Mother Grains: Recipes for the Grain Revolution

by Roxana Jullapat

Finalist for the IACP Cookbook Award in Baking and the James Beard Foundation Book Award in Baking and Desserts
Named a Best Cookbook of the Year by Bon Appétit , NPR, Washington Post , Epicurious , WBUR Here & Now, and Five Books
Named a Best Cookbook of the Spring by Eater , Epicurious , and Robb Report

The key to better, healthier baked goods is in the grain. Barley, buckwheat, corn, oats, rice, rye, sorghum, and wheat will unlock flavors and textures as vast as the historic lineages of these ancient crops. As the head baker and owner of a beloved Los Angeles bakery, Roxana Jullapat knows the difference local, sustainable flour can make: brown rice flour lightens up a cake, rustic rye adds unexpected chewiness to a bagel, and ground toasted oats enrich doughnuts. Her bakery, Friends & Family, works with dedicated farmers and millers around the country to source and incorporate the eight mother grains in every sweet, bread, or salad on the menu. In her debut cookbook, Roxana shares her greatest hits, over 90 recipes for reinventing your favorite cakes, cookies, pies, breads, and more. Her chocolate chip cookie recipe can be made with any of the eight mother grains, each flour yielding a distinct snap, crunch, or chew. Her mouthwatering buckwheat pancake can reinvent itself with grainier cornmeal. One-bowl recipes such as Barley Pumpkin Bread and Spelt Blueberry Muffins will yield fast rewards, while her Cardamom Buns and Halvah Croissants are expertly laid out to grow a home baker’s skills. Recipes are organized by grain to ensure you get the most out of every purchase. Roxana even includes savory recipes for whole grain salads made with sorghum, Kamut or freekeh, or easy warm dishes such as Farro alla Pilota, Toasted Barley Soup, or Gallo Pinto which pays homage to her Costa Rican upbringing. Sunny step-by-step photos, a sourcing guide, storage tips, and notes on each grain’s history round out this comprehensive cookbook. Perfect for beginner bakers and pastry pros alike, Mother Grains proves that whole grains are the secret to making any recipe so much more than the sum of its parts. 100 color photographs

Genres: Cookbooks, Food, Cooking, Nonfiction, Reference, Culinary

352 pages, Hardcover

Published April 20, 2021

Reviews

[Anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5. I promptly went to the store and bought four different types of flour. The chocolate dynamite cookies are excellent.

[Alaina · Rating 3 out of 5]

i don't have the wherewithal to write a full review so hopefully this'll do: i loved roxana jullapat's readable/approachable writing (both in recipes and blurbs!) but chafed at the times she set do-this-not-that rules without sharing her reasoning. i've baked her buckwheat banana bread – as visually stunning as it was tasty – and assembled leah's overnight oats – maybe the best i've ever had? – and these early/easy hits make me want to try out some of the more challenging recipes.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. This has good info about grains and some yummy-looking recipes. Most of the baking recipes include about half all-purpose wheat flour, so gluten-free bakers will need to use this as a starting point and experiment with substituting GF flour alternatives. The other caveat is that the recipes have a *lot* of sugar and butter, so they are special occasion treats, not regular snacks.

Like Vegetables Illustrated: An Inspiring Guide with 700+ Kitchen-Tested Recipes, this is a heavy book: holding it in my lap, my arms got tired and the hardcover made my leg fall asleep. It seems too big to actually use in the kitchen-- none of the book holders I own would be able to hold it up and open while cooking, and it would take up a lot of counter space.

The author includes a lot of source notes, but the text refers to California-specific retailers, and when fruit and grains are available in her area. Non-CA bakers will need to do their own research, and likely purchase online.

Yummy, but an optional purchase for public libraries. Not necessary for most home bakers.

[Dean Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mother Grains is a lovely cookbook for so many reasons. I write a lot of cookbook reviews, many of them are positive, so why is this one different? The answer is this: The research.
The biggest reason to purchase this cookbook was the time put in by the the author. Roxana Julipat is someone who knows what she is doing and loves the food that she was writing about.
My baking section of my home library is full of cookbooks that feature recipes that were made to include grains other than wheat. This is not unique. Unfortunately, most of the recipes I’ve tried have been less than lackluster. The recipes were often ungainly,clumsy and showed a lack of mastery of what was being cooked. Many recipes featuring spelt or kamut (as an example) were not great and didn’t reflect experience in cooking with these grains. Recipes were seemingly adapted without really having any sort of informed decision, or real scholarship behind the research.
Jullapat knows what she’s doing. As a veteran of multiple restaurants and someone who grew up trying various types of grains, Roxana had a mission to show that baked goods made with alternative grains didn’t have to be a culinary punishment. The recipes are not just tossing a cup of variant flour into a mix, but considering how and why the grain being used are featured for texture, flavor index and how it transforms the dish. For me, this is a big deal, and it should be for you too. Cookbooks are expensive, and if you, like me, are getting tired of large, colorful cookbooks that really are utterly worthless, when you find one that is really useful and something you can learn from, it’s a treasure!
Each section of “Mother Grains” is broken down into recipes built around barley, buckwheat, corn, oats, rice, rye, sorghum, and wheat. There is a portion where the grain is talked about and explained to the cook. This is not dry wiki on a grain, but a narrative of an experienced cook. Jullapat has spent years learning about various grains and unlocking their flavors and textures. Roxana knows grains, and this work shows it.

Roxana is the head baker and owner of Los Angeles bakery “Friends and Family” She has the experience to put behind her recipes and she makes everything in her cookbook delicious and worth investigating.
Some of my favorite recipes from the cookbook are: Hatch Chili and Cotija Corn Bread (pg. 117), Corn Polenta Ice Cream ( pg. 129), Digestive Biscuits (pg. 161), Banoffee Tart with Rice Shortbread Crust (pg. 182), Chocolate Dynamite Cookies (pg. 207), Chocolate Cherry Scones (pg., 209), Sorghum Molasses Cookies (pg. 259), Sorghum Gingerbread with Sorghum Whip (pg. 264), Einkorn Shortbreads (pg. 280), and Spelt Blueberry Muffins (pg. 280). This is just scratching the surface, there’s a lot more here, not to mention the instructional passages on the grains used, and how they are to be used.
Her bakery works with dedicated farmers and millers around the country to source and incorporate the eight mother grains in every item on the menu. This reflects the mission of Friends and Family Bakery to have over 20% of its baked goods to feature mother grains as featured in the cookbook.
To listen to my interview with Roxana on the Podcast go to the following link.

[Donna · Rating 5 out of 5]

She had me when I read the section on sorghum syrup! My father was a syrup aficionado. We usually had 3 - 5 syrups available in our breakfast area. This was in the days when grains could be ground in old water - driven mills, usually found in remote rural areas.
My father learned much about grains at Auburn while getting his dairy science degree. He also grew all the grains fed to his Holstein cows. Each cow had a separate diet, based on buttermilk fat testing 3 - 4 times a year. My favorite job to “help Daddy” was taking his diet clipboard & measuring each cow’s grains & pouring them into her trough.
I read this book, found by scanning the “New Books”section of my fav public library, in hopes of finding tips for integrating more grains into my diet. I achieved that & also thoroughly enjoy this comprehensive book on cooking & eating grains. I’d say this is a treasure and home bakers are likely to learn some things from this experienced baker who cooks at home & in restaurants.

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

Library copy that I've had out for long enough I should just buy my own. Especially considering that once you start investing in new-to-you grains, you're going to need to keep a reference cookbook around...

The rye babka, blueberry spelt muffins, and pozole verde recipes are all winners that I've made twice (though I recommend adding an Instant Pot step to the pozole to really get the hominy cooked in time for dinner). I'm looking forward to the chocolate dynamite cookies and chickpea pancake.

I would call a lot of these not especially difficult, but definitely requiring some planning in terms of getting the ingredients, making bread starters, etc.

[Tyna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very pleased my local library has obtained this cookbook; which I enjoyed.
The format is eye pleasing and the recipes are inspiring. I have marked at least 15-20 to try.
The loss of one star is because organics, filtered water and soaking of grains are all vastly important to me. If that's what you're looking for, it's not in this book, and that will ultimately keep me from purchasing it.

[Dray · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a delightful baking book. It is refreshing and informative to learn from someone who knows their craft through lived experience, curious exploration and learning from those around them. There is more than baking here as well. Exploring 8 fairly well known grains in a wide variety of applications along with a lot of side bar recipes and variations. Yumm!

[Tracy Reed · Rating 4 out of 5]

I got this book on a recommendation, soon after I began fresh-milling my grains. I did find some recipes to try, and appreciated the introductory sections on each grain. I was bummed she didn’t have a whole section for khorasan/kamut, since I like to use that one and wanted some more recipes for it. She does use sugar though, and I try to go more with natural sweeteners like honey.

[anklecemetery · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really like how the recipes are arranged, as well as the "extra" indexes for vegan and gluten-free recipes. I will circle back once I cook some of these recipes; there are a few I'm really excited to try.

Directions are simple and encouraging, photography is useful.

[Meg · Rating 5 out of 5]

I initially got this book from the library but am considering purchasing a copy for future reference because I liked it so much. A great resource to learn about different grains and to get inspired for using them in everyday baking.

[My Tam · Rating 4 out of 5]

An important next step in our consumer choices that will reflect the sustainability of the planet: diversifying our grain options beyond wheat 🌾. This book provides a great primer on how to begin doing so.

[Pixie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mostly baking, mostly low or no gluten grains, but don't let that put you off, because everything looks and sounds awesome. Make those attractive L.A. bakery items at home, mostly easy peasy. A resources list and variations helps you find or substitute certain ingredients.

[Pinky · Rating 4 out of 5]

Whole grain recipes, like that the chapters are separated by grain. Want to try the Almond Bars, White Cheddar Cornmeal Biscuits, and the Oatmeal Date Cookie recipes.

[Claire · Rating 1 out of 5]

Truthfully, such a disappointment. I'm genuinely upset about it I was so looking forward to reading this book

[Daisy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sonora pie crust!

[Ashley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Of all of the grain-related baking books I've reviewed thus far, this one is the most solid.

[Mckinley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Variety of grains, many blend with wheat. Some savory but mostly sweet recipes.