Sprouted Oat Groats

Method

1. 1

   Put the groats in a clean quart jar. Pour in the cool water. It should cover the groats by about two fingers. If they drink it down before morning, add more. Cover the mouth with a screen or a clean cloth. Leave the jar on the counter 8 to 12 hours. The grains sit under the water. They do not have nubs yet.

2. 2

   Drain every drop. Rinse with cool water and drain again. Lay the jar on its side on a clean towel, mesh side a little downhill, so the water runs out and the jar is not sitting in a puddle. A wet jar grows mold, not sprouts. Do not prop it on the rim of a bowl.

3. 3

   Rinse and drain twice a day. In one to three days most grains show a tiny white nub, no longer than the tip of the grain itself. That is sprouted. Stop there. Long shoots turn bitter, and a warm jar of wet oats molds if you wait.

4. 4

   To keep them, spread the drained groats in a thin layer and dry them until a groat snaps instead of bending. A dehydrator at 115°F takes about 8 to 12 hours. An oven as low as it will go, door cracked, works if you stir and do not let them brown. Brown means you cooked them.

5. 5

   Cool them completely before they go in a jar. Grind fully dry groats when a recipe asks for sprouted oat flour. Wet groats gum a blender.

From the kitchen

• Rolled oats and steel-cut oats will not sprout. Buy whole oat groats, the intact grain.
• Still-wet sprouts can go straight into the porridge. Dry them for flour, granola, or a jar that keeps on the shelf.