Whole Grain Pancakes

Are you looking to move beyond regular pancakes and add some healthy crunch? This recipe has found a new place in our household for a rich, flavorful breakfast meal. This recipe is the first Chef Michael Smith shares in his Best of Chef at Home cookbook.

Personally I was at first a skeptic on how these would taste. For years if a recipe called for whole wheat flour I would simply turn the page. That brown flour would simply expire before I would use all 5 pounds. Now that was a year ago I now relish the thought of experimenting with any type of flour. In this recipe, Chef Smith has found what most have with whole grain recipes, if you go 100% whole grains it can often lead to hockey puck products. Here he uses three flours/grains for the pancakes and encourages you to substitute other flours but keeping 1/3 AP flour.

The recipe was was not complex with no more ingredients than most scratch pancakes. The one challenge we had was incorporating the honey into the cold milk. Perhaps, warming up the milk to room temperature would help that process. The pancakes rose a bit higher than our typical pancakes and the batter was clearly more lumpy but they spread without issue. Next the taste.

First I noticed the crunch from the oatmeal flakes which was a pleasant surprise and change from the regular. The pancakes were also very flavorful and hearty. We used whole wheat flour for this variation but I will try a version with almond flour next time. When you walk away from the table after a plateful of these you will be ready to shovel that 12 inches of snow on your driveway that fell last night!

Recipe

1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat, grain or almond flour
1 cup oatmeal flakes
2 tablespoons baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups milk or water
1/4 cup vegetable oil or melted butter
2 tablespoons honey
2 eggs, or 4 for added richness
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Method

Preheat a skillet or griddle to medium or medium-high.

Whisk together the dry ingredients mixing the fine powders evenly among the coarser ones. Next whisk together the wet ingredients being careful to unsure the eggs and honey are well blended in the mixture. Make a well in the dry ingredients and pour the liquid mixture into the bowl. Using a wooden spoon or spatula stir the batter until it is smooth, but don’t over mix to minimize gluten development.

Spoon or ladle the batter into the preheated pan to your preferred size. Watch for bubbles on the pancakes and once they are evenly covered here and there with holes, it’s time to flip. Because the batter is heated through, and the first side is already browned, the second side will cook faster.

Remove and serve hot or keep covered and warm in an oven.