Whole Wheat Pancakes and Buttermilk Syrup

I bought some wheat from a church cannery a while back. A friend went and brought me some back. Our cannery is not real close, so we took orders and brought back for people. So, I have been trying to make some things using my wheat. I also took our income tax money and bought a wheat grinder, that I just love! These pancakes are adapted from a Cooking Light recipe. I really liked them. We had them for dinner. My husband is not a big wheat fan, but he even liked these and the kids devoured them. I don't know why Cooking Light called them Whole Wheat pancakes because they are actually 50/50 if you look at the recipe. I really think you could add all wheat flour and make them whole wheat. I like these with Smucker's sugar free syrup, my kids love the buttermilk syrup. Don't let that name scare you, it taste like a caramel syrup. Believe me, you will not want to go back to regular syrup after trying this syrup. You can also use the Homemade Pancake Syrup, that I posted awhile back. I made a double batch of these pancakes and froze the leftovers. They freeze nicely and then you just heat them in your microwave. I also like to serve these with fruit and bacon for dinner.

Whole Wheat Buttermilk Pancakes

3/4 cup whole wheat flour

3/4 cup all purpose flour

3 tablespoons sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 1/2 cups fat free buttermilk(can use 1 cup of fat free milk with 1 tbsp lemon juice as a substitute, mix milk and lemon juice and let it set for about 10 min. prior to using)

1 tablespoon canola oil

1 large egg

1 large egg white

cooking spray

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together flours, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk together buttermilk, oil, egg, and egg white. Pour wet ingredients into dry ones. Stir until combined and the dry ingredients are just barely moistened.

Heat a nonstick griddle or nonstick skillet with cooking spray over medium heat. Using a measuring cup, pour 1/2 cup batter on the hot surface. Repeat until you've finished the skillet with pancakes. (You will have 2-3 batches depending on your pan size)

Flip pancakes when their edges look lightly browned and many bubbles appear on the surfaces facing you. Continue to cook until both sides are lightly browned. Serve with butter and syrup.

Makes 12 pancakes (I measured mine (1/4 cup) and making 2 batches came out with 25 pancakes)

Cost of recipe: around $2.00, I fed 6 with this recipe.

Buttermilk Syrup (We eat this rarely, it is special at my house!)

1 1/2 cups sugar

3/4 cup fat free buttermilk

1/2 cup butter

2 tablespoons corn syrup

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 teaspoons vanilla

Place first 5 ingredients in large saucepan and bring to boil. Cook for 7 minutes, stirring to prevent scorching. (Mixture will foam.) Remove from heat and add vanilla.

Back to School Food Storage Basics-Whole Wheat

Today Crystal is talking about whole wheat on her Everyday Food Storage website during her Back to School Week series. You can see her full whole wheat article here. Everyday I plan to list things I learned from that series on my blog to help me better understand it. I am pretty new to the food storage area so I hope these really help me! I have never really owned any whole wheat. I did go to an enrichment activity where the person showed us how to use a wheat grinder and she gave us so of the flour she had ground and I used that in a couple of recipes. Our church is planning to take an order for the LDS cannery and several people are going to go down and bring back the stuff for us and whole wheat is definitely something I want to buy. As I was looking over the order form, I was thinking to myself what's the difference between hard red and hard white wheat. I think I got my answers today.

Here's what I learned today:
1. Wheat gives you fiber, cuts down on cavities, keeps you fuller, saves you money, and keeps you regular.
2. There are two types of wheat hard red and hard white. Hard red has a nutty strong some people say bitter taste and it is harder to get your family to eat. Hard white has some things added to it that make it have a softer flavor but can still be stored for a long time.
3. You have to use hard wheat not soft because it will store for a long time.
4. Red Wheat has more protein.
5. Look for recipes that have equal brown sugar and white sugar, recipes with chocolate. recipes with strong spices like cinnamon, recipes with applesauce or other fruits and vegetable, and recipes with oats to help disguise the whole wheat.
6. Cook with whole wheat gradually and get your family used to it. You may need to use 1/2 whole wheat and half white for some recipes.

Some things I found on Crystal's website that I find helpful with whole wheat:
1. Wheat handout- this handout give information and recipes about wheat
2. Cracked Wheat video- this shows you how to crack wheat in your blender
3. How to make homemade video- shows step-by-step how to make homemade bread
4. Tips for making bread in your bread machine- gives great ideas for getting great bread from your bread machine.
5. Dough enhancer video- shows you how and why to use dough enhancers in bread making.

Some recipes I want to try using whole wheat:
1. Brown Sugar Zucchini Bread
2. Blender Wheat Pancakes
3. Wheat Thins
4. Graham Crackers
5. Whole Wheat Carrot Cake Muffins- found on another blog and copied but forgot where it was.
6. Whole Wheat Banana Bread- I made this last week the one on Crystal site, so yummy and it really is better the next day!

What I take away from this lesson:
I want to buy some hard white whole wheat and start trying it in my cooking. I also want to experiment with the dough enhancers.

Questions I still have after this lesson:
Will my family notice the difference? I made the Whole Wheat Banana Bread and my kids loved it so I think they might try some and I can't wait to do it.

Got Bananas? Make Banana Bread!

Recently I was at the grocery store and they had a ton of bananas reduced and I decided I wanted to make some banana bread. I only paid $1.00 for all of those over ripe bananas. I had a Weight Watchers recipe I wanted to try and decided to also try a whole wheat banana bread while I was at it. I love banana bread and this one is low fat and made with whole wheat flour. That is good because it will keep you fuller longer. I got this recipe from Everyday Food Storage, I love that site! This was pretty good. Super easy recipe. I also made some mini loafs. So cute and I plan to freeze those to use for visiting teaching gifts.

Low-Fat Whole Wheat Banana Bread
4 T margarine (or butter), softened

¼ C applesauce

2 eggs (2 T. Dehydrated Eggs +1/4 C. Water)

2 T skim milk or water

¾ C packed light brown sugar

1 C mashed banana (2-3 medium bananas)

1 ¾ C Whole Wheat Flour

2 t baking powder

½ t baking soda

¼ t salt (optional)

¼ C coarsely chopped walnuts or pecans(optional)
Beat margarine, applesauce, eggs, milk, and brown sugar in large mixer bowl until smooth. Add banana and blend at low speed; beat at high speed 1 to 2 minutes. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; mix into batter. Mix in nuts. Pour batter into greased loaf pan, . Bake at 350º F until bread is golden and toothpick inserted in center comes out clean (55 to 60 minutes). Cool in pan on wire rack 10 minutes; remove from pan and cool to room temperature.