Creamy Emmer Breakfast Porridge

Ingredients

Porridge

Whole emmer berries, sold most places as farro. Check the bag: pearled and semi-pearled cook faster and need watching sooner.

• 200g (1 cup) whole emmer (farro) berries
• 720g (3 cups) water, for soaking
• 480g (2 cups) whole milk or unsweetened oat milk
• 240g (1 cup) water, for cooking
• 2g (¼ tsp) fine sea salt
• 30 to 45g (1½ to 2 tbsp) maple syrup or honey
• 1g (½ tsp) ground cinnamon
• 15g (1 tbsp) unsalted butter or coconut oil
• 5g (1 tsp) vanilla extract
• 2g (1 tsp) lemon zest, optional

To Serve

Toppings are where the bowl gets interesting. Toast the nuts, do not skip it.

• 150g (1 cup) fresh or frozen berries
• 60g (½ cup) toasted pecans or walnuts, chopped
• 20g (1 tbsp) maple syrup, for finishing
• 60g (¼ cup) milk, for loosening at the table

Total flour: none, whole berries

Hydration: 3.6 parts liquid to 1 part grain by weight

Pro tip: The pulse is the whole recipe. Six to ten pulses breaks enough berries to release starch and make the pot creamy, while the unbroken ones keep the chew. Grind it to flour and you have made hot cereal instead.

Equipment

Method

Soak the Berries

An overnight soak softens the bran and cuts the simmer nearly in half. Skip it and the recipe still works, it just runs 20 to 30 minutes longer.

1. Cover and refrigerate. Put the emmer in a bowl, cover with 720g (3 cups) cold water, and refrigerate 8 to 12 hours.
2. Drain well. Pour off the soaking water through a fine-mesh strainer and shake out as much as you can. Wet berries slide around instead of cracking.

Wait: PT10H

Tip: Soak a double batch and keep the extra drained grain in the fridge for three days. Weekday breakfast drops to about twenty minutes.

Crack the Berries

Short pulses, not a grind. You are looking for a mix of broken grain and whole berries, something like coarse steel-cut oats with a few intact kernels scattered through.

1. Pulse 6 to 10 times. Put the drained berries in a blender or food processor and pulse in one-second bursts. Stop and look after six.
2. Check the mix. About two-thirds broken, one-third whole is the target. No flour at the bottom of the jar. If you see powder, you went too far, and the porridge will be pastier than it should be.

Tip: A blender does this better than a food processor because the berries fall back into the blades. Either one works if you keep the bursts short.

Simmer Until Creamy

Milk scorches, so this is a low simmer with a wooden spoon nearby. Thirty to forty minutes with regular stirring, and more attention in the last ten.

1. Combine and bring up gently. Add the cracked emmer, milk, 240g (1 cup) water, and salt to a heavy saucepan. Bring to a gentle boil over medium heat.
2. Drop to a quiet simmer. Lower the heat until the surface barely moves. A hard boil scorches the bottom and splits the milk.
3. Stir and cook. Cook uncovered 30 to 40 minutes, stirring every 5 to 7 minutes, and every couple of minutes during the last ten. Scrape the bottom corners of the pan each time.
4. Know when it is done. The grain is tender with a little chew left, the liquid is creamy rather than watery, and a spoon dragged across the pan leaves a trail that closes slowly.

Wait: PT35M

Tip: If it thickens before the grain is tender, add milk 60g (¼ cup) at a time. Emmer is a wheat and it has gluten, but there is no dough here, so you can adjust the liquid whenever you want without hurting anything.

Season Off the Heat

Sweetener, fat, and vanilla go in at the end. Add the maple early and the sugars catch on the bottom of the pan.

1. Stir in the flavor. Off the heat, stir in the maple syrup or honey, cinnamon, butter or coconut oil, vanilla, and the lemon zest if you are using it.
2. Adjust the body. Splash in milk until it falls off the spoon the way you like it. It tightens as it sits, so leave it a touch looser than you want to eat it.

Tip: The lemon zest sounds out of place in a cinnamon porridge and then it is the reason the bowl does not taste flat. Try one batch with and one without.

Build the Bowl

Warm porridge, cold fruit, toasted nuts. The temperature contrast is most of the pleasure.

1. Divide and top. Spoon into four bowls. Top with berries, toasted nuts, and a last thread of maple syrup.

Tip: Toast the nuts in a dry skillet for three minutes while the porridge finishes. Raw nuts on a warm bowl taste like nothing.

Ways to Finish It

One base pot, three directions. Pick one and commit instead of piling everything on.

Maple, Cinnamon, and Berries (recommended)

The version written above. Sweet, warm, and the best introduction to what emmer tastes like.

1. Finish as written. Maple, cinnamon, butter, vanilla, then berries and toasted nuts on top.

Savory Bowl

Skip every sweet element and emmer turns into something closer to a grits bowl. This is the one people end up making on repeat.

1. Leave out the sweet. No maple, cinnamon, vanilla, berries, or nuts. Cook it in stock instead of half the milk if you want more depth.
2. Finish savory. Olive oil, cracked black pepper, chopped herbs, a spoon of soft cheese, and a fried egg on top.

Apple Cinnamon

Good in fall, and the apples give you the sweetness so you can cut the maple in half.

1. Saute the apple. Dice one apple and cook it in 15g (1 tbsp) butter with a pinch of cinnamon until the edges soften, about 5 minutes.
2. Spoon it over. Use it in place of the berries, with the pan juices.

Proof test: Drag a spoon across the bottom of the pan. If the trail holds for about a second before closing, the porridge is done. If liquid rushes back instantly, give it another five minutes.

Cook

Stovetop only. No oven, no mill, and nothing that needs to be timed to the minute.

Oven: 100°C / 212°F. Internal temperature when done: not applicable°C / not applicable°F.

Stovetop, Uncovered (recommended)

The standard method. Uncovered lets the liquid reduce while the starch releases, which is what makes it creamy.

Equipment: Medium heavy-bottomed saucepan, wooden spoon

1. Bring up gently. Medium heat to a gentle boil, then straight down to a quiet simmer.
2. Simmer and stir. 30 to 40 minutes uncovered, stirring every 5 to 7 minutes.
3. Finish off the heat. Sweetener, fat, and vanilla stirred in after the pan comes off the burner.

Overnight in a Slow Cooker

Hands-off and good for a house full of people, though you lose some of the chew. Use whole soaked berries and skip the cracking step.

Equipment: Slow cooker

1. Load the crock. Soaked whole berries, milk, water, and salt. Do not crack them for this method.
2. Cook on low. 6 to 7 hours on low. Grease the crock first so the milk does not crust at the line.
3. Finish in the morning. Stir hard to break up the grain, then add the maple, butter, and vanilla.

Note: There is no internal temperature to hit here. You are cooking by texture: tender with chew, creamy without being soupy.

Storage

• Room temperature: Serve within 2 hours. It thickens fast as it cools.
• Refrigerated: 4 days in an airtight container. It will set firm, which is expected.
• Frozen: 2 months. Freeze in single portions so you are not thawing the whole batch.
• Refresh: Reheat with 30 to 60g (2 to 4 tbsp) of milk or water stirred in, on the stove or in the microwave covered.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is emmer the same thing as farro?

Mostly. Farro is an Italian word covering three hulled wheats, and emmer is farro medio, the one you almost always find on a shelf labeled farro. If your bag says farro with no further detail, it is emmer nine times out of ten.

Do I have to soak it overnight?

No, but plan on 20 to 30 extra minutes of simmering if you skip it, and stir more often because the pot is on the heat longer. If you forget, a one-hour soak in hot tap water gets you most of the way.

Can I use pearled emmer?

You can, and it cooks noticeably faster. Start checking at 15 minutes and expect it to go soft rather than chewy. Whole berries keep the bran, the fiber, and the texture that makes this bowl worth making.

Do I need a mill for this?

No. That is the point of the recipe. A blender or food processor cracks the soaked berries in about ten seconds, and a mill would turn them into flour, which is not what you want here.

Why did my porridge turn out gluey?

You pulsed too long and made flour. Broken grain releases starch slowly and gives you cream. Powdered grain dumps it all at once and gives you paste. Next time stop at six pulses and look before you go further.

Can I make it dairy-free?

Yes. Unsweetened oat milk is the closest match for body, and coconut oil in place of the butter works fine. Almond milk is thinner, so use 60g (¼ cup) less water to keep the texture.

Is this gluten-free?

No. Emmer is a wheat variety and contains gluten. It is not safe for celiac disease or a wheat allergy.

How do I reheat leftovers?

It sets up firm in the fridge, which is normal. Reheat a portion in a small pan or the microwave with 30 to 60g (2 to 4 tbsp) of milk or water stirred in, and it comes right back.

Nutrition

Per serving (1 bowl with toppings (about 300g)): 415 calories, 62g carbohydrates, 12g protein, 15g fat, 9g fiber, 190mg sodium. Makes 4 servings.