Help please with roasting barley in the oven...

Hello everyone,

I need a little help with a recipe. I want to make an Oxtail Barely Soup that calls for 1 cup barley, roasted in the oven, and soaked at least 7 hours. My question is, how do you oven roast barley? My search on the net landed me pretty much roasting barley for beer, not for a soup. Any help would be greatly appreciated! Oh, and it is whole barley and not "pearled".

Cheers,
Max

I would roast it like any other grain, say for granola - on a sheet pan in a moderately hot oven (not over 400, I should think), stirring every 15 minutes until irresistibly toasty-smelling and evenly golden colored.

I love good hearty soups in the winter! Do tell us how it turns out.

Funny, I was just blipping past Food Network, and Michael Chiarello did a roasted-barley salad - and I thought "what a great idea!" -every once in a while, that show comes up with stuff I might try. Basically, the barley was roasted pre-cooking by pouring it into a dry saute pan over high heat and stirring until it uniformly changes color to toasty brown - he then stopped the cooking for some reason by pouring it into a cold cookie sheet. Then he cooked it as usual.

I love barley, and this seemed like a good way to get more mileage out of it. I'd imagine you could do the same thing in the oven, but the saute pan should give you a bit more control; seems like it's the same as toasting nuts before you use them.

Hi,

What surprises me is the seven hour soak. If it is a necessary step, I wonder if it could be expedited like beans: bring beans to a boil, then turn off burner to sit for an hour before cooking further.

I'll be interested in your reaction to your recipe.

Regards,

Thank you everyone for your help!

I think I am going to try MincyBits technique and roast it in the oven. From what I have read Cathy2, if you soak your barley (and most other grains) before cooking, the breakdown of complex sugars, tannins, and gluten, makes the grains easier to digest. In addition, the acid in barley and other grains (called phytic acid) is also broken down so the minerals contained in the grain are more easily absorbed. It's an extra step, yes, but it's worth it for the quicker cooking time and the tender, delectable results you're searching for.

I am going off a recipe that I found in the cook book [i]Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon. A truly must read for those who want to eat like our ancestors and have the scientific and independent research to back it up. It is more than a cookbook, it is an education. OK, I'll step off my soapbox now and post sometime next week on how it turns out!