Sunday, April 19, 2009

Oat Graham Pancakes

I few years ago I started trying to incorporate graham flour into some of our baked goods. Graham flour of course is what gives graham crackers their distinctive texture and taste. What many people don't realize is that graham flour is a whole wheat flour and therefore much more nutritious than refined flour.

After some experimenting I found that many of our favorite recipes didn't adapt well to the switch to graham flour (even trading out only half of the refined flour). The change in texture and taste was far too dramatic to please our palates. However, in the process of experimenting, I did create one recipe where the graham flour worked very well--that was the following recipe for oat graham pancakes. Even my son who is not a big fan of oats--and certainly not a fan of anything whole-grain--likes these pancakes.

This recipe makes 8 pancakes, just right for my son and me. If you have more mouths to feed you'll want to scale it up.


Oat Graham Pancakes

1 egg

scant 3/4 cup milk OR 1 cup buttermilk

1/2 cup plus 1/8 cup rolled oats

1-1/2 tablespoons brown sugar

2 tablespoons melted butter

1/2 cup whole-wheat graham flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

In a medium bowl, lightly beat the egg. Stir in the milk, oats, and brown sugar. Add the melted butter. In a small bowl, combine the graham flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir. If the batter is too thin, sprinkle in additional graham flour. Heat a griddle over medium heat, brush lightly with butter. Cook pancakes until bubbles begin to burst through to the top, flip and cook until bottom is golden. Serve with your favorite toppings.

Apple variation: to the dry ingredients add 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger, 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon, and a pinch each of ground allspice and cloves. To the final batter add 1 finely diced apple (or about 1/2 cup).