Vegan Whole Wheat Pancakes
So we're on this whole food, plant-based eating regimen (I don't like to call it a diet because we don't plan to stop...it's a permanent change as far as I'm concerned...don't tell the girl), but I still want to give the young'uns regular food so they won't feel deprived. So we have pancakes for dinner every now and again. Because breakfast for dinner is awesome.
The problem was finding an acceptable pancake recipe. The whole grain recipes called for eggs and milk, and the vegan recipes called for sugar and oil. We're not using any of those things. I never found an acceptable recipe, so I made my own. I only remembered that I should probably blog about it once I was about halfway through the process, so forgive the lack of step-by-step.
I made the batter with whole wheat flour, almond milk, honey and ground flax seed meal. I read somewhere that you can substitute 1 tablespoon of flax seed meal and four tablespoons of water for 1 egg. So I tried it. Since my recipe called for 2 eggs, I mixed 2 tablespoons of flax seed meal and 6 tablespoons of water in a small bowl and let it sit for about 5 minutes. I don't know if that's how it's supposed to be done, but it seemed like a good idea. The texture was much more eggy after 5 minutes. Also, for a true vegan pancake, use agave nectar in place of honey. It works just as well.
Anyway, here's the finished batter.
I scooped by quarter cups full onto a hot skillet. We're not supposed to be using cooking spray, but I did anyway. Because, pancakes.
I am actually horribly embarrassed by these photos, but they're all I have. Forgive me. Also, I should be able to fit 4 pancakes in the pan, but because I'm a doofus, I can only flip them properly if there are 3. I find that if I work within my abilities I'm much less stressed out.
Anyhoo, after they've cooked a while on the one side, give them a flip.
Repeat a couple more times.
Cook these a little longer than you think you should or they'll be raw in the middle. The flax and the wheat flour make the batter pretty dark, so you should be going for deep brown, not golden brown.
Once you've got them all cooked off, break out the maple syrup.
Do NOT use pancake syrup. That's just maple-flavored corn syrup. Do yourself a favor and go with the good stuff.
Because maple syrup is less viscous than pancake syrup, it just sort of runs off of the pancakes and pools at the bottom instead of slowly dripping enticingly down. Oh, well, it tastes good.
Be sure to make an extra for your bird. Because he loves pancakes and these are perfectly healthy as long as you don't overdo on the syrup. But you shouldn't put syrup on the bird's pancake. His feet will get sticky.
And here's the recipe. I don't have any idea how many it makes because my family was eating them as fast as I could cook them and I lost count. Sorry.
Vegan Whole Wheat Pancakes
2 Cups Whole Wheat Flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 Tbsp ground flax seed meal
2 Tbsp ground flax seed meal plus 6 Tbsp water, blended
1/8 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/8 cup raw agave nectar
2 cups unsweetened almond milk
maple syrup for serving
Mix the dry ingredients together. In a separate bowl, mix the wet ingredients together. Add the wet to the dry and mix until just blended. The batter will be lumpy. Cook on a hot skillet or griddle until done.
The problem was finding an acceptable pancake recipe. The whole grain recipes called for eggs and milk, and the vegan recipes called for sugar and oil. We're not using any of those things. I never found an acceptable recipe, so I made my own. I only remembered that I should probably blog about it once I was about halfway through the process, so forgive the lack of step-by-step.
I made the batter with whole wheat flour, almond milk, honey and ground flax seed meal. I read somewhere that you can substitute 1 tablespoon of flax seed meal and four tablespoons of water for 1 egg. So I tried it. Since my recipe called for 2 eggs, I mixed 2 tablespoons of flax seed meal and 6 tablespoons of water in a small bowl and let it sit for about 5 minutes. I don't know if that's how it's supposed to be done, but it seemed like a good idea. The texture was much more eggy after 5 minutes. Also, for a true vegan pancake, use agave nectar in place of honey. It works just as well.
Anyway, here's the finished batter.
I scooped by quarter cups full onto a hot skillet. We're not supposed to be using cooking spray, but I did anyway. Because, pancakes.
I am actually horribly embarrassed by these photos, but they're all I have. Forgive me. Also, I should be able to fit 4 pancakes in the pan, but because I'm a doofus, I can only flip them properly if there are 3. I find that if I work within my abilities I'm much less stressed out.
Anyhoo, after they've cooked a while on the one side, give them a flip.
Repeat a couple more times.
Cook these a little longer than you think you should or they'll be raw in the middle. The flax and the wheat flour make the batter pretty dark, so you should be going for deep brown, not golden brown.
Once you've got them all cooked off, break out the maple syrup.
Do NOT use pancake syrup. That's just maple-flavored corn syrup. Do yourself a favor and go with the good stuff.
Because maple syrup is less viscous than pancake syrup, it just sort of runs off of the pancakes and pools at the bottom instead of slowly dripping enticingly down. Oh, well, it tastes good.
Be sure to make an extra for your bird. Because he loves pancakes and these are perfectly healthy as long as you don't overdo on the syrup. But you shouldn't put syrup on the bird's pancake. His feet will get sticky.
And here's the recipe. I don't have any idea how many it makes because my family was eating them as fast as I could cook them and I lost count. Sorry.
Vegan Whole Wheat Pancakes
2 Cups Whole Wheat Flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 Tbsp ground flax seed meal
2 Tbsp ground flax seed meal plus 6 Tbsp water, blended
1/8 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/8 cup raw agave nectar
2 cups unsweetened almond milk
maple syrup for serving
Mix the dry ingredients together. In a separate bowl, mix the wet ingredients together. Add the wet to the dry and mix until just blended. The batter will be lumpy. Cook on a hot skillet or griddle until done.
They look pretty healthy. And breakfast for dinner is a favorite around here for sure!
ReplyDeleteYeah, the kids don't care that they're better for you than regular pancakes...they just know they're pancakes. :-)
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