Okay, all of you healthy-cooking mamas….I need advice about pancakes! I bought a multi-grain pancake mix made by Arrowhead Mills at a local healthy grocery store. It’s organic and whole grain.
Now, I’ve had whole grain stuff before & new it would taste a bit different (the taste didn’t bother me in the least), but my daughter commented that pancakes are supposed to be sweet and these are not; she also said they were not fluffy and a little dry.
So, I’m thinking we should either choose a different mix (for the times we aren’t able to make them from scratch) or simply find a good recipe and make them from scratch. Anybody have any suggestions?
One other thing I discovered was that these pancakes stuck to the pan….horribly! I’ve never seen pancakes stick that badly. The only thing that helped was to cook them on higher heat & then only turn them once they were very browned on the first side. Even then, they sometimes tended to fall apart….except for the ones that were just shy of burnt. (That’s probably why they seemed dry. The moist ones fell apart.)
Saturday morning pancakes are our family tradition. I make them from scratch and have discovered I only like them with white flour. I don’t like the texture of other grains for pancakes. Anyways, I buy plain unbleached unenriched organic flour. The kind I like best is Simply Organic from Target.
If they are sticking, you need more fat in your mix.
The first thing I thought of is there wasn’t any type of butter/oil in the mix. Do they ask you to add that? The few times I bought packaged mix (whole grain) when we might be camping, I found myself dressing it up for our liking. Some mixes just say add water, we would prefer a milk over that , and I might add egg even if it didnt ask , and melt some butter into the batter, if I put butter in the batter, i then don’t use it on the frying pan. Maybe add applesauce into the mix to sweeten it up for daughter, but then if you do omit the butter/oil.
I will try and get back to this post tonight and send you a whole grain recipe we use. Keep in mind whole grain recipes usually don’t make fluffy pancakes for the most part.
My go-to pancake recipe. I never buy pancake mixes. This is easily halved, but I usually make the whole batch, refridgerate cooked pancakes, and reheat them for the next morning’s breakfast So easy! They freeze well, too. Use microwave to defrost then heat on high for about 10 seconds per pancake.
Whole Wheat Pancake Mix
2 cups whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs, well beaten
2 cups milk
Vanilla and cinnamon to taste
2 tablespoons oil or melted butter
* if using butter, make sure your milk isn’t ice cold or the butter will solidify again and not mix properly
Stir together dry ingredients including cinnamon, if using. Add eggs, milk, oil, and vanilla, if using. Whisk until all ingredients are moist. Cook on preheated non-stick griddle until edges are dry and bubbles have formed on top. Flip and cook until lightly browned.
*I lightly grease the non-stick griddle. If I am using one of my older skillets, I will use a little more oil to grease the skillet. It makes a yummy crunchy outside when you use more oil. 🙂
*You can add blueberries, diced/shredded pears, bananas, apples, strawberries, etc. to the mix before cooking.
A friend sent me this recipe and I really liked it… we haven’t had them in a couple of years due to food allergies though. This is what she emailed me:
“1 c. oatmeal, ground
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 c. yogurt
2 eggs
Dab of oil or applesauce – not really sure how much that is but I just put a little bit in 🙂
Mix dry ingredients and wet seperately and then combine. Enjoy!”
I’m pretty sure I used vanilla yogurt when I made them…
Thanks, everyone. I might try adding an egg to bind the batter better (ah, alliteration, anyone?) and although it did have me add oil, it might have been a little wanting on that. I typically eyeball how much oil I add to mixes instead of measuring them.
I think I will try some of the recipes from scratch for the next time. I can always use the remaining mix to try other baked goods. There were a couple of recipes on the the package for that.
Christie, those almond flour pancake look so yummy! Have you ever tried them with oat flour made from oats that have been ground up in the food processor?
Could you grind the oats properly in a blender? I don’t have a food processor. Maybe I need to ask for one for Christmas, although my large, oval crockpot bit the dust, so I was going to ask for one of those.
Sigh….clearly, I need more relatives of the generous, Christmas-giving nature….
Sue, my food processor bit the dust this morning while trying to make biscuits. :((( You can have some sympathy from me. LOL!
Have you seen Lindsey’s suggestion to make pancakes out of cooked leftover oatmeal? She said to just add an egg and fry them in a pan. We eat ours with syrup.
I would say whatever you do, do not make pumpkin pancake!!
I know it is very tempting to do everything pumpkin in the fall but that is not worth it. It just takes forever to cook inside. I have tried different recipes (because I keep forgetting that it just doesn’t worth the trouble) with waffles and pancake and it just doesn’t work.
Christie have you tried the recipe you posted with almond meal, wondering if that would work as well??
I use Bob’s Red Mill All Purpose GF Flour but you could use Pamela’s or whole wheat. These are super yummy and very good for you – what a great combination!
@5Hearts – I have cooked with oat flour (bought or ground in my blendtec) several times, but haven’t used them in this recipe. Almond flour is different from other flours and I’m not sure it would work, but it might.
@Petitemom – We make the almond flour pancakes often. I’ve made them plain, blueberry, and chocolate chip. They always turn out delicious. I use almond flour from Honeyville. I used almond meal when I first went GF a few years ago and the results were not always good. I have great results with the Honeyville blanched almond flour and use it exclusively.
We have tried most every AP GF flour mix and prefer Pamela’s mixes or King Arthur’s, just as a side note.
I cook them on a griddle turned to 350 degrees. I do lightly grease the griddle between batches, either with butter, Smart Balance, olive oil, or leftover pork lard…oh my! 😉
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