British Style Wholemeal Pancakes with Optional Sticky Blood Orange
Traditional pancakes made with wholemeal spelt flour. They're easy to make and taste just as good if not better than those made with plain flour. Add your filling or topping of choice or try this sticky blood orange instead.
Prep Time5 minutesmins
Cook Time30 minutesmins
Resting Time30 minutesmins
Total Time1 hourhr5 minutesmins
Course: Afternoon Tea, Dessert
Cuisine: British
Keyword: blood oranges, pancakes, wholemeal flour, wholemeal spelt flour
Sieve the flour and salt into a large bowl. Discard any extra large bits of bran left in the sieve if liked. Otherwise, throw them into the bowl.
Make a well in the centre and break in the eggs.
Stir from the inside out, adding the milk as you go along until all of the flour is mixed in.
Add the oil and whisk thoroughly.
Leave to stand for 30 minutes.
Turn the oven on to its lowest setting and place a plate inside to warm up.
Warm a medium sized frying pan (mine is 18cm (7") measured at the base) on a medium heat (I set mine to 3 out of a possible 5).
Depending on how good a non-stick pan it is, you may or may not want to brush it with a little oil. I add a tiny peice of butter to mine.
Pour in 3-4 tablespoons of batter. You want just enough to cover the bottom of the pan. Tilt the pan so the batter covers the bottom in a thin layer.
Cook for about three minutes, then turn the pancake over with a wide spatula and cook on the other side for a further 30 seconds.
Turn out onto the warm plate and put back in the oven. Alternativley you can serve it immediately and let the recipient put the toppings on.
Repeat the process until all the batter is used up, stacking the cooked pancakes on top of each other. You should get eight pancakes if you make them in a medium sized pan.
Sticky Blood Oranges (optional)
Cut the peel away from the orange so that no pith remains. Then segment it, taking away as much of the skin and any remaining pith as you can. Do this over a bowl so that you catch any escaping juice.
Place the orange segments with any remaining juice in a pan along with the maple syrup. Cook over a moderate heat, stirring occassionally until most of the syrup has disappeared and you're left with a delicoius sticky mess. This will take about five minutes.
Notes
Aim for two pancakes per person, though this will obviously depend on what else, if anything is going to be eaten.
Scale the sticky blood oranges up to the number of people who want them on their pancakes. It's one orange per pancake.
You don't have to rest the batter for 30 minutes before cooking, but it helps to stop the pancakes tearing or breaking up if you do. It allows the glutens to develop which hold the batter together.
Although it's really easy to make wholemeal pancakes by hand, you might find it even easier and faster to use a blender. There's less washing up too. Just throw everything into the jug and blitz for thirty seconds or so. It's still better to let the batter rest if you can though.
Please note: calories and other nutritional information are per pancake. They're approximate and will depend on exact ingredients used. Sticky blood orange not included.