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recipe development

Recipe Development:

Test #1: Homemade granola is a baked good that I trust myself to develop a recipe from scratch and share with others. Over the past couple of years, I’ve loved gifting bags of homemade granola to friends, family, and professors as birthdays, holidays, and thank you gifts. Granola is shelf-stable, easy to package, distribute in-person or send cross-country and bake in large quantities. One of my professors told me that she could see me selling my granola at my local farmers market during my gap year. (I looked up the process of becoming a vendor at an LA farmers market. There’s way too many restrictions and credentialing that a vendor must pass.) 

This quarantine, I’ve tried to come up with new ways to use my sourdough discard, so I set up my old and new loves on a blind date: a sourdough discard granola. I tested two summer-forward flavors in my first test: a golden granola and a lemon blueberry granola. I thought the discard’s tang would complement the warmth of the turmeric and heighten the acidity of the lemon. But in this first trial, I figured out that the discard doesn’t contribute much flavor…but instead makes an excellent binder. I also only added pistachios to this test.

• What I got right: substitute discard for oil, 1 ½ tsp turmeric, dried fruit (apricots and golden raisins), pistachios, sweetness
• Needs improvement: needs more variety of seeds and nuts for texture and taste

Test #2: I took a two-month long hiatus from this recipe, but in early August, at the same picnic that I had my friend Cleo taste test my recent sourdough cracker recipe, I also brought a new batch of granola. In this batch, I added steel cut oats to the recipe for more textural variety. I personally have never seen a recipe call for both types of oats, so you could say this recipe is granola innovation. I tested it at a 1:1 ratio of rolled: steel cut. These were her three notes: 1) needs more salt, 2) super crunchy and bark-like, could be made into granola bars, 3) pistachios could be removed. I agreed with her first two comments but kindly said “no <3” to her third. I think pistachios give this granola a special earthy and woodsy flavor. Lastly, she also agreed that there is no noticeable sourdough taste.

• What I got right: adding cashews 
• Needs improvement: add seeds, add more salt, texture (increase ratio of rolled:steel cut, i.e., more rolled oats and less steel cut for a more crumbly and less bar-like consistency)

Test #3: Another month passed, but I found the scrap paper with my chicken scratch of recipe notes. While I cannot remember a large portion of my childhood memories (it’s the constipated Inner Child for me), I did miraculously remember Cleo’s tasting suggestions. I always have food on the brain. I increased the rolled:steel cut ratio to 3:1, hoping to achieve the unattainable consistency of crumbly but still chunky. I added more salt and pumpkin seeds. My mom, who has a sensitive stomach towards spices, told me this was the best granola I’ve ever made.

• What I got right: 2:1 ratio of rolled:steel cut, seeds & salt
• Needs improvement: N/A

Test #4: Technically, this recipe was ready to drop after Test #3. But I was hoarding discard in the fridge, and I didn’t take any pictures of the last batch. So, I thought I might as well mess the recipe one last time. I excluded oil entirely, hoping that the discard might bind the granola together entirely. I also was multitasking in the kitchen: Instead of delivering the granola straight into the oven after mixing in wet ingredients, I let the granola “batter” sit out for an hour. By the time I spread it out onto the sheet pan, the “batter” was less wet. The oats soaked up the wet ingredients. I wasn’t able to form chunks onto the sheet pan. The final product was crumbly.

• Lessons learned: After combining wet and dry ingredients, bake immediately.

If you test the recipe yourself, I want your thoughts! Tag me (@everythingalexcooks) in your creation!