Whey protein isolate - will it get crispy when dried?

Hi all,

I'm playing with granola using whey protein and the clusters are coming out more cakey than crunchy.

I add a small amount of water to help the ingredients bind. The whey kinda foams when cooking though.

Baking (@300f) alone hasn't resulted in crispy before Maillard starts to kick in and over brown it.
GPT suggested a secondary dehydration after baking, which I haven't tried yet.

Is dehydration likely to work, or is the whey protein just going to transition from chewy to tough?

Note this isnt a problem with pea protein, it was crisping ok but tasted awful.