Flaking Oats - A tutorial

I flaked oats the other day and thought perhaps you'd like me to show you how to flake your own oats.  I buy whole oat groats from our local Mennonite Store.  We go through about 100 pounds of oats a year.  I'd like to learn how to grow our own - perhaps we'll study that over the winter and try to figure out how much we'd have to plant to get 100 pounds of oat groats. We use that much because I make my own cereal and the base of my cereal is flaked oats.

We start with whole oat groats...

Yummy!

You can use a hand flaker or an electric one.  Remember my wonderful DLX?

To use the attachment to flake oats, I turn it on it's side.

Some of the DLX's attachments work this way...and if you look carefully you can see a small white cap on the top - that is another place to use attachments.  Like I said before, this is my most used piece of kitchen equipment - and my favorite :)

I attach the flaker...

The flaker consists of three pieces...
The part that actually flakes the oats, the hopper that sits on top of it and the bowl to catch the oats.

Here is the flaker with the oat groats in it but without the hopper...

Because we want to flake more than a tablespoon of oat groats at a time, they have generously included a hopper to fill.  This hopper rests inside the opening of the flaker.

It holds several cups.

Turn on the DLX - I usually flake on the highest speed.  As the flaker runs, the newly flaked oats pour out of the bottom into the bowl.   I am free to continue on with other kitchen tasks while my trusty DLX flakes my oats!  Did I mention that I love this machine?

I prefer to flake my oats as I need them - it only takes a couple of minutes and keeps the nutrition at it's highest!  However, I also keep a half-gallon canning jar of flaked oats on hand for emergencies, cookies and last minute menu needs.

All that's left now is to cook up a pot of oats..

I can't tell you how much better this is than that stuff in the round box at the store.  The flavor - oh.my.

A dab of butter and a sprinkle of brown sugar, or honey, or maple syrup....it takes me back to the mornings spent at Grandma's house!

You can find oat flakers online...both electric and hand crank.  I still prefer having one machine that does many jobs which is why I love my DLX and all it's varied attachments.  It takes up less space, is easy to use and does everything.....except cook the meal....

Give them time - those people might even come up with an attachment for that too!

Blessings,