Amazing Pancakes!

This absolutely amazing pancake recipe is based on the one in the book Flour Power by Marleeta F. Basey. They were so good and so filling! I ate mine with homemade peach butter on top...oh, my...perhaps we should call it an "unbutton your pants" kind of recipe....you know what I mean? Here goes:

2 1/2 c. whole wheat flour (I used freshly milled hard white winter wheat)
1 t. baking powder
1/2 t. baking soda
1 T. brown sugar
1 t. salt
2 eggs
2 to 3 c. buttermilk (I subbed regular milk with a dab of vinegar)
2 T. oil

Mix together everything but the buttermilk. Add the buttermilk last to reach desired consistency. The author suggests something like thick mud stating that thicker batter results in less "gummy" pancakes, but she also cautions that the batter will thicken slightly while waiting to be cooked as the bran absorbs moisture. In other words, feel free to experiment with the liquid measurements!

Use a 1/3 c. measuring cup to measure your batter out...the size of each pancake will be consistent this way. You may need to use a spoon to spread the batter out a bit into a circular shape. If you, like me, love pancakes so much that you cannot confine them to breakfast, you might consider investing in an electric griddle. I got one for Christmas two years ago and LOVE it! I can cook 6 pancakes at a time without any oil or butter (because of the non-stick coating on it).

If you achieved the liquid/dry ratio, your pancakes will fluff up immediately after flipping it. The result is a hearty pancake that won't disappoint...even if it is served without sausage or bacon. The flavor is unbelievably rich, deep, and nutty...it seems almost a shame to top them with anything at all!

Now, as you all know, I find it almost impossible to follow a recipe without a bit of tweaking. To enhance the texture and nutritional quality of these pancakes, I ground my wheat a bit course to get a nice texture and also maintain the integrity of the fiber and I also added two heaping serving spoons full of cottage cheese to boost the protein content of these pancakes. They were much fluffier than the first batch I made, so I think I'll stick with that addition. You can also add blueberries, bananas, etc. as they are available.

Flour Power is filled with many more recipes and info on why milling your own grains is far better than buying previously milled flour. I would recommend it for those of you interested in home milling. If you are thinking you've heard me mention it before, you are correct...it was one of the books I received for FREE with my SwagBucks. If you are not a member, click on the link on the right and get started today! I'm about to earn another $5 Amazon.com gift card myself!!

Bagels

I ventured into the world of bagel making last night! It was fun to try and they are really yummy! Homestead Man said they were definitely better than store bought bagels, and they were made with fresh ground locally grown winter white wheat! I'm reading Flour Power (a book I got for FREE with my SwagBucks) and am so inspired by how much healthier freshly ground whole wheat flour is for our family!

I found the recipe, complete with step-by-step photos over at Heavenly Homemakes...this is a fantastic blog that features lots of healthy, delicious, from scratch recipes. Do you follow a blog that features scratch cooking recipes or cooking with freshly milled grains? Do tell!!

The grain mill....

...has arrived!! I knew it would be coming, so I stopped by the Whole Foods store and picked up a bag of this:



Then I poured it into the top of my lovely, new Nutrimill. Wee ones and I stared as the grains disappeared:





When we opened the flour bowl at the bottom of the machine...we found this stuff:





Of course, the point of freshly milled grain is to bake it asap! So, I whipped up a batch of banana bread.



Here, take a closer look...check out the wee bits of coconut I added to mix it up a bit:

Ladies and Gentlemen...start your engines!!!

Your tiller engines, that is! With the help of my engine savvy neighbor, WatSourced, I tilled up the garden plot this week! I also wandered into Wal-Mart (on date night, no less) and stumbled upon the newly arrived seeds! We purchased 25 packets of seeds and have laid them out on the coffee table, to the delight of my two muchkins. Yes, I know that big seed companies are bad news to seed saving and I'd prefer to buy from organic, lovely companies and from Seed Savers; however, these seeds were only $1 a packet, which is less than half the price of the seeds I'd put on my favorite catalog list...if $$ were no object, I'd have made a different decision, but alas, $$ does come into play. I will still order some of my seeds and hope to order more from companies I can believe in in future years.

In another note, (and one of the reasons that I had to rein in the homestead related spending) I finally ordered a grain mill!!! Yep, I took the plunge! I can't wait to write about my experiences with milling my own grains fresh for baking and let you know about the Oklahoma businesswoman who supplied my mill!

For now, though, Homestead Man and I are about to load up the kiddos and head to nearby big city to get a pickup load of beautiful, rich compost to top-dress the garden!