Confession: we're trying valiantly to overcome an aversion to wheat bran. Thanks to one-too-many encounters with dense tasteless homemade bran muffins in our younger years, this is definitely an uphill battle (sorry, Mom!).
But we're intrepid cooks and willing to be convinced! How do you use wheat bran in your cooking?
Wheat bran comes from the dense, outer hull of the wheat grain and is a by-product of making wheat flour. The bran is incredibly rich in fiber and protein and has very little fat. It adds a sweet nutty flavor to baked goods, though we personally feel that too much of it can make food taste bitter (not to mention give you certain gastro-intestinal side effects that will send you to the bathroom!). It should be stored in the fridge to prevent it from going rancid too quickly.
If you're like us and are trying to re-train yourself to like wheat bran, we recommend starting out small. We're going to try sprinkling a spoonful over our oatmeal to begin with and then work our way up to substituting bran for some of the flour in baked goods. Eventually, we'll give one of these recipes a try:
• Whole Grain Ginger Pear Bran Muffins from Farmgirl Fare
• Whole Wheat Bran Pancakes from Spry
• Alternative Oatmeal Raisin Cookies (with Bran) from Epicurious
How do you recommend using bran?
Related: What to Make with Whole Wheat Pastry Flour?
(Image: Purcell Mountain Farms)
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I eat oat bran cooked with berries for breakfast, can one eat wheat bran the same way?
view Squirrely's profile
Cook's Illustrated has a great recipe for bran muffins that have 1 c wheat bran and 1 c wheat germ. You make the batter and let it rest in the fridge overnight, then bake in the morning. Very moist and pretty healthy.
http://www.cooksillustrated.com/recipes/detail.asp?docid=6291
view coachmilloy's profile
I like wheat GERM sprinkled on my oatmeal. Don't know about wheat BRAN used that way, especially if you don't particularly like it (yet). The secret to really great bran muffins is a total disregard for "health food" rules and ingredients. Good muffins have eggs, and butter (or oil, yes that can work), and sugar, and nice flavors. The best bran muffins I've had had some very nice "secret" ingredients--buttermilk, a cup of coffee, peanut butter. Dates or other chewy, soft dried fruit are good with bran. Nuts are good with bran. Brown sugar, maple syrup, and molasses all marry well with bran.
Now I'm hungry. A really excellent bran muffin, a really hot cup of coffee, a slice of really sharp cheddar, and some Granny Smith slices would seriously hit the spot right now.
view cmcinnyc's profile
Squirrely, I was going to say the same thing - oat bran is also very healthy, and very tasty. (Cooked as a breakfast cereal, it's like a much much healthier version of cream of wheat.) But I don't really know about wheat bran.
view marisab's profile
Could you use wheat bran to bread chicken breasts instead of cornflakes/bread crumbs or would that be too much?
view kestrel127's profile
We always put one or two tablespoons of wheat bran in pancake batter, crepe batter, and in chocolate chip cookies in addition to using white whole wheat flour instead of all-purpose flour for all those recipes. I started doing it when our daughter was small as a way of pumping up the nutrition factor and also to get her used to the flavor & texture of whole wheat.
view gah's profile
I sprinkle freshly toasted wheat germ on banana pancakes before flipping them over. Because it's not mixed into the batter it gets crispy and has a nice nutty flavor that compliments the bananas. Grinding and toasting wheat bran may be just as nice.
view desylic!ous's profile
I add bran to my mix for homemade granola bars - my husband cant even tell its there!! Out of curiosity, how does bran go rancid if it is virtually fat free?
view shouldabeenachef's profile