I’m a pretty big pancake fan. I’ll often ignore the age old adage “you can’t have breakfast for dinner” and make up a big mess o’ pancakes after a hard day at work. As foods go, pancakes aren’t necessarily unhealthy to begin with, but the standard processed bleached refined white flour syrup sponge that you will typically encounter (a side note here: all you can eat pancakes at IHOP…not as good as advertised) is decidedly less healthy.
So in today’s post I’ll be taking an in depth look at pancakes starting with a good basic pancake recipe (no mixes for this post!) from the Joy of Cooking:
Joy of Cooking Pancakes
1½ cups all purpose flour
3 Tablespoons sugar
1¾ tablespoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1½ cups milk
3 tablespoons melted butter
2 eggs
½ teaspoon vanilla
I’ll go over each part of the recipe and see what can be changed to make this griddle fried ambrosia just a bit healthier based on my years of experience and careful study in the art of pancake making.
Flour
Let’s start with the biggest change we’ll need here, getting rid of the white flour. Pancakes are nutritionally all about eating grains, and white flour is a grain with all the best nutritional parts removed. Take a look at this picture:
White flour removes the germ and bran from the grain (which contain all the fiber, B vitamins, minerals, vitamin E, and antioxidants) leaving only the Endosperm (containing the carbohydrates and protein). And yes, food cooked with whole grains is coarser and heavier than a refined white flour, but it also has an immensely greater nutritional value. Whether breakfast, or “breakfast for dinner”, why eat grains if you are going to take all the nutrition out of them first?
Of course the only reason anyone uses white flour is because you can bake lighter, fluffier food with it. But, in the case of pancakes (and really, most baked goods) I actually prefer whole wheat flour. Whole wheat pancakes have a much bolder, richer taste than white pancakes. They become something more than the aforementioned flavorless syrup sponge and actually taste like the grain they are made from.
So, the single most nutritional (and flavorful) change you can make to a basic pancake recipe is to use a whole grain flour. Even going with half white/half whole wheat (if the thought of going all whole wheat is giving you heart palpitations) is a start, and before you know it you’ll be using all whole wheat like there was no other way!
Here are some of my favorite flours while we are on the subject:
- Whole Wheat Flour – This is just basic whole wheat flour. You can’t really go wrong here, and I don’t really have any input on a favorite brand or anything.
- White Whole Wheat Flour – This has all the nutrition of regular whole wheat but with a slightly lighter texture and color. This works fine but I sometimes feel like it bakes a little strangely/doesn’t taste as good…probably just my imagination.
- Graham Flour – One of my favorites, this is basically white flour with the bran and germ coarsely ground and added back into it. Nice flavor and very coarsely textured, this will make some very “hearty” pancakes (or any kind of baked good…it’s great in cobblers too).
- Buckwheat Flour – This has a nice nutty flavor and can be added in any ratio you prefer.
A final flour note is that whole wheat flour usually shouldn’t be substituted 1:1 in a recipe that calls for white flour. It will suck up more liquid, so use a bit less whole wheat (I don’t have an exact number, your pancake batter should not be too thick or thin and when poured should spread to a nice circle a bit less than a half inch thick).
Leavening
Whole wheat is a dense flour no matter what kind you use, and pancakes should have a certain fluffiness. There are a lot of ways to get this, but the most effective thing you can do is use lots of baking powder. The recipe above uses far more than most recipes and I’d say it is about right. The drawback here is that if you use too much your pancakes will have a metallic baking powder taste that isn’t so great. The 1¾ tablespoons in that recipe is dangerously close to too much, so don’t go overboard.
Another important thing in the quest for fluffiness is to not stir your batter too much. If you stir every clump of flour out your batter will probably end up over mixed and give you rubbery pancakes. Clumps are fine, just carefully mix the large clumps in and don’t worry about small clumps and thinner batter sections…they will all bake together in the pan and be much more airy for it.
Liquid
Pancakes always call for milk, and milk isn’t that bad for you. I never drink it straight though, and consequently never have any on hand and I’m here to say water works just fine for your liquid. Your pancakes might have a bit less flavor (and it seems milk might make them a tiny bit fluffier), but overall using water instead of milk really doesn’t have much of an effect in my opinion.
*THOUGH* if you want to use buttermilk (a not so healthy option but worth it for the pancakes it makes ***EDIT*** It has been brouth to my attention that buttermilk is actually very healthy despite the name and thickness!), then it does make a difference. Make the following substitutions to the recipes found in this post:
- only use 1 teaspoon of baking powder
- add ½ teaspoon of baking soda
- use buttermilk instead of your liquid
Buttermilk pancakes are my favorite and are super fluffy despite the massively decreased amount of baking powder (I guess it has something to do with the buttermilk).
Finally, soy milk or almond milk work fine too.
Oil
Most recipes call for melted butter, but fats that are solid at room temperature should be avoided (and there is really no need to use butter if you don’t need its solidity like in pastry dough). Simply substitute oil for the melted butter (maybe even slightly less). I’ll add that pretty much any oil can be used but my favorite is sunflower seed oil. It’s great in baking and really gives things a nice nutty flavor. One oil to avoid is olive oil (and strong oils like sesame seed oil of course). I know some people like to bake with olive oil, but the olive flavors are too strong for me in sweet baked goods.
Eggs
Nothing much to add here, these will act as a binding agent to keep your batter together. I used to try to beat my whites into peaks before adding to the batter to make my pancakes fluffier, but that is a lot of work and I suspect it doesn’t have much of an effect on the final product anyway.
Flavorings
Salt and sugar go here. Salt has more chemical functions than simply providing flavor, but I don’t really understand them well enough to write about them here. All I know is your pancakes will be more bland without it. As for sugar, most sweeteners will work, but don’t go overboard with them. If you want your pancakes to be sweet add more sugar to the topping, the pancake itself should be light on the “cake”. White sugar, brown sugar or honey (my favorite), about 3 tablespoons is a good amount.
Vanilla extract and spices (cinnamon, nutmeg, etc) are important, but tailor the spices to your choice of topping…especially if you want to use peanut butter (which I don’t think goes very well with cinnamon).
Additions to the Mix
I prefer just a plain pancake but you can add whatever you want to the batter before you cook it. Nuts and berries are good, though I find that every one’s favorite “blueberry pancakes” can too often sacrifice fluffiness because of the extra liquid in the blueberry juice. Still, this is more of a personal preference, just be careful of how much extra liquid your addition will add and you should be fine.
Cooking
With trial and error you will figure out the right batter consistency. Don’t be afraid to add more water or flour (though too much extra stirring seems to make your pancakes less fluffy, so be careful) if your first pancake is too flat or thick. The first pancake is never the best anyway.
A simple nonstick pan is fine, though a cast iron skillet works great for pancakes too. Set your fire to medium (roughly…again, some experimentation is called for…and don’t forget to let your pan warm up before you adjust it too much) and pour about a half cup of batter in the center of your oiled pan. When you see bubbles all around the edge of the pancake it is ready to flip, and when you see steam rising from the cooked side it is done (you can always break one open to be sure they are cooking through). Both sides should be a nice golden brown if you do it right.
Toppings
Butter and maple syrup is the standby and there is nothing wrong with that, but my personal favorite is peanut butter and applesauce (I know most of you are saying gross…and I’ll admit the peanut butter overpowers any delicate flavors I might have gotten from the whole wheat, but…well, I love peanut butter).
Honey is great on pancakes too if maple syrup is too expensive (I’m assuming no one here would ever buy that cheap corn syrup pancake syrup stuff!). I also really like black strap molasses (a great source of nutrients too) by itself or with peanut butter.
I am also a big fan of making my own fruit topping. Just chop up apples, pears (even canned if that’s all you have), blueberries, whatever you want, throw them in a pan with a little extra liquid some sugar to taste spices and corn starch (remember to add the corn starch to cold water to avoid clumping!) Heat until it is a nice syrupy consistency and you have a great pancake topping.
Another Unruh favorite is to blend sunflower seeds and a bit of orange juice together and put it on pancakes with a light coating of tahini (sesame seed butter). Not for everyone, but very good!
Final Thoughts
Don’t be afraid to make a lot, pancakes freeze/refrigerate very well and are easily reheated in a toaster (or microwave). I even make peanut butter and jelly (or honey)(or molasses) pancake sandwiches for a quick lunch to go.
Let’s take a look at a modified recipe for pancakes, one that is pretty close to what I use (I usually don’t measure things out too precisely).
Isley’s Pancakes
1 cup graham flour, ½ cup white whole wheat Flour
2-3 Tablespoons honey
1 ½ Tablespoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 ¼ cups water
2 Tablespoons sunflower seed oil
2 eggs
½ teaspoon vanilla
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
Notes: As to the flour to water ratio, you will just have to adjust as necessary. This recipe is about right for the flour mixture, but your batter would probably be on the thin end for just graham flour, and on the thick end for white whole wheat flour. Also, if you use milk or buttermilk instead of water, the batter will get thicker too. You will have to experiment, possibly adding a bit more flour or liquid after you make your first test pancake.
Also, this recipe only makes about 10 small-medium sized pancakes. I’d double it if I were you… everyone needs leftovers!
15 Comments
Welcome to foodbloggery, Isley. I like the diagram of the wheat kernel: very Alton Brown. I think you can avoid the metallic taste from too much baking powder by using the aluminum-free kind. Though, I think the aluminum is the second wave of rising power, so maybe leaving it out and using more powder won’t help the fluffiness. I don’t see any reason you couldn’t actually use yeast in the recipe, do you? There’s a JOC waffle recipe (a couple pages after the pancake one) that actually calls for yeast, so I assume it would work in pancake batter. As for toppings, I steer clear of the sweet stuff in favor of butter, hot sauce, salt, and sometimes sour cream. I’m stuck in savory slavery.
Very informative. I agree about whole wheat, peanut butter, and molasses. I disagree about add-ins – banana-walnut, good golly, that’s a great pancake. That said, my #1 critique here: pancakes < waffles. By a long shot. Also better than pancakes: french toast. If I’m whipping up a breakfast starch, pancakes are only a last resort.
I didn’t actually realize baking powder had aluminum in it…that makes sense though. I’ve never tried yeast, but yeah, I hear it is done…I guess some buckwheat recipes call for it. And Ian, as for your choice of toppings…gah!
MBG, very hyped someone shares my PB&M love! I’m not a huge bananna fan but that sounds good…and of course walnuts would be great. Also, I’ve never actually owned a waffle iron so don’t have a lot of experience.
As for french toast…any special tips? I’ve had some great french toast before… I grew up making it by mixing cubed bread with peanut butter, raisons (great when crisped in the pan), eggs, sweetner and other random things and then frying the whole thing up. French toast seems all about getting the ratio of milk to eggs right so the bread isn’t too soggy and isn’t too eggy…thoughts?
Give the savory version a try sometime. I recommend pancakes wrapped around tater tots with hot sauce and maybe some ketchup. That’s seriously one of my favorite breakfast items.
Geez, Isley, your kitchen looks messy in that photo.
Also, I second the request for french toast lessons. I remember loving it when I was little, but somehow whenever I’ve had them lately, it’s just fried-egg-bread. Laaaame.
Nah, I can clearly see the counter still – Isley’s kitchen is CLEAN! 🙂
Well for your information smart ass, that isn’t my kitchen because it’s much cleaner than…oh…well…ok, maybe you can’t see the counter in my kitchen sometimes. The other clue is that I’m clearly breaking the first rule of pancake club and using white flour (and milk) in that picture.
But yeah, I stole that picture from this post: http://www.ablogisatreat.com/?p=494
I was very close to using this picture instead:
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f264/heatherred32/2008/102_9718.jpg
I get milk every so often for my corn flakes (which I often just end up snacking on dry) and for random cooking things. However, I normally don’t finish it before it goes bad (I refuse to drink milk on it’s own) so I think now before it goes bad I’ll just whip up a batch of pancakes, Isley style.
This morning I made whole wheat pancakes with cumin, coriander, paprika, and cayenne. Delicious.
First, I am amazed at the newly discovered savory pancake. Holy crap, i wish i hadn’t just eaten a giant pile of food just so i could eat that right now.
And: You guys make me feel like a cheater – I use pancake mix. BUT, i do use a really good one, none of that bisquick business. If i made it from scratch, then i’d write a foodblog about it too, instead of just loosely
narrating on my photostream.
I’ma go ahead and disagree on your sleight to the buttermilk.
According to wikipedia, which is the source I am not too lazy to quote:
“Buttermilk is lower in fat and calories than regular milk because the fat from buttermilk has already been removed to make butter. It is high in potassium, vitamin B12 and calcium.”
I am fairly certain Alton Brown turned me on to the awesome of buttermilk. MORE NUTRITIOUS DELICIOSITY.
Whoa…that will teach me to just randomly assume things with the word “butter” in them are bad for you…it’s strange to think something as thick as buttermilk has less fat than regular milk, but I’ll take your word for it…and those buttermilk pancakes are great!
And Chelsea, I’ll admit, I tried a “whole grain” mix from the merc a while ago…and it was pretty damn good.
Ah… having just been bestowed with 3 goodly sized bags of graham flour, I’m enthused to try this recipe…
Thanks!
Boneman
I just mixed up this recipe minus 1/2 cup of water and it is VERY thin. I am letting it sit a bit to see if it will thicken up. Are you sure about the liquid quantity?
I just mixed up two batches following the second recipe (I normally never measure, so I made sure to measure everthing in this one), one with Graham flour, one with white whole wheat. They were both a bit thin, though the white whole wheat one turned out fine as they puffed up a lot during cooking (poured a quarter cup of the batter and it made a pancake 1/2 inch thick in the middle). I suspect the issue is two fold, first, Graham Flour has much bigger chunks than regular flour, so mixing it up will make more of a water and bits of grain solution rather than a batter, and second, water is thinner than milk (especially buttermilk), so it will not hold the flour in the solution as well. Anyway, I added an extra half cup of white whole wheat flour to the graham flour pancakes and that seemed to do the trick.
However, the first recipe is straight from the Joy of Cooking, and the water to liquid ratio is perhaps a bit on the high end from other pancake recipes, but they also use a lot more baking powder than other pancake recipes which make them fluffier in the long run.
Bottom line, mix up your batter and make one pancake…if it is thinner than you want, just add some more flour to your mixture until it is the consitancy you want (though don’t do this too much or your pancakes will get a bit rubbery with all th extra stirring), but I don’t think you can go too wrong with a 1:1 ratio of flour to liquids really…make minor adjustments from there.
I’ve changed the second graham flour recipe to 3 cups of graham flour because of all this though. I’ll continue experimenting with just straight graham flour (and actual measurements instead of just guessing like I normally do) and update if I come up with something better.