how to make steel cut oats from oat groats?

[Adamsmama]

I want to buy oat groats and make my own steel cut/irish oatmeal from it. I have a grain grinder but that only makes flour. Is there something more inexpensive that I can use to make steel cut oats? Would a meat grinder or a nut grinder work or are the oat groats too hard?

[hummingmom]

Steel cut oats are also known as "machine cut"; they're made using a special industrial cutting machine with rotating steel discs. I'm not sure if there's a way to do it using home equipment. You could use a food processor, but the pieces would be pretty uneven, with some flour mixed in. Still, it would be worth a try. Oat groats are quite soft, and are very unlikely to damage anything. (This is assuming they're hulled. I wouldn't recommend using un-hulled oats, unless your name is Flicka. )

BTW, while the Irish steel-cut oats are cut in large pieces, Scottish "pinhead" oatmeal tends to be more finely cut, kind of like a very coarse flour or meal. You might have better luck with the latter.

For our family, we ended up deciding that it made more sense to put the groats through an adjustable flaker to make thick rolled oats. But I'd be interested to hear what your results are like.

ETA: Just had a thought... If you have a coarse sieve, you could put the chopped groats through that, and use the finer powder as a flour for baking.

I think the food processor would probably be your best bet, as it uses a steel blade to cut the oats. With a grinder or flour mill, the groats are so soft that it would likely just pulverize them.

[roostery]

I soaked my oats for 24 hours and then ran them through the food processor. I liked how they turned out, texturewise.

I haven't found whole oats that aren't rancid though. It seems like whether I get them bulk or packaged they have a decidedly off smell to them. I assume that rolled oats don't have that because they've been toasted. I'd love to do my own whole oats, but I am sticking to rolled until I can find some whole oats that are better quality.