Alton Brown's Fluffy Whole Wheat Pancakes

MaMa's Apprentice's Note:

I've tried many whole wheat pancake recipes. Some were good, some not so good but I never had one make me say, "Wow! A truly fluffy whole wheat pancake!" until this one. Posting it here so I don't lose it! We love to eat these for dinner with some turkey sausage. Very filling!

• Total Time: 15 mins
• Prep Time: 10 mins
• Cook Time: 5 mins

Ingredients:

Serves: 4

Yield: 12.0 4-in pa ...

The Dry Goods

• 2 cups whole wheat flour (I used whole wheat pastry flour.)
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3 tablespoons sugar

The Wet Works

• 2 large eggs
• 2 cups buttermilk
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter (I used about 2 T. to cut down on fat.)

Directions:

1. Mix together all the dry ingredients in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together all wet ingredients. (I just melted the butter slightly before adding it in with the eggs and buttermilk.).
2. Add the wet stuff to the dry stuff and mix just until batter comes together. Do NOT mix smooth. Set aside batter to rest for 5 minutes.
3. * Heat an electric griddle to 350 degrees or place a nonstick frying pan over medium-low heat.
4. *Test the griddle by flicking water on it. If the water dances across the surface, you’re good to go.
5. * Rub down the griddle with a little butter or spray with nonstick spray.
6. Ladle 1 scoop of batter onto the griddle. (Batter will be thick! Just spread it out with the bottom of your ladle or the back of a spoon.) Cook until bubbles form in the batter and bottom is golden, approximately three minutes. Flip and cook until the second side is golden, another a minute or so. Adjust the heat as necessary as you go along. Serve while hot!

Reviews

[Tom M.]

Like georgiapea I used KA white whole wheat, but added a quarter cup of quick oats and a little extra buttermilk. Next time I will use brown sugar and may soak oats with a little buttermilk before adding to batter. Also, I made a blueberry compote with 4 cups frozen blueberries, about 4 tablespoons granulated sugar, and about 2-3 teaspoons lemon juice. Next time will add blueberries to batter or on top of 'cakes after pouring batter into pan. Definitely will make again.

[CH+2C]

First I watched Alton's you tube video, which includes science of buttermilk. This plus a recipe I use in "Simply Colorado" (1997), caused me to experiment: 1. No buttermilk in home, so I whisked about 2 Tbsp plain yogurt to non-fat milk to measure 1 cup. I mixed the separated egg as Alton does. 2. Used double the amounts of baking soda and baking powder, like the other recipe. (I didn't add sugar, since I've had pancakes burn on my griddle & electric stove. Next time I may use only 1 Tbsp sugar per cup of flour.) <br/> Thanks for the griddle temp (medium low) in your recipe MaMa's Apprentice, I finally had pancakes which did not burn. :)

[SP51]

The liquid to flour ratio is way off. My first batch I looked at the batter thinking it was a bit thick. Of course I figured that out after the first pancake was on the griddle. I added more buttermilk. Nope... still too thick. Brown and golden on the outside... raw on the inside. Never had that happen to me when doing pancakes from the box. I did split one in half and cooked the raw middle and it was delicious... just that ratio being off is potential for trouble. 4 for flavor... 1 for accuracy.