Half Wheat Pancakes

To make our food healthier, I limit the amount of white flour I use. While I have not completely switched to whole grains, I have had success swapping part of the wheat flour for part of the white flour in many of our recipes. Our pancake recipe is based on the “Sour Milk Pancakes” recipe in Joy of Cooking Vol. 2 but uses ½ wheat and ½ white flour.

It is important to cook the pancakes at the correct temperature. It took me a long time to figure out that pancakes cook best at slightly over medium heat (between the 1^st and 2^nd of the 3 dots between medium and high) on our Maytag stove. Before this I cooked them at too high or too low temperatures, and the outside would burn before the inside was cooked.

Maytag Stove

When I was growing up Maytag was know for its dependable washers and dryers. You can check out the link http://www.characterweb.com/maytag.html to read about the Maytag company and see a vintage Maytag commercial.

However, I recommend you avoid purchasing a Maytag stove. I am dissatisfied with our Maytag gas stove, model MGR4452BDW, that we bought in 2005. The power boost burner on this gas stove works great! I had problems boiling water to cook pasta with our previous stove, and the Maytag does this well. However, the metal strip on the bottom of the oven door is rusting. It is unreasonable to use a material that rusts on a kitchen appliance that will need cleaning.

Buttermilk 

Using buttermilk produces fluffy pancakes. If you do not have buttermilk, you can mix 2 tablespoons plain yogurt in 1 cup milk or use soured milk, mix 1 tablespoon of white vinegar or lemon juice in 1 cup of room temperature milk and let it sit for 5 minutes. Making pancakes is a great way to use up milk that is starting to spoil.

Ingredients

1	Cup	White flour
1	Cup	Wheat flour
2	Tsp	Sugar
1	Tsp	Salt
1 ½	Tsp	Baking powder
1	Tsp	Baking soda
2		Eggs, beaten
2	Cup	Buttermilk
1	Tbsp	Vegetable oil

Directions

1. Using a large metal mesh strainer, sift together white flour, wheat flour, sugar, salt, baking power, and baking soda.
2. In a separate bowl, mix together eggs, buttermilk, and oil.
3. Add liquid ingredients to dry ingredients. Mix well. I like to use a manual egg beater for mixing. I, also, use a rubber spatula to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl.
4. Heat a non-stick griddle until medium hot. Pour about ¼ cup of batter for each pancake onto griddle. I cook 3 pancakes at a time.
5. Heat until bubbles appear and edges are firm. Then flip. You will need to practice to know when it is time to flip.
6. Cook on second side until done. I like to make a slash in the middle of my first pancakes to make sure they are completely cooked inside.
7. Pancakes are best served immediately after cooking. To serve later, layer pancakes between towels to keep them from getting soggy.