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This pumpkin pie filling is straightforward and bakes wonderfully. If you are able to blind bake (pre-bake) the crust a day ahead of time, it’ll be smooth sailing. The number of ingredients that pair well with Kernza continues to grow, and now we can officially add pumpkin to that list!

Make ahead of time! For best results we recommend making the crust the day before. Use our Kernza Pie Crust recipe – “Single Crust”.

Method

1. Roll out one pie dough. 
1. Flour your counter, the top of the dough, and your rolling pin with all purpose flour.
2. Begin rolling toward you from the middle of the dough.
3. Rotate the dough slightly (about 1/8th), and roll toward you again.
4. Repeat this process until the dough expands roughly one inch past a nine inch pie dish the entire way around.
   
   
   The dough may split in some areas, don’t hesitate to press it together with your fingers. Do this early on, and it will minimize splitting as you roll.
5. If the dough sticks to the counter, just lay down a little more flour.
2. Once the dough is the appropriate size, wrap it around your rolling pin.
1. Start from the top of the sheet, and bring the dough up and over the rolling pin towards you.
2. Begin rolling your pin towards you until the dough has wrapped around it completely. 
   
   
3. With your pie dish in front of you, pick up your rolling pin and, moving away from you, unroll the dough over and on to the pie dish. Insert Photo: Roll Out
4. When the dough is in the dish, tuck it down to the bottom by lifting an edge and gently pressing down. Do this all the way around the pie until the entire inside of the dish is in contact with dough. 
   
   
5. Place the dish in the fridge for 30 minutes, or the freezer for at least 10 minutes.
6. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.
7. Remove the pie dish from the fridge, and trim the excess dough around the rim leaving a ½ of overhang.
8. Tuck the overhanging dough underneath itself so it is resting on the ridge of the pie dish.
9. Crimp the edge of the pie. If you are unfamiliar with crimping techniques, use a fork to seal the ridge of the dough to the rim of the pie dish, or head over to YouTube.
10. Once crimped, lightly press the bottom of the crust to ensure the entire thing is in contact with the inside of the pie dish.
11. Place the dough in the fridge (30 minutes) or freezer (10 minutes) one more time.
12. When time is up, remove the dish, and score the bottom surface of the dough with a fork.
    
    
13. Place a layer of parchment paper inside of the pie dish, and add your pie weights.
1. Be sure to move the weights around and make folds in the parchment to ensure there are no open areas: Everything should be touching dough (the crimped edge can be exposed). 
   
   
14. Once your oven has preheated, Insert the pie crust (weight included) on a lower rack.
15. Set a timer for 15 minutes
16. When time is up, remove the pie weight, and place the crust back in the oven for another 7 minutes.
17. Take the crust out of the oven, and brush the bottom with your whisked egg
1. Act as though you are filling in the holes made by the fork, and brush the egg mixture ¾ up the side of the crust.
2. You won’t need to use the entire egg. Once one even layer has been applied, that’s enough.
18. Rest the crust until it is completely cool: 1-2 hours up to overnight.
19. In a mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, cinnamon, allspice, clove, nutmeg, and salt. Mix well, and break up any larger chunks.
20. In a separate bowl, combine pumpkin puree, dulce de leche, milk, orange zest, and vanilla extract
1. Whisk vigorously until the small bits of dulce de leche have dissolved, and the mixture looks homogenous.
21. Add the flour mixture to the pumpkin mixture, and whisk until everything is well incorporated. Leave at room temperature.
1. If making filling ahead of time, remove it from the fridge for about an hour to allow it to warm up.
22. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees
23. Once preheated, pour the filling into the crust, and gently shake/twist the pie until the filling has evened out.
24. Brush the crimped edge with a layer of egg wash
25. Place the pie in the oven on a lower rack, and bake for 45 minutes, rotating 180 degrees halfway through.
26. When finished, the center of the pie should jiggle very slightly or hardly at all.
27. Allow the pie to cool for at least an hour. Ideally, you should be able to hold it comfortably in the palm of your hand before slicing into it.

Warming spices, brown sugar, and sherry make this apple pie perfect with our Kernza pie crust. Pro tip: Enjoy a glass of sherry alongside your slice!

Make ahead of time! For best results we recommend making the crust the day before. Use our Kernza Pie Crust recipe – “Double Crust”.

Method

1. Roll out one pie dough - This will be the bottom.
2. Flour your counter, the top of the dough, and your rolling pin with all purpose flour.
3. Begin rolling toward you from the middle of the dough.
4. Rotate the dough slightly (about 1/8th), and roll toward you again.
5. Repeat this process until the dough expands roughly one inch past a nine inch pie dish the entire way around. 
   
   
   The dough may split in some areas, don’t hesitate to press it together with your fingers. Do this early on, and it will minimize splitting as you roll.
6. If the dough sticks to the counter, just lay down a little more flour.
7. Once the dough is the appropriate size, wrap it around your rolling pin.
8. Start from the top of the sheet, and bring the dough up and over the rolling pin towards you.
9. Begin rolling your pin towards you until the dough has wrapped around it completely. 
   
   
10. With your pie dish in front of you, pick up your rolling pin and, moving away from you, unroll the dough over and on to the pie dish.
    
    
11. When the dough is in the dish, tuck it down to the bottom by lifting an edge and gently pressing down. Do this all the way around the pie until the entire inside of the dish is in contact with dough.
    
    
12. Place the dish in the fridge.
13. Peel the apples, slice each one into quarters, and remove the core.
14. Slice each quarter lengthwise into thin slices - Make about five to six cuts per quarter.
15. Place the apple slices in a large mixing bowl.
16. In a separate bowl, combine your flour, brown sugar, salt, cinnamon, clove, and allspice.
17. Mix thoroughly until larger clumps have disappeared.
18. In another container, combine the sherry, lemon juice/zest, and vanilla extract. Whisk.
19. Add the flour mixture to the apples, and mix until each slice is coated.
20. Add the sherry mixture to the apples and mix again.
21. Place the apples in the fridge.
22. Roll out your second pie dough using the same process as the first.
23. Take your pie dish (with the dough) and apples out of the fridge, give your apples one last stir, and begin adding them to the pie pan. 
    
    
24. Try to build one layer at a time by laying the slices flat in a circular pattern. This will minimize open spaces in the pie and help to prevent the top crust from falling during the bake.
25. Once all of the apples are in the dish, roll the other dough sheet over them using the technique in step 2.
26. Before trimming the excess dough hanging over the pie dish, gently press the top and bottom layers together with your fingers.
27. Use a scissors to trim the excess dough leaving a ½ inch of overhang around the entire dish.
28. Tuck the overhanging dough underneath itself so it is resting on the edge of the dish. 
    
    
29. Crimp the edge of the pie. If you are unfamiliar with crimping techniques, use a fork to seal the ridge of the dough to the rim of the pie dish, or head over to YouTube.
30. Brush the top of the pie (including the crimped area) with a whisked egg.
31. Sprinkle demerara sugar over the entire pie.
32. With a knife, make four “vents” in the top of the pie by slicing into the crust. Cut into some apples, it’s fine.
    
    
33. Move the pie to the fridge, and set the oven to 425 degrees. When the oven has preheated, the pie can go straight in.
34. Bake the pie on a lower rack for 40-45 minutes, rotating it 180 degrees halfway through.
35. Rest it out of the oven for at least an hour and a half, or until you can comfortably hold it in the palm of your hand.

This molasses cookie recipe from Bon Appetit makes delicious, chewy and fluffy molasses cookies. This recipe, which substitutes 50% of the all-purpose flour with Kernza, was featured in our recipe trial Substituting Kernza for All Purpose Flour.

Recipe Preparation

Looking for the recipe? Here is the Chewy Molasses Kernza Cookies recipe we used in this article.

We recently had a comment asking about the potential for substituting Kernza in a recipe (more specifically a cookie recipe) that calls for all purpose flour. Though our experience with Kernza flour has revealed properties quite different than refined or all purpose flour, we decided to test exactly how much you can get away with when subbing in Kernza. Hopefully this narrows down some of the guesswork involved in getting started with our flour. This one’s for you, Lane!

This molasses cookie recipe from Bon Appetit makes delicious, chewy and fluffy molasses cookies. Their texture, rise, and overall appearance make them a great control for our experiment. You can find the winning version of the recipe in our Chewy Molasses Kernza Cookies recipe post.

The Experiment

We made three batches of cookies: Our control was Bon Appetit’s recipe, unchanged, using 100% all purpose flour. The second batch comprised of equal portions by volume of Kernza and A.P., and the final batch was made entirely with Kernza. Each of these doughs were baked twice; once while they were at room temperature, and once after they had a chance to cool in the fridge for twenty minutes.

Differences started to arise as early as the mixing phase; The dough changed from light and smooth (100% A.P.) to somewhat dense and coarse (100% Kernza). The 50/50 dough was somewhere in the middle (makes sense).

The first bake was done immediately after mixing, while the dough was at room temperature, and the results were somewhat expected. As you can see in the photos, the A.P. cookies had a good rise, and a nice chewy, fluffy texture on the inside. As more Kernza was introduced, these characteristics diminished. The 100% Kernza cookies were fairly flat, a little dense, and the texture from the bran was very apparent. However, the 50/50 batch turned out better than expected; there was a drop in the rise, but the inside texture remained pleasant and not too dense. Adding to this, the flavor difference was significantly more enjoyable when Kernza was included. It seemed to balance out each of the spices while contributing its own flavor.

Results

Results: All-Purpose Flour

Results: 50/50 All-Purpose/Kernza

Results: 100% Kernza

Once the dough had a chance to cool, another batch of cookies were made. This time, the change in characteristics were much less noticeable; the cool dough was able to maintain more of its structure in the oven causing less of a flattening effect amongst the Kernza cookies.

The Takeaway

As one would expect, the shape and texture of these cookies were negatively affected by the addition of Kernza. On the other hand, the flavor showed a drastic improvement when Kernza was added to the mix. When baked cold from the fridge, the 50/50 dough was determined to be the best over all: The cookie rose significantly, the middle remained soft and somewhat light, and the flavor was unmatched.

This is only one recipe, but the results should correlate to innumerable baked goods. To better your odds, try starting with a 20% substitution when working with all purpose flour. The flavor will still come through! Additionally, should you prefer an even softer texture, try sifting out some of the bran before mixing the flour into the dough. We hope this helps! Be sure to try this recipe with Kernza and let us know what you think! You can find the resulting recipe here.

As you can see, Kernza flour is a bit more varied than your standard all-purpose white flour. We arrived at this grind after running a series of initial baking trials. The less refined nature of this flour is a main contributor to its nuanced flavor. It is a whole grain: bran, germ, and endosperm are all included. Look closely and you can see bits of the outer shell (bran), along with varying color shades of the flour itself. These are signs of great texture and a lot of subtle flavor. In the future, we intend on milling various grind sizes, but in the meantime, if you would like a finer or more coarse grind, look into milling our whole grains at home!

Cooking with Kernza Flour

As mentioned above, think flavor: cookies, pancakes, waffles, biscuits, denser loaves of bread, perhaps even muffins or cakes. The theme here is foods that can be sweet and savory with minimal rising. Pancakes with maple syrup are a great example, especially when you consider the fact that Kernza flour itself has notes of maple. Our Cornbread recipe is another example of a balance between sweet and savory.


Make these connections, and Kernza will set you right up for success! Of course, you are not limited to baked goods that need to be sweet and savory. This is just a flavor combination we think brings out the best of Kernza, and it is a great starting point! You cannot go wrong if you follow the flavor! There are wonderful recipes in our Perennial Test Kitchen and many fantastic community contributions in our Community Recipes blog. Start there!

Using Kernza Flour as a Substitution for Wheat

Try substituting in recipes that utilize whole wheat flour. The baking properties are somewhat comparable, and there has been success using Kernza as a 1 to 1 substitute for whole wheat. That being said, you may need to add a little more water depending on the recipe and substitution; Kernza is very “thirsty.” This, in part, is due to the presence of all components (bran, germ, endosperm) in the flour. They each compete for water absorption (especially the bran), so it’s totally normal to adjust water content accordingly. We also suspect (as we have yet to test this ourselves) recipes using soft wheat (as opposed to hard wheat which is ideal for those “springy” bread loaves) and cake flour will also lend well to a Kernza substitution. These baked goods might again include cookies, cakes, biscuits, as well as tortillas, pitas, and other flat breads.

Additionally, there has been success with a small addition of kernza into recipes that do not require whole wheat or soft wheat flour. If trying something like this, start small; take away about 10-15% of the flour called for in the recipe, and add it back with Kernza flour. The exact results will not quite be attained, but it will be fairly close in most cases. The flavor change, however, will be noticeable! Recipes that call for commercial yeast will be the most forgiving in this case.

Kernza Whole Grain

Your grain may contain small traces of wheat or other grains. Do not be alarmed! This is a byproduct of a Kernza as a new grain. Perennial Pantry is actively working to reduce this imperfection, but for now it is just a fun “bonus”. Your cooking will not be affected!

Cooking with Kernza Grain

For a good place to start, head to the “How to Par-Cook Kernza” post. Here you’ll find a straightforward method to cook the grain both on the stove top, or in a pressure cooker (in this case we used an Instapot). These methods are meant to provide you with a neutrally flavored cooked grain that you can flavor any way you’d like, making it much easier to substitute in or add Kernza to recipes you may already have on hand. You can even experiment with adding flavors straight into the cooking method. For example: Use chicken or vegetable stock instead of water, and throw in some chopped onion, garlic and herbs.

Substitutions and Additions

Kernza is incredibly versatile when it comes to adding or substituting. Recipes that utilize brown rices or ancient grains like farro will work very well, because their flavor tends to be more complex, like Kernza. Through our experience, certain warm spices like clove, allspice, nutmeg, and cinnamon pair exceptionally well with Kernza’s flavor profile. However, by no means are these spices the only ones you can pair with Kernza. They are just a few of our favorites. Our Middle East Inspired whole grain recipe utilizes a few of these spices.

Looking for the recipe? Here is the Kernza Bread Recipe we used in this article.

When it comes to baking, consistency can prove to be quite the challenge considering the seemingly infinite number of variables one has to consider: Things such as room temperature and humidity,  water temperature, proofing time, even inconsistencies from one oven to the next, all affect the outcome of your loaves, or “boules.” Many standard flours such as All Purpose or Bread Flours have been used enough by professionals and home cooks alike, that one can determine relatively quickly what needs to be done in order for their full potential to come through. Kernza, on the other hand, has yet to stand the test of time. There is no “catalogue of standards” so to speak, on the cooking properties of this wonderful perennial grain. Therefore, there are a myriad of opportunities for experimentation! The purpose of this test, and the many tests to follow, is to contribute one piece of the puzzle at a time to the collective knowledge surrounding Kerna and its application in the culinary arts.

So... our first experiment, and first contribution to the puzzle: How coarse should your flour be? Now, there is a lot of literature out there in reference to this sort of thing, but the majority of it is in regard to more common flours: A.P., Bread, Cake, etc. Our goal was to see if these standards hold true to Kernza flour, and in the process, dial in our own milling standards at the Pantry. With this experiment, we are testing the general baking properties of Kernza flour milled to five different particle sizes. How did we determine our particle size? Simply by turning our mill adjustment dial clockwise to a number of five predetermined distances: the greater the turn, the farther apart the milling stones are, and the coarser the grind. Our “turns” ranged from 1/8th of a turn (coarse) to 1/32 of a turn (very fine). This gave us flours somewhere between 00 and semolina. All in, we had five different coarseness levels  to play around with measured by turn distance. They were ⅛, ¼, 3/16, 1/16, and 1/32. 

Alright. What to bake? Fortunately we have a few tried and true recipes from our friend and cookbook author, Beth Dooley, that were perfect for this sort of experiment. We went with her Kernza Bread recipe: a yeasted loaf that incorporates an addition of whole wheat flour. This recipe contains all of the steps necessary for a classic bread loaf, making it ideal to determine any inconsistencies in each step of the process. The recipe is posted. 

The Experiment

As one can see, each loaf was relatively similar. However, a few key differences emerged throughout the process:

Mixing: When combining the flour and wet components of the dough, we noticed a clear divide between the three coarsest flours (1/8th, 1/4th, 3/16th) and the two finest (1/16, 1/32). The coarse flours were “less thirsty.” In other words, they struggled when it came to absorbing moisture. As a result, the dough did not reflect the guidelines of Beth’s recipe: In the mixing phase, one needs to add flour, up to a certain amount, until the dough becomes “too hard to stir.” Because the coarser flours struggled to absorb liquid and hydrate, the dough remained loose and, and very tacky. The finer flours, however, did not need extra flour to mimic the properties of the recipe; the dough came together very easily. 

Kneading: Similar obstacles also came to light during the kneading phase. To remain true to the recipe, the dough was never kneaded past 10 minutes, and in that time, once again, the three course doughs never achieved the smooth and less tacky dough structure the recipe called for. In fact, the two most coarse flours required a substantial amount of added flour in order for the dough to form any structure whatsoever.  As you may have guessed, the finer flours were able to do this.   

Proofing: This phase saw the least deviation across each sample; each loaf was able to proof to twice its size. The only variation revealed itself when the coarse loaves spread out laterally a little more than the fine flours. It should be noted that this variation was miniscule and difficult to detect in the end product. 

Tasting: When it finally came to tasting each sample, there seemed to be two prominent characteristics that had an inverse relationship to each other: dryness, and crumb density. As the samples increased in fineness (smaller particle size), the loaves became increasingly more dense and less dry. The “¼” loaf was almost too dry, but the crumb was soft, light, and a little crumbly. On the other end of the spectrum, the “1/32” loaf was very toothy and dense, yet moist. Too much of either of these two characteristics were considered unpleasant. Therefore, it is no surprise that the “3/16” and “1/16” loaves were determined to be of the highest quality, as they had an exceptional mix of moisture retention and crumb density!

Issues: As seen in the photos, the “1/16” and “1/32” loaves haven an interesting crumb. It looks as though the crumb itself separated from the crust. This is known to be a phenomenon called “flying crust,” and it could be a sign of over proofing. When a dough is over proofed, excess gas builds up inside of the loaf, so much so that it can no longer be contained. During the bake, this gas leeches out of the crumb and gets trapped under the crust revealing a separation. With this in mind, a second test was performed to eliminate potential proofing inconsistencies. This time, however, only the “3/16,” “1/16,” and “1/32” flours were tested as they had the most desirable traits. The second trial was a success! Each loaf proofed correctly, and the results were noted. 

Final conclusion: In the end, the winner was a close call. Again, the “3/16” and “1/16” loaves had the most desirable characteristics: Pleasant crumb density and moisture content. Those two components paired with the delightful aroma and flavor of Kernza yielded an amazing loaf of bread! The deciding factor eventually came down to which dough best mimicked the steps of the recipe, and that dough was the “1/16” grind. With this flour, each step matched very well according to Beth’s process, and the end result was a very pleasant eating experience! 

These wholesome scones are made with wild blueberries and crystalized ginger. The Kernza version of this recipe was adapted from a recipe published in Real Simple Magazine, August 2015. Wild frozen or fresh blueberries can be used, but frozen berries will hold up better when the scones are being formed. The ginger is a strong component of this recipe and can be reduced for those who have an aversion to bold flavors.

Scones can sometimes be dry and crumbly but this recipe produces a hearty scone that is dense but not crumbly. These are best fresh from the oven, and shared, but they also reheat nicely.

Instructions

1. Heat oven to 375 degrees F. line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. Whisk together the flours, granulated sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Add the cut butter and blend with a pastry blender or your fingers until crumbly. Fold in the blueberries and ginger. Stir in the milk
3. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface and form into two 6-inch disks. Using a knife, cut each disk into 6 wedges. Place the wedges on the prepared sheet, brush with milk, and sprinkle with turbinado sugar.
4. Bake, rotating once, until golden brown, 25 to 30 minutes. If the scones are not browned after 25 minutes, move the pan to the top of the oven to finish baking. Cool on the pan. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Note

I've never baked scones before, so I don't know how this recipe compares to others out there. Overall, I was satisfied with the end product. I think the Kernza compliments the blueberry and ginger nicely and I'd make some variation of this again. Serve these with English breakfast tea spiked with sweetfern (Comptonia peregrina) simple syrup and cream.

This is a submission for the 2020 Star Tribune Cookie Contest. I wanted to use Kernza flour for my submission. I have followed a 1 to 1 substitution model for every recipe I try with the hope of replacing standard wheat flour in our diet. I've made killer biscuits, crepes and muffins. I've noticed that sometimes it likes a little more liquid, but otherwise, it replaces standard flour extremely well. 

How did I pick the flavor direction for this recipe?
As Belinda Jensen mentioned in her piece about Kernza® at the MN State Fair last year, "Kernza® has a nutty flavor with undertones of molasses . . .". One of my favorite holiday foods is a stout gingerbread, so I easily started down that path. Then I thought of cardamom which is synonymous with Christmas in our family—going back generations. I believe that is why I love Garam Masala with its bewitching combination of cardamom, cumin, coriander, black pepper, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg. I add it to all sorts of food, so why not cookies. I imagined adding a dollop of apricot, fig or pear jam on top that would act as a wonderful complement, so I googled "beautiful spice cookie pear jam" and found a compelling recipe by the Jam Lab. It sounded amazing but too complex for this purpose, so I simplified it down to its key elements of alluring spices and a stunning coat of silver sanding sugar.

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper or silicone baking liner.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together the Kernza® flour, salt, ground pistachios, garam masala, ginger, cardamom, and nutmeg.
4. In the bowl of a stand mixer, with a paddle attachment, cream together the butter and sugar — whisking for 2-3 minutes until pale yellow in color and fluffy, at high speed. Now add in the vanilla extract and egg and whisk again till blended. Scrap the sides of the bowl to gather the mixture into the center. Add in the flour mixture and mix at low speed until just combined. Do not overmix.
5. Pour some silver sanding sugar into a small flat bowl.
6. Use a mini cookie scoop or a tablespoon scoop and roll small 1" balls. Roll each ball into the silver sanding sugar and cover completely.
7. Place them on a baking sheet with a parchment paper about 2 inches apart. Bake the cookies for about 11 minutes until cookies are just set. Remove them from the oven and let them cool on the baking sheet for about 10 minutes. Transfer the cookies to a wire rack and let them cool completely. 

These cookies should keep in the fridge for about a week. I also like to use the age-old trick of storing them in a bag with half an apple to keep them moist.

What I love about these cookies? They are stunning in their simplicity, with mouth-watering spices and novel ingredients. They have a lovely crunch followed by an airy softness that I adore. I hope you will also fall in love with this cookie and its key ingredient—Kernza®.

Savory dish adapted from a Mexican rice (Arroz a la mexicana) recipe.

Instructions

1. Blend the chopped garlic and onion with the vegetable broth. Blend until uniform.
2. Add 2-3 tablespoons of oil in your pot over low-medium heat.
3. Toast and stir 1.5 cups kernza in the oil for 3-5 minutes on a low-medium heat setting.
4. Add the chopped carrot and cook for 1-2 minutes.
5. Add the blended liquid mixture to the pot and secure the lid on your pot or pressure cooker.
6. Pressure cook for 20 min. on default setting.
7. Release pressure for 5 min (quick release valve).
8. Stir and taste a few grains to ensure it is done to your liking. It will have some 'bite' to it, but should be done. Remove lid and serve.

Notes

On first attempt we thought 15m pressure was too little, so we put lid back on and pressure-cooked for five minutes, hence we believe 20 minutes pressure is sufficient. Feel free to try 25-30 minutes! However, I would predict the kernza will have some toothy al dente bite to it! I would be curious to know how soaking the kernza for 30 minutes would affect the final dish.

1.5 cups kernza to 2 cups water turned out to be excellent proportions for 20 minutes of pressure cooking, since it kept a little bit of juice left over for residual absorption and deliciousness.

We served the dish with green beans and brussel sprouts minus the parmesan using this recipe.

Adapted from The Six Seasons cookbook. This grain salad is a scrumptious way to highlight and deepen the Kernza's nutty flavor. As far as I'm concerned, anytime I'm eating Kernza whole grain in a savory dish I intend to toast it as I describe in steps 1-3, whether those steps are followed by the rest of the recipe or not!

Just about everything in this recipe can be swapped out for a similar ingredient that will bring completely new flavor despite serving a similar role--apricots or other dried fruit for the cherries; feta, ricotta, cream cheese for the goat cheese; already roasted sunflower seeds or pistachios for the almonds. Indeed, without the extra, gourmet steps for whipped goat cheese and brined almonds, this becomes a very easy side that can be thrown together at a moments notice! This dish welcomes fresh herbs, parsley, chives, tarragon all fit in so nicely, but don't be afraid to throw in some basil, mint, or other more divergently flavored herbs to really spice it up!

Instructions

1. Cover the bottom of a large sauce pan with olive oil, add the smashed garlic and chili flakes, and let saute for about 3 minutes.
2. Add the cup of Kernza whole grain and cook over medium heat, stirring to toast the grains. The longer you toast, the deeper the flavor--At least 4-5 minutes. 
   
   
3. Add 2 cups water, 1 tablespoon salt, and the bay leaf, and bring to a boil. Cover, adjust heat to low, and cook for about 25-35 minutes. Taste Kernza towards the end to determine if it's a suitable texture. You may need to strain a bit of the water at the end.
4. Meanwhile, brine the almonds. Heat oven to 375 F. Bring a small saucepan with 1/2 cup water to a boil then take off the heat. Dissolve 2-3 tablespoons salt, dump in the 3/4 cup almonds, stir so the almonds all submerge, and let sit for 30 minutes.
5. Toss the carrots with olive oil, salt and pepper, and spread out on a baking sheet. Roast until the edges start to darken, about 15-20 minutes. 
   
   
6. Return to the almonds. After the soak, drain the almonds, spread out evenly in one layer on a baking sheet and toast for about 12 minutes in the 375 F oven. They will be soft when you take them out, but they will cool to a delicious, salty crunch.
7. Thinly slice the onion. Put the cooked Kernza, onion, roast carrots, and dried cherries in a bowl and dress with 1/4 cup red wine vinegar.
8. Mix or food process the goat cheese with olive oil, salt, lots of black pepper, and vinegar or lemon juice, (and milk or water as needed) to get a smooth, smear-able cheese. Smear the whipped cheese on plates to dish the salad on top of. 
   
   
9. Rough chop almonds, and add them to the salad.
10. Taste dish, and add more vinegar, salt, or pepper as needed. Finish by tossing the whole dish with a 1/4 cup of olive oil, and dish the salad up on top of the smeared goat cheese!
11. Garnish as you see fit and enjoy. Serve hot or cold, my preference would be right in the middle (about the temperature you'll get after dressing the hot ingredients, anyway).
    
    

Adapted from Dorie Greenspan's "Baking." This is a delicious, pro-chunk carrot cake. Cinnamon and ginger really make the Kernza shine.

Prep

1. Arrange your oven rack to the middle and preheat the oven to 325° F.
2. Butter and flour the insides of two 9in. round pans (three if you have shallower pans, or would like more layers in your cake).

The cake

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, spices and salt.
2. In a large bowl, stir together the carrots, chopped pecans, coconut and cranberries so that the ingredients are well blended.
3. In another large bowl use the stand mixer with a paddle attachment, or a hand mixer, to beat the sugars and oil together on medium until smooth. Add the eggs one at a time while the mixer is running. Reduce the speed to low and add the flour mixture, stop the mixer once the dry ingredients disappear. Gently fold in the carrot mixture with a wooden spoon or spatula.
4. Pour the batter into the baking pans.
5. Bake for 50-55 minutes, until the middle of the cakes are set, you can check with a knife.
6. Cool the cakes for 5 minutes before removing them from the cake pans, then cool on racks until they are room-temperature (important for the frosting!).

The frosting

1. Again, use a stand or hand mixer to blend the cream cheese, butter, brown sugar and vanilla extract until the mixture starts to become stiff.
2. Pour in the honey and beat until the frosting is whipped, be careful not to overmix or the frosting will be runny.

Assembly

1. Cover the top of one cake with the frosting, using a spoon to smooth it to the edges.
2. Top with the second cake and frost this top as well (or the whole cake, sides included, if you would like).
3. Sprinkle the reserved chopped pecans and coconut on top. The cake is ready to serve or you can refrigerate for 30 minutes beforehand to help the frosting set.

This recipe is inspired by The Perfect Loaf - a blog focused on sourdough baking but 100% Kernza Flour is used. Like many folks during the pandemic I decided to explore the world of sourdough but found myself wondering what to do with the 'discarded' sourdough. Pancakes has been the best answer in our house! I love how versatile this recipe is. If you have fresh fruit or granola around you can toss those in to the batter. You can also adjust the moisture content to your preferences with the amount of milk/yogurt. I've made this with almond milk as well.

Note - there are so many resources online for starting/maintaining a sourdough starter: The Perfect Loaf Sourdough Starter Maintenance Routine is one of them.

Instructions

1. In a bowl, beat the eggs and then combine with the milk, yogurt (optional), vanilla (optional) and sourdough starter. Set aside.
2. In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, sugar.
3. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and combine. Then stir in the melted butter. Add more milk to get the consistency you prefer.
4. Let the mixture ferment a bit, 15-30 min, and you will probably see some happy bubbles forming.
5. Preheat the griddle and let it get quite hot. Putting a few drips of water on the pan should cause quite the sizzle. Add a bit of grease (I like to use butter) and dollop the pancake batter on the griddle. Flip the pancakes when you see some interior bubbles forming.
6. Serve as you like!