Ingredient

Granola

Home-made granola is better and cheaper than nearly anything sold as it, and it needs one trick: the clusters come from a binder that sets as it cools, not from anything that happens in the oven.

Where clusters come from

Oats coated in a syrup of sugar and oil bake until the water has driven off. As the tray cools, the concentrated sugar sets hard and glues neighbouring oats together. Break it up while it is warm and you get loose granola; leave it to cool completely and then break it, and you get clusters.

That is the entire secret, and it is why stirring granola constantly during baking — which many recipes instruct — actually works against clusters. Stir once or twice at most, press it down flat, and leave it alone on the tray until stone cold.

A whisked egg white folded through before baking helps considerably if you want very large clusters. It sets like a meringue and holds everything together.

The proportions

By volume, for a standard tray.

Oats

The base. Jumbo rolled oats give the best texture; instant oats go to powder.

Fat

Around one part to eight of oats. Any neutral oil, or melted coconut oil, or butter for flavour.

Liquid sweetener

Around one part to six. Honey, maple syrup or golden syrup — this is the glue, so it cannot be replaced with granulated sugar alone.

Nuts and seeds

Up to a third of the oat weight. Add at the start; they need the toasting.

Dried fruit

Added after baking, always. Dried fruit in the oven burns and goes bitter and hard.

Salt

A proper pinch. Granola without salt tastes flat and oddly sweet.

The method

1. Warm the oil and syrup together so they combine easily, and stir in the salt and any spices.
2. Pour over the oats, nuts and seeds and mix until everything is evenly coated. Dry patches will not brown; over-wet patches will not crisp.
3. Spread on a lined tray and press it down firmly into an even layer. Pressing is what gives clusters something to form from.
4. Bake low — 150°C, no hotter. Granola burns easily because sugar and nuts both catch fast.
5. Turn the tray once halfway through and, if the edges are colouring much faster, pull them into the middle. Otherwise leave it alone.
6. Take it out while it still looks slightly pale and soft. It crisps entirely as it cools and granola baked to crisp in the oven will be over-toasted when cold.
7. Cool completely on the tray, undisturbed, then break into clusters and stir in the dried fruit.

Flavour directions

• Cinnamon, cardamom, ginger or mixed spice in the syrup.
• Vanilla, or a little almond extract, added off the heat.
• Cocoa powder and a handful of chocolate chunks stirred in once cold.
• Orange or lemon zest with the syrup — surprisingly good and rarely done.
• Coconut flakes, added for the last ten minutes only, as they burn far faster than oats.

Common questions