Saturday, May 21, 2011

Oatmeal Pancakes


Remember the extra oatmeal from the last post?
Today we used it to make pancakes - moist, tender, flavorful pancakes.
Cast of ingredients - I buy in bulk so there aren't a lot of labels to look at :)

 I use a two burner cast iron griddle on my gas range.  First thing I do is preheat the griddle.  I love using our cast iron griddle, but it does take some time to preheat.  It is also important become familiar with your stove so you can reach and  maintain the best temperature.  I've found that my back burners run slightly hotter than my front burners, so I need to remember to have the back set lower by just a bit.  I'm still practicing finding the best temperature for pancakes - the griddle needs to be hot enough that the pancakes brown but not so hot that the first side is burning before the middle of the pancake is firm enough to flip.

One benefit of preheating the griddle is that it is super easy to melt the butter (or coconut oil) needed for the recipe.  I prefer to avoid refined vegetable oils for several reasons, but it does require a little more planning to use solid fats in certain recipes.  As soon as the butter is melted, remove the bowl from the griddle so the butter isn't too hot to mix with the eggs.

Once the butter is taken care of, measure all the dry ingredients into a large bowl. As you can see, I don't use many pure white ingredients.  :)   Whisk until thoroughly combined.  You could also use a flour sifter to mix - I think my girls would love to use ours more often, but I'd rather have fewer dishes.  If you use the sifter, add any extra clumps of oat flour left in the sifter back into the mixing bowl.  
Add milk, cooked oatmeal, eggs, and maple syrup to the melted butter.  I've found it's easiest to use my immersion blender to thoroughly incorporate the cooked oatmeal. After the preliminary mixing, have your children mix again to make sure it's good enough.  This is a great way to let even the littlest chef help.
Next, gently fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients.  Once the flour is just mixed in, stop.  Now it's finally time to cook the pancakes!  I used less than a quarter cup batter per pancake this time.  You'll want to watch your pancakes - they are ready to flip when the whole surface has bubbles & the edges are no longer wet looking.  I tried to capture that in the middle picture below.  Immediately after taking the picture I flipped the pancake - looks as close to perfect as this imperfect human will get!  The second side will cook much faster than the first.  Usually the pancake is done when steam stops escaping.
All the pancakes tasted great even if they didn't look perfectly identical...

Our current favorite way to eat pancakes is peanut butter pancake sandwiches.

Hope your family enjoys these as much as mine has!  

Oatmeal Pancakes  (recipe adapted from "Good to the Grain" by Kim Boyce)

3/4 c oat flour
1 c whole wheat pastry flour (soft spring wheat) or all-purpose flour
2 Tbsp evaporated cane sugar
2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp unrefined sea salt
3 Tbsp butter, melted & cooled slightly
1 1/4 c whole milk
1 c cooked oatmeal 
1 Tbsp maple syrup
2 eggs

1.  Preheat griddle & melt butter.
2.  Whisk dry ingredients together in large bowl.
3.  Whisk together wet ingredients in a separate bowl.  Using an immersion blender makes it much easier.
4.  Using a spatula, gently fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients.  The batter should be slightly thick.
5.  The griddle should be hot enough that water sizzles when splashed onto the pan but not so hot that it starts to smoke.  If your pan is not well cured, brush with extra butter.  
6.  Ladle just under 1/4c batter per pancake onto pan.  
7.  When bubbles have formed over the surface of the pancakes & the edges are no longer moist looking, flip the pancake & cook until the bottom is also golden brown.
8.  Pancakes are best served fresh, but are also good reheated the next day.

*  If you don't have cooked oatmeal on hand, make a quick batch using rolled oats.  Simmer 2c water, 1c rolled oats, and a dash of salt for 5 minutes.  Cool before using in this recipe.  You'll have more oatmeal than you need for this recipe, so either save for another purpose or have a snack while you are cooking.  :)
*  I use cinnamon in my oatmeal & we adore the subtle warmth it adds to these pancakes.  If you didn't add cinnamon to your oatmeal, add a dash to the dry ingredients.

1 comment:

  1. My favorite part of this post is showing that you're training your daughters! It's so important to include them in what we do, so they grow up knowing their contribution is vital. I heard a wise man once say that a 1 yr old that does chores is a 6 yr old that does chores and a 16 yr old that is a blessing. Keep up the great work! :)

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