Multigrain Pancakes

Multigrain Pancakes

Although my paternal grandmother wasn't the friendliest of grandmothers, she was an excellent cook. I don't remember her ever making anything that wasn't delicious. But, now chuckling at this, she never allowed me to touch anything-- her favorite word was No. Not her fault- she was from a generation taught to keep children at arms's length, eschewing the idea of kind words of encouragement or physical love and affection.

But I digress. She made excellent pancakes, with a grainy and spongey texture that was quite lovely. Here is a recipe that I've developed that attempts to replicate that rather flat, grainy cake that really soaks up syrup and butter.

*Note: this recipe calls for ground cereal and ground nuts. A coffee grinder works for this, or a food processor can work. Or a vitamix blender. Or if you can find pre-ground grains and nuts.

Recipe:

1/2 Cup all-purpose flour
1 Cup multigrain cereal- I use "10 grain" cereal from Bob's red mill
1 Tb flax seed meal
~1/4 cup raw nuts--sunflower seeds or almonds work well
1 Cup milk
1 large egg
1 Tb sugar
1/2 tsp of active dry yeast-- OR one package yeast
1/4 tsp of kosher salt,  or more to taste
1/3 tsp of baking soda
1 to 1 1/2 cups water- as needed.
Oil or butter for cooking
butter and syrup for serving and eating

1. First, you need to grind your multigrain cereal and nuts. I use my coffee grinder for this- grinding the cereal and nuts in small batches. It's probably not the best idea, and I've gone through about 5 coffee grinders in ~10 years.


2. Combine 1/2 cup water and yeast in a medium-sized bowl. Allow to sit for a few minutes.

3. Add ground cereal, flax seeds, ground nuts, milk, egg, sugar, salt, 1/2 cup more water, and whisk to combine. Allow to sit for 30-60 minutes, preferably in a warm place. I generally place the bowl over a simmering pot of water for a couple of minutes, whisking. But take care not to heat the batter too much--you just want to take the chill off, getting it to about body temperature.

4. If batter seems too thick, add a bit of water to thin it down. Whisk in your baking soda.

5. Too cook, heat your pan to medium high heat. Add a bit of butter, oil, or a combination of the two to the pan. Pour in the batter, cook until bubbly, then flip.  About a 3-4" cake works best.

--You can keep a warm plate in the oven at about 180˚ and place pancakes in the oven for holding.

Then serve with lots of butter and syrup! Also, butter and little sprinkle of maple sugar is tasty.