for scraping out bowls or saucepans.

I use them to get every last bit of fermented rye dough out of the bowl and into my loaf. I use them to scrape round a saucepan of leftover oatmeal/porridge, getting out enough to have a snack later. I use them to extricate every bit of cabbage from my food processor bowl when I make sauerkraut. I use them, wet, to smooth down the top of a rye pre–ferment, so I can see how well it’s rising. Without my silicones bachelors I’d waste a lot more food, have murky washing-up liquid and be grumpy!

Lodge cast-iron pan

My Lodge cast-iron pan stays permanently on top of my stove. I use it every single day. It’s 13 years old and still is wonderful as the first day I used it. I cannot overstate how amazing, hard-wearing and economical cast-iron cookware is. If you don’t have one, you will not regret getting one.

Probe thermometer

Again, I hesitated before buying one of these, but several years on I do not know how I’d live without it. The most obvious use is for bread-baking – my loaves are ready when they are 95°C. It’s simple and I can leave those instructions with my husband, Rob, if I’m not around.

But there are so many other things that I also use the thermometer for. I check that the millet I’ve cooked up to make the fermented drink boza is the right temperature before I add the starter. I make sure warmed water isn’t too hot to be added to yeast/sourdough. I check the ambient temperature of my kitchen to decide whether my bread will be fine fermenting on the counter or needs to go my proofing box.

Timers, timers, timers!

Managing an ancestral kitchen involves a lot of keeping an eye on things/popping back in after doing the washing/remembering that something needs to be done in 20 minutes and I cannot be trusted to hold it all in my head!

I have three kitchen timers:

• The first is a digital count up or countdown timer that beeps loudly for a full minute when the time is up.
• The second is a manual wind-up timer that can do up to 60 minutes.
• The third is another manual wind-up timer, but the amazingly simple yet clever thing with this one is that it can be worn around your neck! No going out to the garden and not hearing the beeper go off in the kitchen! It’s genius.

Bokashi kitchen-to-compost system

Creating three meals a day, every day means a lot of kitchen waste; my vegetable ends, skin and pips can often overwhelm my kitchen surface! Vegetable and fruit ends are not the only organic waste I have in my kitchen – after making stock, there are left-over bones plus coffee and tea produce waste leaves and grinds.

I use all of these to create a super-quick compost right in my kitchen using a Japanese system called bokashi. Later, I dig it into my garden to supercharge my vegetables. The first year I put bokashi into my pots, I was astounded by the size and quality of my root veg.

Get 10% off Bokashi supplies in the US/Canada using the code AKP.

Get 10% off bokashi supplies in the UK.

Emile Henry ceramic loaf baker

For me, baking is a thing of beauty and, to honour that, I love to use my Emile Henry ceramic loaf baker. It’s not only creates the best crust on a loaf I’ve ever eaten, but the beauty of the breads I bake in it is enhanced because of their special baking home.

Slow cooker

A slow cooker is such a versatile piece of equipment and comes into its own in a traditional kitchen. I use my slow cooker to both render lard and make broth, as well as cooking soups and stews in it from autumn to spring.

You might also like:

Listen into Ancestral Kitchen Podcast episode Our Favourite Kitchen Tools to hear more kitchen equipment geekery!

My Ancestral Kitchen Routines

How to Roll Oats at Home (& 3 Good Reasons To Do It!)