Whole Wheat Pancakes with apple compote

I have been impatient to make pancakes from the day I put that apple and pear compote (recipe here) in the refrigerator. This pancake recipe had very good reviews and I decided to try it out. The only thing I changed was to substitute the all purpose flour with whole wheat flour. Try this recipe for whole wheat pancakes once and you will never go back to the white flour recipe. The pancakes were nice and fluffy and the flavor of the wheat flour came through beautifully. A good thing about this recipe is, it is made without buttermilk, yes, a no buttermilk pancake using readily available ingredients.

Cooking the pancakes is easy, there is no need to spread it and worry about getting a circular shape. Pour a ladle of pancake batter in the center of the griddle and let it spread on its own. The batter spreads on it own into a nice round shape.

This method reminds me of the dosa that you get in old Kerala chayakkada (tea house) during breakfast time. It is not spread thin like in the restaurants nowadays. A large ladleful of the dosa batter is poured on an iron griddle and the ladle is used to spread the batter very cursorily and the dosa is almost half an inch thick! But they are amazingly soft with the texture more like the middle of an appam. And when the chutney is poured on these dosas they soak it up like a sponge. I remember as a child when we visited Kerala, I would absolutely refuse to eat these thick dosas there.

Ingredients

Whole wheat flour - 3/4 cup

Milk - 1/2 cup + 2 tbsp

Egg - 1/2

Sugar - 1.5 tsp

Butter - 1.5 tbsp

Baking powder - 1 3/4 tsp

Vanilla essence - a couple of drops (optional)

Salt - a pinch (if using unsalted butter)

Ensure all ingredients are at room temperature.

Take a bowl and mix the whole wheat flour, sugar, salt (if using) and baking powder and sift them together two times.

In another bowl, beat the egg and keep only half the quantity of the beaten egg and discard the rest. Then add the butter into it and beat it again only till it is blended together. Add the milk and the vanilla essence (if using) and beat. I did not add vanilla essence to my batter and it was good without any of that eggy smell. Make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients and pour in the wet ingredients and mix together.

Heat a griddle, I used the iron griddle that I use for making my dosa and uttapam. Typically, an iron griddle is used to make pancakes in American homes. Pour a ladleful of the batter right in the center and leave it. The batter spreads a little on its own into a clean circle. The top starts breaking out in bubbles and slowly turns opaque as it cooks. When the base firms up, flip the pancake over and cook the other side. Take it out when done.

I served these pancakes with a blob of butter, a little honey and my sweet and spicy apple compote. Try getting your hands on some maple syrup and drizzle some syrup over buttered pancakes. Or go the sinful way, stack a couple of pancakes top with a blob of butter and syrup then add some chopped fruit and cover with whipped cream! Then slice through the stack to get a bit of everything and just pop it into your mouth and enjoy this sweet mouthful!