Whole Wheat Pancakes

Yesterday, I woke up determined to make pancakes. Then I found something in the living room that put me in a foul mood, and pancakes were no longer on the menu. When I woke up this morning, I decided today would be pancake day instead. In the interest of offsetting the tacos I had for dinner last night, I chose to go the whole wheat route.

Then, for shits and giggles, I decided to make them silver dollar pancakes.

Had ya fooled there for a second, didn't I? They're on a butter pat, the first in my collection. I found it at a Goodwill for 35 cents and dang near did a happy dance in the aisle. But on to the pancakes!

In a medium bowl (I used my Pampered Chef batter bowl to make the batter, because I'm a nerd like that) combine 1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour (I like King Arthur brand), 1/3 cup cornmeal, 6 tablespoons dried, powdered buttermilk, 1 tablespoon sugar, 2 teaspoons baking powder, 3/4 teaspoon baking soda, and 3/4 teaspoon salt. Mix it really well with a whisk so that the clumps in the buttermilk get broken up and mixed in evenly.

Never heard of dried buttermilk?

It's this stuff. You can find it in the aisle with flours and sugars and other baking items. It's freaking awesome. I used to hate when recipes would call for buttermilk, because the smallest container I could ever find was a quart. I'd use the half cup or whatever my recipe needed and the rest would inevitably go to waste. I read about this on Bake and Destroy and I'm so thankful that I did because now I don't have to feel bad for wasting so much buttermilk! I just make what I need and the rest doesn't go bad.

Add 1 1/2 cups water, 1/4 cup vegetable (I used canola) oil, and two large eggs to your dry ingredients. Whisk until combined and smooth.

Let stand for five minutes. It will get thicker and kind of spongy/foamy. This is good!

Melt a teeny little skinny pat of butter in your pan over medium low heat. I think this is one of the biggest mistakes people make when making pancakes, or anything really! They want them to be done quickly so they crank up the heat, resulting in food that's overcooked on the outside and under done in the middle. Slow, even heat is key here.

Take a basting brush and smear the butter around. You want to get an even coat on the pan. I actually didn't even have to butter the pan between batches. I just used the brush again and added more butter when the brush was dry.

To make these teeny pancakes I used a #70 disher. This kept them all about the same size. Place your dollops of batter on your hot, buttered pan (or griddle) with a little bit of space around them as they spread slightly.

When the tops look bubbly and the edges look dry, flip!

See? Perfect. Give them a slight smoosh to flatten them a bit. It was a bit tricky getting a full sized spatula in there to turn these, so if you have a smaller one that would be helpful. Once the other side is golden (about 45 seconds - one minute) remove to a plate.

Now, you could always make these full sized as well, if you don't want to stand at the stove for very long. If you did, however, you might miss out on the benefit of your toddler thinking they're cookies and eating a whole bunch of them! He's been SUCH a picky eater lately that it made me really glad to see him getting something relatively healthy into his system, even if it was just straight carbs.

On a final note, I realized last night as I was laying in bed that I totally spaced Thankful Thursday. It's only the second week too! Lame! Here's my page:

Yup... the boy has taken up graffiti. What's funny is that the way I found the spot he's cleaning in the photo is that he pointed to it and said very seriously, "BAD." Way to turn stool pigeon on yourself, kid!