Whole Wheat Oatmeal Pancakes

I've been taking baby steps towards getting back in the kitchen.  Most days I fail miserably, but this  past weekend I was able to whip up brunch with a little help from my partner in crime.  Of course by "a little help" I mean that Paul totally took over.  Pancakes desperately needed to happen in this kitchen. [and in my face]  Come to think of it...  I think it's been a good two years since I've made them!  Two.  Flipping.  Years.  Not because I didn't want pancakes, mind you, but because I didn't want to buy a boxed mix.  I guess I should also confess that I have never made pancakes without a mix.  I know, I know!  I'm beyond embarrassed.  I just never had the baking confidence to pull it off.  But this weekend I grew a pair and set off to try something new.

I did a little research to familiarize myself the whole pancake measurement situation and came across two recipes that had a few interesting ideas.  One relied on oats [yum!] and another had a rather unique ingredient: vinegar.  [Um... what!?]  In theory, adding vinegar [or sometimes lemon juice] to the milk thickens the batter and leads to fluffier, more substantial pancakes.  Since I wanted to use whole wheat flour along with my oats, I figured I could use any extra help I could get, consider neither of them get quite as fluffy as white flour on their own.  

Whole Wheat Oatmeal Pancakes

yields 5-6 medium pancakes

what's in it?

1/2 cup of ground oats [I blended whole, non-instant oats in my food processor]

1/2 cup unbleached white whole wheat flour [like this]

1 TBSP sugar

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

3/4 cup milk [lowfat or whole... I'll test it with coconut milk next!]

1 large egg

2 TBSP melted unsalted butter or oil
2 TBSP white vinegar

1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/8 tsp ground cinnamon [plus a pinch extra, to taste]

serve with fresh fruit [they're glorious with sliced banana!] and a hearty drizzle of pure maple syrup

Bored with plain old syrup?  The breakfast gurus at Baker's Kitchen make their own buttery maple syrup to serve with their pancakes and french toast.  It's rich and sweet and insanely delicious.  A little bit goes a long way so you don't need to use a metric ton to jazz up your pancakes!  I whipped up my own at home when the craving struck:

Buttery Honey-Maple Syrup
2 TBSP slightly melted/softened butter
2-3 TBSP pure maple syrup [chilled if possible, it's thicker that way]
1 TBSP honey
a sprinkle of ground cinnamon

Whisk, taste, and increase any of the above ingredients to suit your tastebuds! Easy peasy!

get cooking!
These are fabulously quick and easy!  First mix your milk with your vinegar, stir, and set aside for 10 minutes.  This results in soured milk which is a healthier alternative to using buttermilk.  In place of white vinegar you can use lemon juice if needed since both will acidify the milk.

Grab a medium to large bowl and add your dry ingredients.  Mix well.  In a separate bowl, mix all of your wet ingredients: soured milk, egg, vanilla, and butter [or oil].  Slowly pour the wet ingredients into the dry, stirring with a fork to remove lumps.  Don't beat/whisk or overwork the batter since that will cause the pancakes to fall flat.  The batter should be thick, and may have a few lumps in it - this is normal.  Allow to sit for 10 minutes at room temperature before making your cakes.  Whatever you do, don't stir the batter again.

Preheat your non-stick griddle, skillet, or a frying pan and grease to medium heat with a little bit of coconut oil or spray olive oil.  Use a ladle or measuring cup to scoop out about half a cup of batter per pancake.  Cook until you see bubbles on the top side of the pancake and flip to brown the other side.  Repeat for each cake, careful not to ever press the pancake down with a spatula since it will flatten your pancakes.  You also may need to reapply oil in-between each cake if making them one by one.  I do mine individually since I only have a teeny pan to work with.  Those of you with a long griddle -- I'm way jealous! =)

Top with syrup and fruit and dig in while they're hot and fluffy!

thoughts on the vinegar: I was really glad I tried this out!  Thanks to Colleen for the inspiration!  You couldn't taste the vinegar in the pancakes whatsoever and, while they didn't fluff up as much as the white flour recipe I was inspired by, they still yielded pancakes with good fluff factor and a soft texture!  I'm curious to try these with all oatmeal or all purpose flour to see if there's a difference in how much the vinegar can fluff these babies up.

so... how were they?
DELICIOUS!  When I decided to use the white whole wheat flour and ground oat flour instead of typical all-purpose I was expecting a possible fail on the texture front.  These exceeded my expectations and I adored them!  The cinnamon and vanilla were a perfect compliment to the oats and wheat and I'm proud to say I tried to eat the entire stack without sharing with Paul.  Tried.  I felt bad and let him have half =) He knows I only joke about not sharing.  Save for bagels.  I do not share bagels. 

Still feeling breakfast-y?  Here are a few of my favorites!