Whole Wheat Pancakes

I have to start out by saying that I spent my childhood eating white-flour products, like wonderbread, and even though as a child I ate pancakes cooked from home-made batter, they were generally made with white flour. Later on my mother decided to switch to whole wheat bread, which I wasn't too fond of at first, but grew accustomed to. Later she introduced what we called "blender pancakes", because it involved mixing the ingredients in a blender, including raw wheat. I have fond memories of blender pancakes served with pear sauce, which was puree of pears that we had picked from our own trees, and that mother had canned during the summer.

Now days when I eat white flour products, they just seem to be missing something. They don't take as long to digest, so the meal doesn't "stick" with you as long. Nutritionally, they end up having all of the carbs with hardly any of the good stuff that comes with whole grains.

This isn't the blender pancake recipe, rather it's an adaptation of a pancake recipe that I found in a cookbook. However, I will say that my adaptation has been very much influenced by my mother's pancakes. Also, it's my kids' favorite breakfast.

Without further ado...

• 1 1/2 cups wheat (I use hard red wheat, but any will do)
• 1/3 cup powdered milk
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups water (adjust according to how thick you want the batter)
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup canola oil

1. Preheat a skillet or griddle to 375 F.
2. Grind the wheat :) (It actually ends up making more than 1 1/2 cups wheat flour).
   
3. Mix the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Make a "well" in the middle of the dry ingredients.
4. Mix the liquid ingredients in a medium bowl. Make sure the eggs are thoroughly beaten.
5. Dump the liquid mix into the large bowl with the dry ingredients.
6. Mix until smooth. (I know, every other pancake recipe in the world says your batter should be lumpy, but I mix it smooth).
7. Pour a 1/4 cup of batter for each pancake onto skillet or griddle.
8. Flip when they start to look dry around the edges (the "wait until the bubbles pop" trick doesn't work so well with whole-wheat pancakes, trust me on this one).
9. Each pancake will be done about a minute after you flip it.
10. Repeat 7-9 until all of your batter is gone.

Makes 4 servings.

Serving suggestion: Stack two pancakes, spread a thin later of sour cream on top, add unsweetened applesauce, and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar. You might think that sour cream sounds strange, but it doesn't taste sour with the applesauce and cinnamon sugar. Despite the fact that it has "cream" in the name, it has significantly less saturated fat than butter, and doesn't have the transfat found in margarine.

Another nice way to enjoy these pancakes is with almond butter, applesauce, and cinnamon sugar.