Basic Multigrain Pancakes

or the pancakes you were raised on

Chris preferred a simple Bisquick pancake, which is the pancake I was raised on (among other prepared box mixes). Prepared mixes are easy and satisfy a hunger for pennies. If the time and ingredients are available, the flavor and nutritional value of these made-from-scratch, multigrain pancakes can't be beat. The origin of the recipe is cookbook author Jane Brody.

Dry Ingredients

2/3 cup whole-wheat flour, preferably stone-ground

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 cup cornmeal (or other grain such as oat flour, barley, buckweat, millet)

2 tablespoon wheat germ

2 teaspoon sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt (optional)

Wet Ingredients

1 cup buttermilk

1/4 cup skim milk

1 egg white

1 whole egg

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Mix together all the dry ingredients in a medium bowl. In a second bowl, combine all the wet ingredients, whipping them enough to lightly beat the eggs. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir just enough to combine (batter should be rough, with some dry spots, rather than smooth).

Heat a griddle to medium heat. Grease it lightly with vegetable oil, butter, bacon grease - whatever is available. Pour batter onto griddle to form individual pancakes. Turn the heat down to medium-low and cook the pancakes until the bottoms are golden brown and the tops begin to bubble. Flip them over, and cook until the undersides are golden brown. Serve immediately.

Tips

A fair substitute for 1 cup buttermilk is this: Add 1 TBSP apple cider vinegar to a measuring cup; add nonfat milk to make one cup; stir; let stand 5 minutes.

The batter can stand for about 10 minutes outside of the refrigerator, or for an hour or more refrigerated.

If a griddle is not available, a large non-stick frying pan will do.

Variations

Add fruit! Gently fold into the batter, such as blueberries or sliced strawberries.