"Fakenuts" Cereal

Well, if you enjoy a famous cereal that's hard and crunchy and has a name that sounds like Fakenuts, you'll probably enjoy this. BE ADVISED - This recepie is high in carbs, so if you are trying to cut carbs, save this for your birthday or don't eat much of it often. But you can feed it to the family if they are trying to avoid Vit D on general priciples.

You will need the following equipment:
A breadmaker (or a breadpan, if you plan to do this "by hand")
A meatgrinder - the kind you use for making hamburger
A big roasting pan to dry the cereal

Ingredients (all US measures):
1 1/2 cup water
2 teaspoons salt
3 Tablespoons Canola oil
3 Tablespoons Malt Syrup (see note below)
4 cups Whole wheat flour or Graham flour (uneneriched flour ONLY)
2 1/2 Teaspoons Breakmaking yeast (dry yeast)

Malt syrup can be found in most grocery stores in the baking aisle. It is a heavy syrup, thicker than molasses, and usually comes in a big can or jar. It's sometimes called Barley Malt Syrup (although Wheat malt will work too). You can also get it at a beermaking supplier, but it must be UNHOPPED. You will want to move it to a resealable container of some kind if it comes in a can. DO NOT Substitute the powdered "Malted Milk" products like Horlicks, etc. They are NOT the same thing.

Add the ingredients to your breadmaker in the order listed and use the "Whole Wheat" cycle or equivalent to make the bread. Check the water content after it's mixed a bit, the texture should be smooth, not dry and torn looking, you may need to add a little water (tablespoon or two). If making by hand, mix the ingredients and treat as if whole wheat bread. BE ADVISED - This bread does not rise very well because it is so heavy and has little gluten. When baked it tends to fall pretty badly and you will think you have a failed loaf. It's fine, don't worry.

Once the loaf is finished, cool it on a rack as usual. You probably have a pretty small loaf there - it's OK! Once the bread has cooled, slice it into thick slices and then into strips about 1 1/2 inches wide.

Using a meat grinder with the small round-hole plate (holes about 4.5mm or 3/16 inch), grind the bread into the roasting pan. It will come out looking like crumbly hamburger. Try to break up the bits using your hands to get short pieces. Nice little chunks is what you are after. Now dry the cereal in the oven at about 230-250 degrees F or about 120 C. Leave the door open a crack (wedge in a potholder at the top or something). Stir it every hour or so for the first couple of hours. You can just close the oven and turn off the heat and leave it overnight to finish if it's not dry by the time you want to go to bed.

Once FULLY dry, you can store it in a plastic bag or plastic container.

1/3 cup is a reasonable serving size. I put half&half that has been cut with water on mine (about half water and half half&half to make "milk") and add Splenda to taste. Crunchy and delicious!

A variant you may want to try is to add Splenda to the bread itself to add sweetness.

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