Whole wheat pancakes are easy and quick to prepare and ensurs you have a delicious and nutritious breakfast waiting for your family in the morning. Serve these whole wheat pancakes with a side of fruit and your done! Look at the Notes section for serving ideas.
How to Make the Perfect Pancakes
Use room temperature ingredients. Don’t worry about the lumpy batter. Try to resist overmixing. Add the flavorings and melted butter after combining the dry ingredients with the wet ingredients. How you heat your griddle is key to creating a beautiful golden brown color. Using a heavy skillet will ensure your pancakes have an even color. Check out my FAQs to learn how to heat your griddle and other techniques to make perfect pancakes.
TIP: Baking powder has a short shelf life. Write the date you opened it on the bottom of the can. Once opened, it will stay active for 3 months. Unopened, it is good for 6 months.
What Ingredients Are Best For Light Pancakes?
Caster Sugar is a fine sugar with a texture between granulated and confectioner’s sugar. It is primarily used in baked goods because it mixes easily in the batter. Caster sugar is mentioned in most European baking recipes.
KIng Arthur Whole Wheat Flour: This flour has a wonderful flavor. It is lighter and has high level of protein. Don’t let the high protein fool you! It bakes with a dense texture. For this recipe, I use King Arthur 100% Whole Wheat Flour, which sometimes can be hard to find. I provided a link to Bob’s Red Mill Whole Wheat Flour, which is wonderful. Try both brands to choose which one is your favorite.
King Arthur All Purpose Flour is added to all my whole wheat recipes because it reduces protein content in whole wheat flour, creating a lighter pancake. Whole wheat flour has a high protein content but bakes denser because the whole kernel is ground. More fiber equals a denser baking outcome. To fix this, I add a few tablespoons of AP flour to knock down the protein percentage. To learn more about flour types and how to use them, read my post on How To Use Different Types Of Flour.
Buttermilk brightens the flavor. You can also use sour milk, which takes only a few minutes to make. To make sour milk, stir in a couple of tablespoons of vinegar or citrus juice into a cup of whole milk and let it sit until it sours. You will see the milk start to thicken almost immediately.
FAT: Fat makes baked goods fluffy because it prevents flour from absorbing water. When baking, think about the fats you will use: whole milk, buttermilk, butter, sour cream, and oils. The type of fat you use will also change the flavor and texture of your baked goods. Low-fat and plant-based milks will work, but the outcome may produce a denser texture.
Baking Powder: Fresh baking powder is a must. It is a leaven that increases the volume and lightens the texture of your quick breads (non-yeast bread). When opened, it will stay fresh for three months; when unopened, it will last for six months. Check the expiration date when you buy it. I write the date I opened it on the bottom of the can to make sure my baking powder is active.
If you want to mix or use different types of flour in your recipes, use weights, not measuring cups. The results will be different. One cup of all-purpose flour weighs 120 grams, while a cup of whole wheat flour weighs 130 grams. Higher-protein flours absorb more water.
FAQs
Why are my pancakes gummy?
Overmixing the batter may be the problem. Mix the batter just until the dry ingredients are combined. Don’t worry about the lumps. another issue may be undercooking. Don’t flip too soon; pancakes cook 3/4 of the way through before they are flipped. See the instructions on “when to flip” in the recipe instructions.
How can I make perfect round pancakes?
I start counting to 3 the moment the batter hits the griddle. Depending on the thickness of your batter, this trick will produce a perfectly round 5″ pancake. Another method is to use a 1/4 or 1/3 measuring cup and slowly pour the pancake mix into the center of the pancake. A ladle is a great tool to use as well.
How can I make golden Brown Pancakes?
.Use a clean, heavy, non-stick griddle or skillet. The correct temperature affects the color of the pancake. heat the griddle on medium heat for at least 5 minutes. Rarely does the first pancake turn out how I want it. I call it my “test pancake” and use it to adjust the temperature of the griddle.
TIP: Test the non-stick griddle to make sure it is well heated. To test, sprinkle a drop of water on the griddle; when the water dances around in tiny balls, your griddle is ready.
Recommended Kitchen Tools:
6 Inch Spatula makes your pancake flipping easier. As always, I look for multi-purpose kitchen tools. This is the best tool to get your cake layers off the cooling rack or cooking fish.
Heavy Non-Stick Griddle is easy to use when you need to serve your food all at once. I linked the one I use. It is heavy and made well. A griddle is not a necessity, a good non-stick fry pan will work just fine. When you’re ready to get a griddle, think about the size you need. I use it for grilled sandwiches, burgers, and vegetables. When I buy a kitchen tool it has to be multipurpose!
8-Cup Measure is a great tool for mixing pancake batter and pouring it. It requires less cleanup, and you can store the remaining batter in the same container for another day. I like it because it’s glass and has a cover. For those of you who like the idea but need something lighter and easier to store, this 8 Cup Measure looks like a winner. I have not used this item, if any of you make this purchase, let me know how it worked out.
Magnetic Measuring spoons are one of my favorites. no more navigating measuring spoons on a ring. And they have metric measurements and an oval-shaped spoon that fit into most spice jars.
Measuring Cups are a favorite because they have interior 1/4 cup measures. I find these very convenient when using recipes that are in 1/4 cup increments.
Who Invented Pancakes?
Pancakes have been around for a long time! The Ancient Greeks invented them. Around 500 BCE, Athenian poet Cratinus described “a [flat cake] hot and shedding morning dew.” Some 600 years later, in the late second century CE, Greek physician Galen included a recipe in his On the Properties of Foodstuffs similar to how Russian blinis or Canadian griddlecakes are made. Ancient Greek poets wrote about pancakes in their poetry. Shakespeare even mentions them in his famous plays.
NOTES
- Warm up your maple syrup in a bowl of hot tap water. Never heat syrup in the microwave. It will crystalize.
- The All Purpose flour is added to make a lighter pancake. You can substitute more white flour to get the desired taste you want.
- Serve with sliced berries and dust with confectioner’s sugar
- Serve with berries, drizzle with Nutella, dust with confectioner’s sugar for a special morning treat.
Best Whole Wheat Pancakes
Ingredients
Mix Dry Ingredients
- 1 cup 100% whole wheat flour
- 2 Tbsp all purpose flour
- 3 Tbsp brown sugar
- 2 Tbsp baking powder
- ½ teas baking soda
- ½ teas cinnamon
- ½ teas Diamond Crystal Salt
Wet Ingredients
- 1 cup milk to start (add more for desired batter thickness)
- 1 large egg
- ½ teas vanilla extract
Add melted butter to batter last
- 3 Tbsp melted butter, cooled
Instructions
- Whisk dry ingredients in a medium-sized mixing bowl and set aside.
- in another bowl, whisk together wet ingredients; eggs, milk, vanilla.
- Add wet ingredients. Stir until you can no longer see dry ingredients. Do not over mix. The batter will be slightly lumpy. add a little more milk at a time until you get desired batter thickness.
- Stir in melted butter at the end.
- Heat the griddle on medium-low heat. After 5 minutes, test the griddle to ensure it's at the right temperature. test with a few drops of water. If the droplets dance around in little balls your griddle is ready.
- Slowly pour the batter onto the hot griddle until it forms a 5-inch circle. When the pancake starts forming bubbles and the edges look dry, it's time to flip it. Depending on the thickness of your batter, cook the pancake for another minute or two.
- Serve with fruit, dust with confectioner's sugar. Enjoy!
Notes
- Warm up your maple sugar in a bowl of hot tap water. Never heat syrup in the microwave. It will crystalize.
- Serve with sliced berries and dust with confectioner’s sugar
- Serve with berries, drizzle with Nutella, and dust with confectioner’s sugar for a special morning treat.
