LAB NOTES: Homemade ( NON-Slimey ) Premium Barista Style Creamy Oatmilk
This post is dedicated to Azzie, a close friend, that did me the honour of choosing the topic of my first experimental Post. She chose this to be the lead-off. Many, many thanks Azzie!
This experiment is an ongoing here at The DCL and has been running since March of 2022.
I grew up on dairy farms in Illinois and Wisconsin and was very firmly a cow’s milk consumer. However, after undergoing open heart surgery in 2020 and facing the need to get my cholesterol down, I switched to plant based milks in 2021. I’m not a big fan of soy ( foreshadowing for future posts ), so I started with Almond milk and found it too thin, the mouthfeel was NOT what I was expecting. The only other option was Oatmilk so I gave that a try and really liked it. It had a very nice mouthfeel that was very similar to cow’s milk. Then in early 2022 I began to notice that the price of the Oatmilk was going up. I tried cutting back, but my coffee just didn’t taste “right”. That’s when I searched on YouTube to see if I could make it myself because oats weren’t that expensive. I watched a LOT of videos and read a lot of blog posts. I tried a fair few different “recipes”. Then I decided to mix ‘n match and kitbash a recipe that would work for me. Below is that recipe.
This is a kitbash of two different recipes that I found on YouTube.
One from Mark at the Sauce Stache channel ( Mark’s recipe: https://saucestache.com/the-secret-for-no-slime-sweet-oat-milk/ ), I tried it, but the extra time involved offset any advantage gained using the enzymes. and one from Inga of the Health Origins channel ( Ms. Inga’s video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqyT0rdm5ws&t=26s ), plus some wrinkles that I added.
Per Litre/Quart:
1 cup/90g old fashioned rolled oats ( For super creamy Oatmilk double to 180g/2 cups )
34g/1/4 cup toasted sunflower seeds ( can be untoasted too )
4 – 5 cups/ 948g – 1185g chilled water
1 pinch kosher, or sea salt
1.25g/1/2 tsp Xanthan gum
1g /1/4 tsp of baking powder
1 TBSP Sunflower seed oil ( I added this to my recipe a few months ago. )
METHOD:
Soak the oats in cold water for at least 15 minutes, can be longer.
Toast and soak the sunflower seeds in hot water.
Drain and rinse the oats, put in the blender jar.
Drain and rinse the sunflower seeds, put in the blender jar.
Add the pinch of salt
Add two cups of water.
Blend on high for 20 to 30 seconds.
Strain the milk twice through the colander, retain the pulp in a bowl.
Strain the milk twice through a fine mesh strainer. Add the pulp the the bowl.
Strain twice through a finer mesh, put the remaining two to three cups of water in the blender jar. Blitz for 30 seconds to get everything and pour over the finer mesh strainer.
Add the pulp to the bowl. ( Can be used for smoothies, or baking ).
Add the milk to the blender jar
Add the Xanthan gum, baking powder, and sunflower seed oil to the milk. ( You can add sweetener, and/or other flavourants now if you’d like ).
The reason that I suggest waiting till now to add other flavourants is so as not to waste them in the pulp.
Blend on high for Three and a half minutes.
Pour the milk into an airtight container and refrigerate.
The milk will be usable for five to six days.
Alternatively:
Per Litre/Quart:
INGREDIENTS:
1 cup/90g old fashioned rolled oats ( For super creamy oatmilk double to 180g/2 cups )
34g/1/4 cup toasted sunflower seeds ( can be untoasted too )
4 – 5 cups/ 948g – 1185g
1 pinch kosher, or sea salt
2.5g/1 tsp Guar gum
1g /1/4 tsp of baking powder
1 TBSP Sunflower seed oil.
METHOD:
Soak the oats in cold water for at least 15 minutes
Toast and soak the sunflower seeds in hot water.
Drain and rinse the oats, put in the blender jar.
Drain and rinse the sunflower seeds, put in the blender jar.
Add the pinch of salt
Add two cups of water.
Blend on high for 20 to 30 seconds.
Strain the milk twice through the colander, retain the pulp in a bowl.
Strain the milk twice through a fine mesh strainer. Add the pulp the the bowl.
Strain twice through a finer mesh, put the remaining two to three cups of water in the blender jar. Blitz for 30 seconds to get everything and pour over the finer mesh strainer.
Add the pulp to the bowl. ( Can be used for smoothies, or baking ).
Add the milk to the blender jar
Add the Guar gum, baking powder, and sunflower seed oil to the milk. ( YYou can add sweetener, and/or other flavourants now if you’d like ).
The reason that I suggest waiting till now to add other flavourants is so as not to waste them in the pulp.
Blend on high for three and a half minutes.
Pour the milk into an airtight container and refrigerate.
The milk will be usable for five to six days.
LAB NOTES:
Various sweetener’s can be used, however, this restricts the use of the milk to use in coffee, or other hot drinks, or perhaps in baking.
Oatmilk made with Xanthan gum doesn’t separate.
Oatmilk made wi th Guar gum does separate and must be shaken vigorously.
So, while Guar gum may be a usable alternative. Xanthan gum per this experiment appears to be the better option.
This experiment has been ongoing since March 2022, this is the most recent iteration as it’s evolved over time. According to Ms. Inga, the lecithin in the sunflower seeds/oil is what helps prevent the milk curdling in hot drinks. In addition, I think, it also helps in the formation of the emulsion that keeps things in suspension.
CONCLUSIONS:
This recipe is one that works for me. It produces a creamy milk that doesn’t curdle in my coffee, nor in any soups that I’ve put it in.
Now for a cost analysis:
The least expensive old fashioned rolled oats at my local grocery store cost, at the time of this writing, $0.09 per ounce. It takes eight ounces/90g for a litre/quart so figured $0.72 for two litres/quarts that would come to $1.44 USD compare that to $5.79 for two quarts of Silk Oatmilk, or $7.79 for Chobani regular and extra creamy oatmilk at the store, as of this writing That’s quite a hefty savings. In addition, there are no preservatives in the milk except for a bit of salt.
In future posts I’ll talk about my adventures in making other types of plant based milks such as Barley, Peanuts, and Split peas.
In parting, please don’t be afraid to be bold and to experiment in your own kitchen, even if an experiemtn fails, it can still count as a win if it teaches you something.
Be Well.
Wayne.
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