27. Whole-Grain Pancakes p.646
Sorry, no recipe this time.
These were really really good pancakes. They’re made with whole wheat flour and cornmeal so they have a more grown up flavour and toothsome texture than than Aunt Jamima (not that I’d be caught dead making that stuff). They were kept light and fluffy by baking powder, and beaten egg whites. I was doing these up at my friend’s island (no power, limited kitchen gadgets) and found myself trying to whip egg whites to stiff peaks without an electric mixer, without a whisk, but with as many forks as I could desire. I spent about 1/2 hour going at the whites, and I can say that they foamed and lightened in colour, but try as I might I just couldn’t get them properly whipped. I folded in my vaguely foamy whites, and hoped for the best. Apparently this recipe has the advantage of being somewhat idiot proof too. They came out nicely fluffy, and not at all heavy or dense as whole wheat baking sometimes tends to.
An interesting note about this recipe is that it calls for oil in the batter and for the skillet, and only recommends butter as a topping. I would have thought that butter based pancakes would beat out oil based every time, but these were great just as they were. It’d be interesting to see if they could be improved by replacing some of the oil with butter.
I think I’ve found my new stand-by griddle cake. I love a cornmeal pancakes, and this recipe hit the nail on the head. It managed to combine the moist-fluffy-tender aspects of a white flour pancake with the hearty-nutty-textured virtues of whole grains and cornmeal. Perfect.
13 Responses to “27. Whole-Grain Pancakes p.646”
1 Nique 12 April 2007 @ 11:02 am
I’ve never thought of hearty-nutty-texture as a desirable trait in a pancake. I’d be interested to try these and see if I agree about their awesomeness. They look good in the pic.
2 mvb 12 April 2007 @ 11:59 am
Yep, it’s the photo that launched a thousand pancakes. These were good hearty “start your day in the country” kind of pancakes. I think I chopped some wood after breakfast, or at least partook of a rousing game of ping pong in the dining hall.
3 KC 12 April 2007 @ 1:23 pm
Thanks. I like the hearty-nuttiness because pancakes can be too uni-dimensionally sweet. White flour + maple syrup really puts the “cake” in pancake. I mean they’re great if you just have one, but I find that I’m a bit sugared out by the time I finish a plate of them. I also like to add lemon or lime instead of maple syrup on some of my pancakes.
4 Nique 12 April 2007 @ 2:53 pm
Ugh! lemon/lime instead of syrup? WTF? Will the tyranny of lemon/lime flavours in sweet dishes never end? Lemon/lime has no business being in a dessert! And yes, pancakes are essentially dessert. Breakfast dessert. Just like dani and cinnabuns. Mmmmmmm cinnabuns.
5 kebes 12 April 2007 @ 3:30 pm
Nique! Lemon/lime are awesome in desserts. Too many desserts suffer from the “let’s just make it sweeter and people will like it more” syndrome. Lemon/lime provide a unique edge that some people (like me) enjoy.
6 KC 12 April 2007 @ 4:24 pm
Kebes is right. As a kid there couldn’t be enough sweetness in the world. A pile of candy could never be big enough. But, I find that as I get older I just don’t enjoy straight up sweetness the way I once did.
Lemon and lime are awesome for desserts because they contrast the sweetness of the dessert with a little bit of an acid bite. It makes the sugar taste less sweet, which at least some people enjoy. Are you trying to say you don’t like lemon mirangue? or key lime pie?
7 Nique 13 April 2007 @ 8:38 am
That is exactly what I’m saying. I just don’t like lemon/lime in a sweet context. Lemon mirangue or key lime pie are GROSS!
I like lemon just fine in a savoury dish though.
8 LePhil 15 April 2007 @ 9:37 pm
Why don’t your ‘5 mushroom’ meals ever come with recipes? Are you afraid that people will try them and find them not up to chuff?
Also some of my favourite desserts involve lemon or lime, and either of them taste good on pancakes.
I will have to steal this recipe off of you.
9 KC 15 April 2007 @ 11:13 pm
You’re right LePhil, perhaps it’s a conspiracy on Epicurious’ part. Maybe I should institute a “retype the 5 mushroom recipes” rule. In general I don’t want to repost these recipes because of copyright issues (it’s totally legit to post recipes, but reproducing a whole or large parts of a cookbook is probably not fair use / fair dealing). But I think I’ll retype the full recipe if it’s not available for the truly stand out dishes.
10 KC 17 April 2007 @ 6:11 pm
1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour
1/3 cup cornmeal
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs, separated
1/4 cup vegetable oil, plus additional for brushing skillet
1 1/2 cup whole milk, plus additional if needed
Accompaniment: butter and pure maple syrup
Whisk together flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. Whisk together yolks, oil and 1 1/2 cups milk in another bowl and add to flour mixture. whisking until smooth. Let batter stand for 5 minutes to allow flour to absorb liquid (batter with thicken).
If batter is too thick to fall easily from a spoon, stir in 1 to 2 tablespoons additional milk.
Beat egg whites in a large bowl with an electric mixer at moderately high speed until they just hold stiff peaks. With a whisk, gently but thoroughly fold into batter.
Brush a griddle or 12-inch nonstick skillet with oil and heat over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking. Reduce heat to moderate. Working in batches of 4 spoon 2 tablespoons batter per pancake (a heaping large serving spoon work well, or half fill a 1/4 cup measure) into hot skillet, spreading it if necessary to form 3-3 1/2 inch rounds. Cook pancakes until bubbles appear on surface, edges are set, and undersides are golden, 45 seconds to 1 minute. Flip pancakes with a metal spatula and cook until undersides are golden and pancakes are cooked through, 45 seconds to 1 minute. (lower heat if pancakes brown too quickly before insides are cooked through.) Transfer pancakes to plates and serve with butter and syrup. Brush griddle with more oil between batches.
COOKS NOTE
These pancakes are best eaten in shifts, hot from the skillet, with the cook eating last, but if you really want to sit down together, you can keep the first batches warm on a baking sheet in a 200F oven until all the pancakes are cooked.
11 LePhil 13 May 2007 @ 12:46 pm
So I served up these pancakes at a Breakfast Club, they were great! We ate them with a variety of fruits and maple syrup. The recipe was no more difficult than any other pancake, and it managed to feed 6 people satisfactorily.
Good work KC.
12 LePhil 4 July 2007 @ 10:53 am
I replaced the oil with melted butter, even better.
13 KC 4 July 2007 @ 12:09 pm
Good work. LePhil is the first member of The Gourmet Project’s field testing kitchen. Join the club, cook, and let me know how it turns out.
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