I like whole grains in the morning. Nothing keeps me going and gets my tummy primed for the day like a bowl of oatmeal or millet. On the weekend, I love to make pancakes. A while back, I posted a link to Mark Bittman’s recipe. To get them really light and fluffy, he beats egg whites and folds them into the batter. If you are trying to approximate the texture of white flour pancakes, stick with this method. That morning, however, I just didn’t feel like bothering with the egg white foam. Since I prefer my pancakes hearty anyway, I decided not to try to fight the heft of whole grain flour. So I picked up my trusty copy of Good to the Grain because Kimberly Boyce always delivers. I riffed on her recipe for Buttermilk Pancakes and boy, was the result good. They were nice and weighty but well-leavened. No dense hockey pucks here. As usual, I made some tweaks based on what I had in the pantry. Boyce calls for her go-to multigrain flour mix, which has whole wheat, oat, barley, millet, and rye flours. This sounds awesome, but all I had was whole wheat and spelt. I didn’t have buttermilk so I threw a bit of plain yogurt into regular milk. And everybody loves blueberries so I put those in too. Boyce’s recipes always have a little something extra that really makes the dish–in this case, molasses and a pinch of nutmeg. Here’s my adapted version of the recipe:
Really Hearty Whole Grain Pancakes
Recipe serves three to four
1 cup whole grain flour (I used a mixture of whole wheat pastry flour and spelt, but don’t be afraid to experiment!)
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
a rounded 1/4 teaspoon Kosher salt
1/4 ground nutmeg
1 cup buttermilk ( you can also use regular milk mixed with 2 tablespoons of yogurt or 1 tablespoon of white vinegar)
1 tablespoon unsulphured molasses (not blackstrap)
1 egg
zest of 1 orange or lemon
fresh blueberries if you want them
Sift all the dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Combine all the wet ingredients in a separate bowl and mix thoroughly. Gently fold the wet ingredients into the dry, adding a little flour if it seems too thin. Be careful not to over-mix. As Boyce explains, the batter should be slightly thick with a holey surface. Melt a little butter over medium heat and drop 1/4 cup of the batter in for each pancake. Drop the blueberries onto the wet surface of each cake. Flip when small holes form on the surface and the bottom is golden brown.
If you end up with extra batter, go ahead and cook up the cakes; they are great warmed up in the toaster. You can even wrap and freeze them just like waffles for a fast, easy, healthy breakfast during the week. Top the cakes with some fruit and a little maple syrup, honey, or yogurt and you’re good to go until lunch.
These were so yummy and I was so hungry that I forgot to take a picture. I’ll amend this post next time I make them.
Sundry Sustenance 