- 20 mins
- 60 mins
Ingredients
- 4 cups King Arthur white whole wheat flour
- 1 cup King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
- 3 1/2 cups old-fashioned or rolled oats
- 3 tablespoons sugar
- 3 tablespoons baking powder
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 1 tablespoon baking soda
- 1 cup vegetable oil
- Pancakes
- 1 cup homemade mix
- 1 cup buttermilk, nut milk, or a combination of plain yogurt and milk; or 3/4 cup liquid whey
- 1 large egg
Preparation
Step 1
1) To make the mix: Grind the oats in a food processor until they're chopped fine, but not a powder.
2) Put the flour, oats, and all other dry ingredients into a mixer with a paddle. Mix on slow speed, and drizzle the vegetable oil into the bowl slowly while the mixer is running.
3) Store in an airtight container for up to two weeks at room temperature, or indefinitely in the refrigerator or freezer.
4) To make pancakes: Whisk together 1 cup of mix, 1 cup of buttermilk (or a combination of half plain yogurt and half milk; or 3/4 cup liquid whey), and 1 large egg. Don't worry if it seems thin at first: the oats will soak up the milk, and the mix will thicken a bit as it stands.
5) Let the batter stand for at least 20 minutes before cooking.
6) Heat a lightly greased griddle to 350°F (if you've got a griddle with a temperature setting; if not, medium-hot will do).
7) Drop the batter onto it in 1/4-cupfuls (a jumbo cookie scoop works well here) to make a 4" diameter pancake. If you have English muffin rings, use them; they make a perfectly round, evenly thick pancake.
8) When the edges look dry and bubbles come to the surface without breaking (after about 2 minutes, if your griddle is the correct temperature), turn the pancake over to finish cooking on the second side, which will take about 2 minutes.
9) Serve pancakes immediately, or stack and hold in a warm oven.
Tips from our bakers
If you're not in the habit of having buttermilk around, reconsider: you can freeze leftover buttermilk, in 1-cup portions, for future batches of pancakes. And if you don't have buttermilk, but do have buttermilk powder, add 1/4 cup buttermilk powder to the dry mix along with 1 large egg and 1 cup water or milk.
These pancakes hold in a low oven for half an hour without getting tough or rubbery, and they're more than willing to act as a vehicle for any kind of fruit addition. A partial list of combinations that have made successful appearances so far: peach, raspberry, banana-walnut, cheddar-apple, blueberry, and cranberry-apricot.
Do you enjoy making your own Greek-style, thick yogurt by draining plain yogurt through a strainer? If so, don't discard the drained-off whey; it's a great stand-in for buttermilk in this recipe. Since it's thinner than buttermilk, you'll want to use 3/4 cup whey in place of the 1 cup buttermilk called for.
Variation: Add 1 tablespoon orange juice to the dry mix along with the buttermilk. We've found that the acidity and sweetness of the orange juice helps mellow the tannic taste some people perceive in whole wheat flour; while the pancakes won't have any orange flavor, they may taste slightly milder to you, if you're not a fan of whole wheat flour (but still want to get more whole grains into your diet).
Counting fat grams? Reduce the vegetable oil in the mix from 1 cup to 3/4 cup.
Want to make a quick fruit sauce to go with your pancakes? Check out our easy microwave jam; instead of refrigerating the thin jam once it's cooked, serve it immediately, as sauce, with pancakes.