Pancakes!

For those people who know me really well, they'll likely know about the special place pancakes have in my heart! Before I had my son and a more structured routine it would not be a surprise if you wandered into my home and saw me eating pancakes at 9:00 at night as my "dessert" (at least hopefully it was my desert and not just dinner)!

Now they make their appearance on the weekends accompanied with a delicious breakfast. I thought I'd include the recipe on pancakes now because they contain the two foods I just showed you how to make in the last week.

This pancake recipe does take a bit of planning just because you start it the night before you want to eat them. It is taken from Sally Fallon's cookbook Nourishing Tradition. This is an excellent cookbook for those who are interested in informing themselves on traditional methods of cooking. It also contains a wealth of information on nutrition and where Westerners have gone wrong with their diets. I highly recommend it, even if you aren't a cook, for the nutritional information it contains. If you are able to get your hands on it, know that it takes baby-steps to fully embrace all of the cooking techniques. They are very different from what we are accustomed to in America and many of the recipes contain ingredients that the majority of us have never heard of. It's helpful to have a local co-op near-by, as many of the ingredients she uses could be purchased at one, versus at the local grocery store. She also gives resources in the back of the cookbook to help you purchase items that aren't readily available.

What You'll Need (This recipe makes about 10-15 pancakes)

• 2 cups whole wheat or spelt flour, preferably freshly ground (I used spelt for this batch)
• 2 cups plain yogurt, kefir or 1 1/2 cups of buttermilk (the original recipes says two cups buttermilk, but I think it makes the pancakes to thin and then you are left adding more flour the next morning)
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 tablespoons melted butter, plus more for cooking the pancakes in
• Medium size bowl
• Mixing spoon or whisk
• Large frying pan
• 1/3 measuring cup

Getting Started
The night before you want to enjoy your pancakes, mix your flour with your yogurt, kefir or buttermilk. Cover the bowl and leave it on the counter or in a warm place for 12 to 24 hours. Strange huh? I promise you won't get sick from leaving yogurt, kefir or buttermilk out on the counter! : - ) This step helps breakdown the phytic acid, complex starches and proteins in the flour to ease digestion and helps your body more easily absorb the vitamins found in grain.

In the morning when you're ready to prepare your pancakes, add the rest of the ingredients listed above, mixing with a little milk or water (if necessary) to achieve the desired consistency. Below is a picture of what my batter looked like once all the ingredients were mixed together. If your batter is too thin, you may want to add a bit more flour. The thinner your batter is the thinner your pancakes will be.


Next, melt several tablespoons of butter in a skillet and using your 1/3 measuring cup, scoop out the batter and pour into skillet. I personally think medium is about as high as you want to cook these pancakes. They cook more slowly than traditional pancakes and you don't want the outside to get overly done and be left with a doughy inside. Yuck! All the normal pancake rules apply when trying to decide when to flip these babies. Wait until the pancakes are beginning to bubble some and the edges are becoming slightly cooked.

The picture below shows the batter still needs to cook for a couple more minutes before flipping the pancakes.


Since we aren't cooking in a professional kitchen and instead make our pancakes in batches, turn your oven on to 170-200 degrees and put an oven proof plate or a cookie sheet in the oven. As your pancakes finish cooking, throw them into the oven while you cook the rest of the batter. This way you'll have deliciously warm pancakes and the butter that you MUST put on top, because it's just oh-so-good, will melt and soak right in! : - ) Yum!

To mix things up, try adding blueberries or other fresh fruit to your pancake batter. Pecans and walnuts are also excellent. If you prefer a little sweeter batter, you could try adding 1-2 tablespoons of sugar or Rapadura. All of these additions should be made in the morning right before you cook the pancakes.

When it's all said and done just be sure to top your pancakes with butter and some organic maple syrup and enjoy! Oh, if you have left-overs, these store great in the freezer or fridge. My favorite way to reheat them is in the toaster. They get warm on the inside and just slightly crisp on the outside – a little like waffles.