Decadent Whole Grain Pancake Breakfast



Here's a little Father's Day brunch idea for you.

We love love love pancakes at our house.  I could do an entire whole grain pancake series.  It is now strawberry season (hooray!), so we've been having this decadent version of pancake breakfast one or more times per week.

This is a double recipe.  Why even bother making the single recipe?

Whole Wheat Pancakes x 2

2 cups white whole wheat flour (I grind my own flour from hard white berries)
1 t table salt
1 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
2 T sugar -or- 2 T honey (and a little less of other liquids)
2 cups buttermilk
2 eggs
1/4 cup butter or canola oil (I use oil, because it's easier than melting and cooling butter)
unsalted butter for greasing the pan

Toppings:

  • organic strawberries
  • cream with a touch of vanilla
  • maple syrup

Put a medium-sized metal bowl and your beaters in the freezer (I do this because Cook's Illustrated told me to).  Begin pre-heating your pan(s) with a little oil in them if you are using cast iron. I use my Le Creuset cast iron plus my Lodge Logic preseasoned griddle so that I can make 7 to 8 pancakes at once (see photo below).

Mix together all the dry ingredients in large bowl.  Dump all the wet ingredients on top, and mix those in too (I usually need to employ a spatula to eliminate all the dry patches of flour).  You can mix the wet ingredients separately first if you feel the need (I say this as a person who, in my former life, used to whip up the egg whites separately for pancakes). Now let the batter sit for at least 10 minutes, so the whole wheat flour has time to absorb the wet ingredients.  Note that the batter is pretty thick, which is how I like it. I often turn on the heat for the cast iron pans, put the bowl/beaters in the freezer, make the batter, run to the farmer's market to buy strawberries, and then begin the pancakes when I get back.




Your pan is hot enough when a drop of water sizzles/dances on top.  Then add some butter to grease the pan.  Use scant 1/4-cups of batter.  Flip when bubbles start to form on the top or the bottoms are golden brown (take a little peek with your spatula).  Add more butter between each batch. While making the pancakes, slice the strawberries and whip up some whipped cream using your frosty bowl and beaters from the freezer.  I personally use an immersion blender to whip my cream because of the easy clean up.  I add nothing to the cream but a touch of vanilla.  Make as much cream as you think you'll need.  I usually use 1/2 cup to 1 cup.




Serve hot pancakes with strawberries then cream on top.  Do not put the cream directly on the hot pancakes or the cream will immediately melt.  My children prefer to eat these pancakes with maple syrup, strawberries on the side.

Some notes:
  • Use real organic cream that is pasteurized, not ultra-pasteurized.  I use organic cream because 1) cream is an animal product; 2) it's high fat; 3) conventional cream often has weird filler ingredients and tastes worse.  I use pasteurized because ultra-pasteurized does not have the same creamy texture (I know this from experience, sadly).  Cook's Illustrated is with me on this one.  Straus' organic low-temp pasteurized cream has one ingredient (cream) and is absolutely delicious.  Trader Joe's has an organic low-temp pasteurized cream that is also quite good. Be warned that Horizon's organic cream, while organic, is also ultra-pasteurized, has some weird ingredients and whips up rubbery. If you are going to indulge in cream, you might as well do it right, for heaven's sake.  
  • If it's not strawberry season, try bananas or frozen berries.  Peaches or other stone fruit, if you have them, are also just delicious on top.
  • Use real maple syrup.  If you are going to pour sugar on your breakfast, make it the good stuff!




Lately the double recipe just has not been enough.  We would only have 2 or 3 leftover pancakes.  So I've been making the triple recipe, and then we often have enough for another day's breakfast or dinner (yes, dinner), or at least lots of snacks (my kids love pancakes straight out of the fridge).  In my experience, pancakes do not freeze that well (waffles are better for that), but they keep fine in the fridge for many days.  Here is the triple recipe so that you don't have to hurt your head with the math.

Whole Wheat Pancakes x 3

3 cups white whole wheat flour
1 1/2 t table salt
1 1/2 t baking powder
3/4 t baking soda
3 T sugar or 3 T honey (and 1 to 2T less other liquids)
3 cups buttermilk
3 eggs
1/3 cup butter or oil

Note that for the triple recipe, you really do need to mix the wet ingredients separately.

Enjoy!




P.S.  A little shout out to my freshman college roommate Jito, who taught me the genius of putting whipped cream and strawberries on top of pancakes.


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3 comments:

  1. Betsy, those look delicious! We also like to use the real stuff (cream and syrup, mmmmm). What flour do you recommend for those of us not grinding our own?

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  2. Trader Joe's has a white whole wheat flour that I use when I'm out of berries to grind (I think it's really King Arthur flour under their own label). I would definitely try to find WHITE whole wheat, for the milder flavor. I think I've also used Whole Foods brand.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I want someone to make those for ME! They look amazing....I would probably have to triple the recipe over here; three growing boys and hungry parents!

    ReplyDelete

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