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Whole Wheat Pancakes

This whole wheat pancake recipe is made with freshly ground whole wheat and has a tasty nutty flavor. You’re family will love this healthy breakfast option.

I really love making pancakes for our family to enjoy on days when we have time to have breakfast together. But none of us like pancakes made with all purpose flour since they’re kind of bland and require syrup to make them more flavorful. Whole wheat pancakes are a totally different story, they are packed with flavor and really don’t need topping.

stack of whole wheat pancakes on gray plate topped with bananas and nuts

Which whole wheat flour

Our family uses freshly ground whole wheat flour; I prefer to use soft white wheat berries for pancakes because they have less gluten but if I already have some hard white wheat berries ground, I’ll use that flour. Here are some tips for working with freshly ground whole wheat flour.

If you don’t grind your own wheat, any whole wheat flour will work in this recipe. If you can find white whole wheat flour (sometimes labeled whole wheat pastry flour) at your store, that would be great for this recipe but truly any wheat flour will work.

If your family isn’t used to eating whole wheat, you can do half whole wheat flour and half all purpose flour, you’ll still get the nutty flavor of whole wheat pancakes.

How to make whole wheat pancakes

Unless I have a bunch of ground wheat in the freezer, I like to grind the wheat for the pancakes just before making them.

Once the wheat is ground, mix the whole wheat flour with salt and baking powder in a large mixing bowl.

Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and add eggs, milk, and oil. Using a fork or whisk, mix until just blended. You’ll still see plenty of clumps and that a good thing. If you try to get all the clumps out, you’ll over mix the batter and the pancakes won’t be fluffy.

This whole wheat pancake recipe is thick and will make fluffy pancakes. If you prefer thinner pancakes, add a little more milk and maybe an egg. Some of my family likes fluffy pancakes and some like really thin pancakes – so I make the fluffy ones first, then thin down the batter with some additional milk and an egg to make the thin pancakes.

Heat a skillet or griddle over medium heat until it’s hot. You can test it by dropping a few drops of water on it. The water droplets should dance around a bit.

Pour some batter onto the hot skillet or griddle and let it cook until you see lots of bubbles forming and popping, then flip the pancake to cook the other side.

For my stove, I’ve found that medium heat gives me the best pancakes – the outside is golden brown and the inside is fully cooked. Stack the pancakes on a plate as they come off the stove.

If I’m going to add chocolate chips to the pancakes, I drop 6-8 chocolate chips in each pancake while the first side is cooking. That way I don’t end up with some pancakes having a lot of chocolate chips and some pancakes having just a few.

stack of whole wheat pancakes on gray plate

How to Freeze Whole Wheat Pancakes

Since this recipe makes a lot of pancakes I often freeze the extra for quick breakfasts later. My favorite way to freeze pancakes is to lay them out on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Once they’re frozen, I put them in freezer bags and put them back into the freezer. Freezing them in a single a layer first keeps them from sticking together.

Another way to keep them from sticking together is to put a piece of parchment paper between each pancake in the freezer bag. This is handy when you want to get them in the freezer and not worry about taking them out and putting them in a freezer bag later.

But honestly, the way I most often freeze pancakes is to just let them cool completely and then put them in a freezer bag and toss it in the freezer. I try to put the number of pancakes that I think we’ll eat at one time in the bag, but sometimes I don’t. Yes, they end up sticking together some but they’re easy to pull apart….if you’ve let them completely cool before putting them in the bag.

How to Reheat Pancakes

There are several ways to reheat frozen whole wheat pancakes; you can use a microwave, an oven, a skillet or a toaster.

My favorite way is to just put a pancake on a plate and microwave for a couple of minutes (1-2 minutes). If it’s not heated throughout, I’ll microwave it at 30 second intervals until it’s thoroughly heated. If I have more than one pancake, I fan then out on the plate and rearrange them occasionally to make sure they all get heated.

If you have a lot of pancakes to do you might consider heating them in the oven at 350F for 8-10 minutes. The trick to keeping the pancakes soft lay them on a baking sheet and then cover the baking sheet with foil so that no moisture escapes.

If you don’t have a microwave and don’t want to heat up the house with the stove, you can thaw the pancakes in the refrigerator overnight and then heat them up in a skillet over medium heat, just like when you cooked them originally.

I’ve never owned a toaster but I’m sure the pancakes could be heated in a toaster if they fit. If you own a toaster you probably know what settings you would need to use to make sure the pancakes don’t become crispy.

Whole Wheat Pancake Mix for the Freezer

A smaller version of this recipe works great as a freezer pancake mix. This works great for those mornings that someone wants to make pancakes but there are only a few of us at home. It’s also what we take when we pack food for vacations – because who doesn’t want a tasty pancake breakfast while they are camping or at the AirBNB?

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Yield: 20 pancakes

Whole Wheat Pancakes

stack of whole wheat pancakes on gray plate topped with bananas and nuts

This whole wheat pancake recipe is made with freshly ground whole wheat and has a tasty nutty flavor.

Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Total Time 30 minutes

Ingredients

  • 5 1/2 cups freshly ground whole wheat flour
  • 3 tbsp. baking powder
  • 2 tsp. salt
  • 5 eggs
  • 4 cups milk
  • 3/4 cup oil
  • chocolate chips (optional)

Instructions

  1. Grind 3 cups soft white wheat to get your flour.
  2. Mix flour, baking powder and salt together.
  3. Add milk, oil and eggs to dry mix. Mix well. You can add a little more flour to make it thicker or a little more milk to make it thinner.
  4. Heat skillet and pour some batter on it.
  5. Put about 6-8 chocolate chips on pancake before turning, if desired.
  6. When bubbly, turn to cook the other side.
  7. Stack on a plate while you cook the rest of the batter.
  8. Enjoy!

Notes

  • This makes a lot of pancakes, we usually have enough for 2 breakfasts. I only put chocolate chips in the ones for that morning, not the leftovers.
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