Whole Grain Pancake Breakfast

I saw this a few weeks ago while perusing Mark Bittman's column in the NY Times. I like his cooking in general, with a few notable disagreements over recipe composition. Plus, I'm always looking for ways to increase our fiber intake in general, as it is one of those things that it's really difficult to over-do. In any case, he wrote about Gary Danko's Whole-Grain Pancakes, and well, I figured I really had to try them. Especially since I had all the ingredients at home already.

They reminded me of fluffier versions of Jotham's favorite boxed mix, Kodiak Cakes. We have a box of those in the house, but I decided to try this recipe since you never know when the boxed stuff will be available. Plus, this way I can tweak it more easily.

It was a pretty typical pancake recipe - mix dry ingredients, mix together wet ingredients, whip egg whites. Add dry ingredients to the wet, mix, then fold in the whipped egg whites. Not rocket science.

All in all, I'd say they turned out pretty well. They didn't burn, which was a concern because they're pretty dark. And they were WAY fluffier than the mix, to which only water is added. I took some pictures without the eggs that we had with them. We had the pancakes with some fresh blueberries and some lemon curd I made a couple of weeks ago. The boys weren't as thrilled with the lemon curd, but I used it as "glue" for my blueberries and made little tacos out of the pancakes. Rich just goes for the squeeze method and apparently doesn't require glue. Drew had pancake sticks (sliced), so he scoffed at my curd. (I don't quite know when it happened, but we have been eating pancakes and waffles, in particular, with our hands, more often than not.)

I thought they had a lovely nuttiness and Rich noticed the texture of the buckwheat flour. I don't know that he was thrilled with the little bits. The pancakes were more filling than normal white flour, I thought, and I had four tiny little ones, while Rich had three normal sized ones (about 3" diameter) and Drew had two. The blueberries ultimately distracted Drew as did his love of eggs. He almost didn't finish.

Anyhow, don't they look cute?






You don't really notice the darkness of the pancakes themselves until you look closely with a frame of reference for the white.



Anyhow, I think I'm going to bag up some of the flours, with the baking powder and spices, pre-measured, for a faster morning turnaround, but all in all, I liked it. In theory, since I used the white flour, I didn't need to separate the eggs, but I like really fluffy pancakes, and these did not disappoint. It will make it more difficult for a camping trip, though. I suppose I could forego the truly fluffy pancake experience to have them camping. Sigh, sacrifices, sacrifices.

These are filling, though, and stick to your tummy better than oatmeal, so don't overdo it in eating them. I suspect you would regret it.

Whole-Grain Pancakes

Adapted from Mark Bittman from Gary Danko, as printed in the NY Times

Time: 30 to 40 minutes

Butter as needed
1/3 cup whole-wheat flour
2/3 cup white unbleached all-purpose flour
2/3 cup buckwheat flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander or cardamom
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs, separated
2 cups milk

1. Melt 3 tablespoons butter. In a large bowl combine flours, sugar, baking powder, spices and salt.

2. Beat egg whites with an electric mixer or a whisk until stiff peaks form, but do not overbeat. In separate bowl beat milk, yolks and melted butter until foamy, a couple of minutes. Add milk mixture to flour mixture and give a couple of good stirs, but do not overmix. Fold in egg whites and stir until batter is just evenly colored and relatively smooth; it's O.K. if there are some lumps.

3. Heat a large skillet (preferably cast iron) or griddle over medium heat until a few drops of water dance on its surface. Add butter as needed (or use a thin film of neutral oil, like grapeseed or corn). When skillet is hot, spoon batter into pan. Cook until bubbles form and pop, about 2 minutes; you may have to rotate cakes to cook them evenly, depending on your heat source and pan. Then carefully flip pancakes. Cook until well colored on other side, another minute or two more. Serve or keep in warm oven for a few minutes.

Yield: At least 6 servings.

Note: Buckwheat flour is sold at most grocery stores in the speciality baking or flours area. I used Bob's Red Mill, which is a label I use often for specialty flours and grains. I think my whole wheat flour was also from BRM. I have seen BRM products at every grocery store lately. Some have broader selections than others. The best I've seen is the natural foods area of Raley's grocery store. Even better than the natural foods coop and Whole Foods.