Oats and which to buy for quality?

leonie_2

Hi everyone.

I've been looking at incorporating more oats into my diet and from what I read, its better to buy the actual oat groats rather than rolled oats.

I want to start making it into flour and adding it to homemade bread, but can I also buy the groats and process them to make rolled oats or do I need a special tool for this?

So what does everyone else do? What type do you buy? Do you grind it for breadmaking?

Tell me everything about oats please!

Swan_2

well, I'm not sure how you'd go about rolling your own, but I love proper oatmeal. real porridge mmmmm

in the absence of a local mill that processes oats, I think one of the most widely available quality brands is Alford. it comes in different grades & has a lovely flavour

I just put oats, meal or rolled, into my bread as they are, I love the texture they give. they make a lovely topping for a loaf too

Curry_Queen

I usually buy Tesco value oats, although for some reason I couldn't find them on the site this week so had to get their Scottish oats @ 57p/kg instead. If I want a finer oatmeal flour then I just stick them in the FP to grind them down

[Deleted User]

I like jordons oats as the oats are quite large and are conservation grade. I bought value oats once and hated them because they were like sticky pap when cooked. (only my opinion as they would be good for children etc)

leonie_2

Thanks everyone.

This started as I read on here about someone who substituted part of the white bread with oats. I gave it a go and its great! :T So I know oats are better for you than white flour, so I wonder where else I can add them.

I made some rolled oats into oatflour in my kenwood, but now im wondering if I can use them in sauces such as cheese, and what about when pasta making?

This is the healthy me for the new year lol!

Swan_2

Curry_Queen wrote:

I usually buy Tesco value oats, although for some reason I couldn't find them on the site this week so had to get their Scottish oats @ 57p/kg instead. If I want a finer oatmeal flour then I just stick them in the FP to grind them down

I've never seen Tesco value oatmeal, they only seem to have the value rolled/porridge oats in the shops here. which is weird since you'd think us Scots would be a bigger market for real oatmeal


leonie, I don't know if you know about the different grades of oatmeal? other than whole or cracked oat groats there's pinhead, which is very coarse & is my favourite (I dust my cheese & oatmeal scones with it) then medium which is a good all-purpose grade, & then fine, which is ... fine. Alford also do a coarse meal, which is like a mixture of medium & pinhead & makes wonderful porridge

skipton

Tesco organic are produced by Mornflakes. They seem to be identical to Mornflakes Jumbo oats. The Jumbo Oats are the best in my opinion.

Swan_2

skipton wrote:

Tesco organic are produced by Mornflakes. They seem to be identical to Mornflakes Jumbo oats. The Jumbo Oats are the best in my opinion.

I may be wrong, but I think those are a variety of rolled oats rather than actual oatmeal

I'm becoming a real nit-picker about this rolled oats/oatmeal thing :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

leonie_2

Swan wrote:

leonie, I don't know if you know about the different grades of oatmeal? other than whole or cracked oat groats there's pinhead, which is very coarse & is my favourite (I dust my cheese & oatmeal scones with it) then medium which is a good all-purpose grade, & then fine, which is ... fine. Alford also do a coarse meal, which is like a mixture of medium & pinhead & makes wonderful porridge

Well this is what im reading up on now and it seems that the best way to buy oats is to buy the actual groats and grind them into flour as you need them and they will be much fresher and will retain more of their vitamin content.

That said, I shall buy some oat groats to grind and use them in flour for breadmaking. I'll probably give them a try in white sauce as I cant find any info about it. I'll do half oat and half plain flour otherwise it may be too sweet

I doubt I will be able to process the groats into rolled oats though so shall still have to buy those.

taurusgb

I keep wanting to add oats to my white bread in my BM...but never know how much flour to replace with oats - would it be like for like, eg remove 4 oz flour and add 4 oz oats, or would oats soak up more liquid so you'd need less than the flour you take out?

As for other uses for oats, I always use 50/50 oats and flour when I make fruit crumble, and I always add them to HM beefburgers and meat loaf.

Whitefiver

Swan wrote:

in the absence of a local mill that processes oats, I think one of the most widely available quality brands is Alford. it comes in different grades & has a lovely flavour

Seconded - makes most wonderful porridge!

Regards,

White.