Iād like to see a show of hands (a comment in the comment section will do).
How many of you have given up a favorite cereal for the sake of trying to live an unprocessed life?
Deliciously crunchy, addicting, and highly processed cereal. 1 bowl (for me, anyway) never felt like enough.
Well folks, if youāve ever been a Grape Nuts lover, this cereal is so spot-on, I will be surprised if it doesnāt bring you back. After my first bite, I went back in time to standing in my college dorm room finishing up a little breakfast before starting my day of classes.
Who wouldāve thought?! I challenge you not to smile and chuckle with delight as you crunch your way through a bowl of this all-natural, nourishing, and unprocessed cereal. Enjoy!
Sourdough Nutty Cereal
Ingredients
Souring
- 2 cups liquid such as milk, homemade nut or seed milk, coconut milk, fermented dairy, or water
- 1/2 cup sourdough starter
- 3 cups whole grain flour of choice
Finish
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
Instructions
Souring
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In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the liquid and sourdough starter.
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Add flour and stir well.
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Cover the bowl with a tea towel and a plate and set aside for at least 8 hours.
Finish
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Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
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Place two racks toward the center of the oven, and grease two cookie sheets.
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Sprinkle the baking soda and sea salt on top of the dough.
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Use a wooden spoon or a mixer to incorporate.
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Divide the dough onto two cookie sheets.
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Spread evenly to about 1/2 inch thick.
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Bake 20 to 30 minutes.
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Halfway through the baking time, rotate the cookie sheets.
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Remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly or completely, depending on your preferred method for grating (see below for grating options).
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Once the cereal is grated, spread the crumbles evenly on 3 cookie sheets.
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Bake at 250 degrees Fahrenheit for 45 minutes to 1 hour (depending on how crowded your cookie sheets and the size of your crumbles), stirring the crumbles and rotating the cookie sheets every 10 to 15 minutes.
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Baking time is complete once the crumbles are browned and perfectly crunchy.
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Cool and store at room temperature in a sealed container.
Recipe Notes
Sourdough nutty cereal is delicious served with warm milk, a pat of butter, sprinkle of cinnamon, and drizzle of maple syrup.
And equally tasty plain with cold milk, or topped with berries or some other sort of natural sweetener (such as sucanat, honey, or coconut sugar).
Try the crumbles as a topping for yogurt or ice cream.
And, they make excellent bread crumbs! š
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Gluten-free? I encourage you to give this a try. You may want to add a tablespoon spoon or so of ground flax or chia seeds to the original batter -- to help it hold together.
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No sourdough starter? Make it a soaked recipe by using 3 cups flour and 2 cups liquid that is either fermented or spiked with a few tablespoons lemon juice or whey.
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Grating Options:
- While still warm, tear into pieces and grate on a cheese grater. This is my preferred method. I find that the crumbles turn out just the right size.
- While still warm, whirl in a blender or food processor about a cup at a time. (I have yet to try this method.)
- Cool completely and put through a food grinder, coarse plate. (This is definitely quicker, but the end result will be larger nuggets.)
- Feel free to experiment with your favorite food grinding/grating/chopping kitchen appliance!
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Have you given up a favorite cereal? Iād love to hear if this cereal brings you back! Where did you find yourself?
Also see: Homemade Sourdough Cold CerealĀ (Dehydrator Method).
This post was featured in 90 Nourishing Egg-Free Breakfasts.
More Sourdough Recipes
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Oooh! Definitely trying this! Thanks for sharing. š
Raia- You are so welcome! I’d love to hear how it goes for you. š
I was never a fan of grape-nuts Kashi Go-Lean Crunch was my fav and what I have missed from time to time. My husband though really liked Grape Nuts so I may try this for him. Love the More with Less Cookbook! My mother had a copy that she used often.
Thanks for the comment Jenny. š I’d love to hear how he enjoys it!
Which type of wheat would you personally use? I just got my first grain mill and have soft white, hard white and hard red to start experimenting with. Very much a newbie, and I so miss cereals! Especially grape nuts, wheaties, and corn flakes!
Hi Sarah- I usually just use my hard red, but look at all your fun options! š Because you will be crumbling the “bread” after the first bake, I don’t think it’s really going to matter. Hard red will have a more wheatie flavor, I would think, than the hard white. So you could take that into consideration. Let me know what you choose! š
Ok, I have freshly ground hard red wheat flour soaking in fresh whey. I haven’t ventured into sourdough YET, so this is going to be the soaked method. I will let you know how it turns out! š
Oh! My! Goodness! EXACTLY like Grape Nuts, yet better! I used hard red, and soaked in whey. I tried my food processor on both the multipurpose s blade and then the grater, and I also prefer the grater. I just ground some more red wheat and have a double batch soaking! My kids are going to inhale this stuff!
Hi Sarah- I know! Just like Grape Nuts! I couldnāt believe it when I first gave the recipe a try. I am so glad you enjoy it as well. Thanks for sharing your enthusiasm. Let me know if you give the sourdough version a try.
Could you replace regular sourdough with brown rice sourdough and brown rice flour?
Hi Helen- I’d definitely give it a try. Even if the first baked texture is different, you should still be able to crumble it and then bake/dry the crumbles. I’d love to hear how it works for you!
Can you use kefir milk instead of sour dough starter? I have to be gluten free, so I don’t even know if you can make sourdough out of non-wheat flour.
Hi Jessica- I’d make it a soaked recipe, if I were you. Use three cups of your gluten free flour blend (or whatever you use) and 2 cups kefir milk. Let it soak for 6-8 hours and then proceed as normal. There’s a little note just above the grating options sharing a couple other ways to prepare the cereal. š
I make GF sourdough all the time. Many people use brown rice flour. I prefer a combination of oat flour and sorghum.
(Also, Wardeh’s sourdough book has a good gf bread recipe.)
I can’t wait to try this. I do have two questions, though:
How long does it keep?
Have you tried using a dehydrator?
Thanks!
Hi Rebecca- I would love to hear how a GF sourdough version works for you and if you decide to make any tweaks. How long does it last? A long time. Long enough for us to finish it. If it’s dried out properly, it just lasts, you know? You could always freeze a batch if you were concerned. And I haven’t tried a dehydrator. I think it could work, but the cereal may end up with a different taste and possibly a different texture because the toasting element would be removed. Let me know if you give it a try. You could always do a 1/2 1/2 experiment and let us know which of the two you like best! š
I finally got around to posting again. Here is my gf version:
For the liquid
1 tbs chia seeds blended with 1/2 c water
1/2 c dairy kefir
For the flour
1 c sorghum
1 c oat
1/2 c tapioca
1/2 c brown rice
And I bake the crumbles for a little while then put them in the dehydrator till crunchy. Living in Georgia, the oven just doesn’t get it crispy enough.
Thanks again. This is one of my favorite breakfasts. It is especially great for traveling.
I meant 1 1/2 c dairy kefir. Oops!
Amazing recipe! I LOVED grape nuts but stopped eating pretty much all breakfast cereal years ago. I tried this on a whim. I run a busy dental practice and have two kids so I’m crazy-busy. I started this on Sunday night, added salt and baking powder Monday and baked it. Left it on the counter and grated and toasted it on Tuesday. It’s WONDERFUL! Just like old times.
Thanks so much!
Kim- Yeah! Your comment is a cherry on top of my day! š Thanks for letting me know how you liked the cereal. I love how you were able to stretch out the timing and make it work for you. Enjoy!
I made this today using my gluten free brown rice sourdough starter, and a combination of quinoa and millet flours. The millet is a bit strong, but the cereal does have a nice nutty flavor, and will give me the flavor/texture that I’ve been missing. Thanks for sharing!
Hi Kate~ Thanks for letting me know how the GF version worked for you. Do you think you’ll try a different GF flour combination next time? I’m so glad you are now able to enjoy a bowl of nourishing nutty crunchiness! š
I think I might try brown rice and buckwheat or buckwheat and quinoa next time.
Thank you Erin for sharing this recipe! I haven’t had Grape Nuts for years; it was one of my favorites. I am looking forward to making this recipe! Thank you again.
I just bought some sprouted flour. If I use it in this recipe do I still need to soak it ahead of time?
Thanks!
Hi Laura~ Nope. No souring necessary. You could also give a non-sourdough version a try. No soaking, no souring necessary with sprouted flour. Let me know how it goes!
I love this! I’ve been keeping a big jar and using it for cereal, breadcrumbs and a base for my granola. Awesome!
Yeah! Thanks for letting me know Jennifer! š
We love this sourdough cereal! There are ten kids in our family and we end up making three times the recipe for 1-2 breakfasts! I have even grown to like it and sourdough isn’t a favorite,(but loved this:) Thanks for this, it has done good with our choices in cereal!
Hi Jade~ Yeah! So glad you are ALL enjoying the cereal. š Have you tried the sourdough cobbler by chance? I’ve been making that lately with our frozen rhubarb, raspberries, and cranberries. That’s another easy, tasty sourdough treat. Thanks for your comment!
No I haven’t tried the cobbler but I will have to give it a try! My siblings just LOVE berries! Is it good with blackberries? I’ll let you know how it turns out(;
I Have a rye starter discard… will that work? Straight out of fridge?
…for the 3 cups flour could I use buck week?
Hi Steph. I encourage you to give it a try and let us know!
Would this be a good use for the sourdough you would discard? Trying to figure out my sourdough.
Thanks
I know that baking soda usually takes away the sour flavor from a starter when mixed. Would it change the outcome of the recipe very much if I omitted the soda in order to keep that sourness? I happen to quite like a tart product, for some reason!
erin vl,
After all was soured and additional ingredients added, my base dough was very airy. I baked as instructed for 20 minutes. The end result was more of a beautiful flat bread. I canāt see being able to grate it and get crumbly. Mine is bread!, lol. Im decided to make a pizza with it instead.
But what do you think happened?
I had to cut mine into tiny pieces then I payed them on a cutting board and pressed down with my silver cooking ? to make the pieces smaller works great!
I’m going to add some sugar and cocoa powder and make CHOCOLATE GRAPE NUTZ CEREAL!
???