Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Spelt & Kefir Pancakes

Spelt & Kefir Pancakes
My favourite pancakes of all time are Bill Granger's Ricotta Hotcakes.  They serve them with lashings of honeycomb butter - it's the stuff breakfast dreams are made of.  My second favourite pancakes are the Banana and Blueberry Buttermilk pancakes which are almost as delicious. 

The problem with both of these recipes is that they don't have enough nutritional oomph in them for me to make them as a school morning breakfast.  My boys tend not to eat a lot during the day, so I need to make sure the meals either side are nutrient dense. 

Enter these spelt & kefir pancakes which are an adaption of a recipe from beautiful Brenda Fawdon at Mondo Organics.  (Brenda's class, Wholefood Breakfasts, is a fabulous grounding for delicious, nutritious breakfasts and staples.  If you're a Brisbane resident, check out Mondo's cooking class program and pop along to the next class.)

These pancakes aren't quite Bill's hotcakes but they are still entirely delicious and have the added bonus of containing a little more substance to get everyone through the day! 



Spelt & Kefir Pancakes
(adapted from a recipe by Brenda Fawdon at Mondo Organics)
 
Ingredients:-
 
140g spelt grain (or 190g buckwheat grain)*
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
45g rapadura sugar
3 eggs, separated
200g kefir cultured milk*
2 tbsp ghee or coconut oil (for frying)
 
Method:-
 
Preparation:-
 
Mill your grain for 1 minute on speed 9.  Set aside.
 
To Cook:-
 
1.  Firstly, beat your egg whites to a stiff peak.  Make sure you bowl is squeaky clean and dry.  Insert butterfly, add egg whites and whip for 2-3 minutes on speed 4 with the MC removed.  Gently pour out and set egg whites aside (or switch to your second bowl!).
 
Fold in the egg whites
2.  Add flour, salt, sugar and baking powder.  Mix for 5 seconds on speed 5.
 
3.  Add milk and egg yolks.  Mix for 3 seconds on speed 5 until mixutre is just combined.
 
4.  Gently fold in egg whites, using spatula to incorporate.
 
 
 
 
5.  Heat a pan over medium heat and add a teaspoon of ghee (or your preferred oil).  Fry 1/4 cupfuls of mixture and top with banana, maple syrup and cinnamon.
 
6.  Feed the sacrifical "first pancake in the pan" to the dog who's been licking the mixture out of the dishwasher for the past 5 minutes.
 
 
Tips:-
 
Kefir grains can be purchased online or from organic supermarkets/markets.  Kefir has a wider range of good bacteria than yoghurt does, so I try to use at least a cupful of kefir a day whether it be in smoothies or baking. 
More?
If you don't have any kefir with which to culture your milk of choice, you can use buttermilk and still get that lovely light fluffy texture to them. Alternatively, use whatever milk substitute you want (rice, almond, coconut milk) but just be prepared for a flatter, denser result.

If you use buckwheat grain rather than spelt, you'll need to use 250g of liquid.  If you don't have spelt or buckwheat grain, it's fine to use equal amounts of spelt or buckwheat flour.









1 comment:

  1. your pancakes look so yummy brooke thanks for sharing the recipes keep posting more pancake ideas I am getting onto this immediately I am done with my academic writing assignment

    ReplyDelete