The Secret to Perfect Freshly Milled Flour Pancakes
Hi Friend,
Whole wheat pancakes made from freshly-milled soft white wheat berries.
Breakfast is a staple in our household. Kevin will cook a hot breakfast at least once a week, and we are notorious for having breakfast for dinner (anyone else guilty of this?).
Confession time… I hate making breakfast for breakfast, and actually prefer sausage and potato hash. So when I started making pancakes from freshly-milled, soft white wheat flour they turned out flat and eggy. I thought it was from lack of practice, or maybe it was how whole wheat pancakes were supposed to cook. Then I learned a little secret.
The secret to perfect freshly-milled pancakes:
The secret to fluffier pancakes made from freshly-milled, soft white wheat flour is rest time. Whole wheat is thirstier than all-purpose and needs time to soak up the wet ingredients. The trick is to let batter using freshly milled flour sit for 25-30 minutes. Giving the flour time to absorb the liquid creates a fluffier, more tender pancake. Like melt in your mouth tender. It is sooo good!
See the difference?
5 Minutes:
This pancake photographed better than it looked. The pancake was a little tougher to cut with a fork (you can see it tore in the picture, making it look thicker on the fork than it was). The pancake in the background is not even in color.
15 Minutes:
You can see how the texture is starting to look more cake-like. The pancake in the background is more even in color.
25 Minutes:
See the difference? It’s thicker and even more cake-like in texture. The fork cut through cleanly, and the color is very uniform.
All three of these pancakes came from the same batch, cooked on the center of the same grill at the same temperature. The grill was buttered between pancakes. This recipe is from Sue Becker’s The Essential Home-Ground Flour Book (which tends to be a thinner pancake). I have had even more drastic results with other recipes (especially ones converted to freshly-milled from all-purpose).
All it takes is 25 minutes. So whip up your batter, brew your coffee, start your bacon, then get ready for perfect whole wheat pancakes.
If you would like more tips for baking with freshly-milled flour, be sure to subscribe to our mailing list below or follow us at @farmfreshwheatwa on Facebook and Instagram.
Best,
The Sieverkropp’s