Thursday, March 25, 2010

Secret Family Recipe (this is your only chance)

Breakfast today was a revelatory experience. So good, in fact, that I am considering letting this farming thing fall to the wayside to pursue fame and fortune as the proprietress of a new breakfast cafe: "The Intranational House of Pancakes" All puns aside, I can safely say that this is my favorite pancake recipe of all time. And the weirdest thing? These pancakes have almost no sweetener and zero white flour. Yet they are exquisite: tender, slightly nutty, filling without being heavy. I based this version on a recipe from The Whole Grains Cookbook by Robin Asbell, which I would cook from much more frequently if it didn't tend to call for summer vegetable ingredients or expensive cuts of meat. You can follow my instructions exactly, or do what I did and substitute what you have.

Buttermilk Wheat Bran Pancakes with Yogurt and Blueberry Jam

1 1/8 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 wheat bran (I grind my own flour, so I'm always looking for places to throw this in. You can also use wheat germ, which you can buy at a health food store)
1 T sugar
1 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1/4 t salt
scant 1 1/4 cups milk + 1 1/5 T apple cider vinegar (the original recipe called for buttermilk, but my substitution worked great)
scant 1/4 c olive oil
1 t molasses
2 large eggs, seperated

Mix the milk and vinegar together in a small bowl and let sit for a few minutes. Mix the dry ingredients together in a large mixing bowl. Add the egg yolks, molasses and oil to the milk and vinegar and mix thoroughly. In a third bowl, beat the egg whites to form stiff peaks. Mix the wet ingredients into the dry until just moistened, then fold in the egg whites.

Heat a griddle over medium high heat until water drops dance on the hot surface. Lightly grease the griddle and cook the pancakes (I assume you all know how to cook pancakes...)

Serve the pancakes with plain yogurt and jam or syrup.

I would share a picture, but we ate them up too quickly for that!

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