Homemade Bran Flakes Cereal

 

1 C. wheat bran

1 C. whole wheat flour

2 T. ground flaxseed

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

1/2 C. water

3 T. maple syrup

1/4 C. non-dairy milk

 

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. In a large bowl whisk together the dry ingredients. In a separate small bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir until everything is combined and a dough forms. Separate the dough in half and place one half on one prepared baking sheet and the other half of the dough on the second baking sheet. Rip off a large sheet of wax paper and lay it over top of the dough on one of your baking sheet. Using a rolling pin, roll the dough out as thin as you can by rolling on top of the wax paper. The dough is really sticky, so the wax paper keeps the dough from sticking to your rolling pin. You want your dough to be so thin that it almost becomes see through it. Once your dough is completely rolled out, slowly pull off the wax paper. I’ve found that the dough is still really sticky at this point so in order for me to get the wax paper off, I pull it back at a 180 degree angle. Repeat this process with the second half of the dough until you have two very thin layers of dough on your baking sheets. Place the baking sheets in the oven for 10-15 minutes until the dough is starting to brown in places. Watch carefully after 10 minutes, because you don’t want it to burn completely and it depends on how thinly you rolled out your dough. Some brown spots are fine.

Remove the sheets from the oven once they are done and let them cool completely. Reduce the heat in your oven to 275 degrees. After the bran sheets have cooled they will feel slightly rubbery in places and hard and crispy in others. Rip up each bran sheet into bran flakes and place all the bran flakes back onto one of the baking sheets. Place the bran flakes back into the 275 degree oven and let the flakes bake for 15-20 minutes more, stirring the flakes every 5 minutes. If any of the flakes are really brown and crispy you can remove them early. Let the flakes cool completely after baking and store them in an air tight container. Add raisins or other fruit when serving.