Purple Barley Flour Muffins with Raspberries (and Aquafaba!)

If barley seems to be the star of my blog these days, there’s a reason. I’m visiting the barley and wheat fields of the Pacific North West this week, to expand my whole grain horizons. For us grain nerds, Washington and Oregon are a mecca of great grains and flours, in large part because of the agriculture programs at Oregon State and Washington State Universities.

I’ll be at Washington State U attending and presenting at the Grain Gathering, a unique brain trust of grain breeders, growers, millers, bakers, chemists, ag economists, food politics people, and anyone else who is interested in whole grains. If you’re into learning more about baking or any part of the bigger picture of whole grains, you might want to attend next year, if you can get one of the limited number of tickets.

There are hands on baking classes,field tours, talks, and lots of tasting of breads and baked goods, whole grain foods, and the main thing most people consume made from barley: beer.

Tibetan Purple Barley

This week I’ve been sampling the beautiful heirloom Tibetan barley grown in Camas County Oregon. This particular grain is “Purple Karma Barley,” named with a nod to the Tibetan Buddhists. These ancient barleys are revered by the Tibetans, who have to keep themselves warm and energized in a bitterly cold, mountainous environment. You can try out the Tibetan way of eating barley with Tsampa, which I wrote about previously.

This time out, I wanted to grind the whole barley into flour, and see how it performed in a muffin bound with aquafaba in place of eggs. I did add a little bit of wheat flour, just to give it a little gluten to hold it together. The resulting muffin has a lovely texture, full of little bubbles. The barley muffins are moist and tender, without a hint of the coarseness that plagues the reputation of whole grain foods.

Aquafaba-The Magic of Bean Juice

If you haven’t tried aquafaba yet, it’s time to give it a go. You don’t have to be a vegan to want to save money and resources by baking with the water leftover from cooking chickpeas. I always drain my chickpeas and freeze the leftover liquid until I feel like baking, and that’s what I used for these tasty muffins.

To make the liquids that come from a can of beans a little more powerful, I did boil them down a bit to concentrate the starches and proteins that do the work of eggs. Then, I whipped them into a frothy mix in the Vitamix, and drizzled in oil to make an emulsion. Then the other liquids went in, and it all melded into a creamy blend.

Once I stirred it into the purple flour, it was clear that it was going to be beautiful. I folded in some delicate, just picked raspberries and lemon zest, and baked them.

The results are a not-too-sweet muffin, with some heft without being too heavy. They are perfect with a dab of jam and a cup of tea.

I hope you’ll try purple barley, although you could make these with the equivalent weight or naked barley, or pre-ground barley flour.

Because barley is an ancient and nutritious grain, sustainable and full of flavor.

Start seeing barley, or as the hardworking barley geniuses at Oregon State’s Barleyworld say: Make #barleyalwaysgreatagain

Save

Save

Save

Save