Archive Recipe: Barley Pancakes

This recipe for Barley Pancakes with Orange Juice and Vanilla has been the most commonly viewed recipe in The Messy Apron Archives for several years. I hope that a lot of you who have visited that post have also tried and enjoyed this ultimately yummy breakfast recipe. The warm, earthy, malty taste of whole grain barley flour deserves to be considered for popular appreciation, and a nice batch of pancakes is a simple and satisfying way to give it a chance.

I received a super-generous gift of homemade maple syrup from my cousin recently, which I took as a sign from the Universe that I needed to get back to this pancake recipe. Great syrup deserves great pancakes! And, if nothing else, such a popular recipe deserves some new photo images, hopefully better ones than what I was able to capture back in 2011. Really, though, the fact that these are just really, really good pancakes should be enough reason for me to be making them more often than I do. I feel a considerable amount of shame.

I don’t see any reason to mess around with this recipe, so I have presented it here as I did originally. Perhaps these pancakes would also be great with some grated orange zest mixed into the batter (grate the zest off the orange before squeezing it for the juice in the recipe), or maybe with some finely chopped walnuts or pecans sprinkled onto each pancake as it cooks. I haven’t tried these variations yet. If you get a chance to before I do, be sure to tell me how delicious they are!

I don’t know that I will ever really run out of new recipes to try, whether they’re good candidates for a The Messy Apron post or not. I’m finding that I do need to exercise some caution, however, as I explore and report on those new horizons. It would be a real shame to lose track of all my good old favorite recipes, or to never revisit something truly delicious. And a warm malty pancake scented with orange and vanilla should be revisited as often as possible.

Barley Pancakes with Orange Juice and Vanilla
Adapted from King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking

6 ounces by weight (about 170 g) whole barley flour (about 1 ½ cups)
2 teaspoons (10 ml) baking powder
¼ teaspoon (1 ml) baking soda
¾ (about 3 ml) teaspoons salt
3 large eggs
3 tablespoons (1 ½ ounces by weight or 40 g) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
2 tablespoons (30 ml) honey
¾ cup (6 fluid ounces or 175ml) milk
½ cup (4 fluid ounces or 125 ml) fresh orange juice
1 teaspoon (5 ml) vanilla extract

1. Preheat an electric griddle to 300 F (150 C) (or preheat a skillet or griddle on the stove over medium heat.) In a medium-size bowl, whisk together the barley flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

2. In another medium-size bowl, beat the eggs with a whisk. Slowly whisk in the butter. Whisk in the honey. Whisk in the milk, orange juice and vanilla.

3. Pour the egg mixture over the barley flour mixture and stir until just combined. Spray the heated pan with cooking spray or brush it with oil or butter. Spoon or pour about ¼ cup (50 ml) of the pancake batter for each (4-inch or 10 cm) pancake, placing as many on the pan as will fit with room to spread and flip. Cook the pancakes until they are brown on the pan side 3-4 minutes. Flip the pancakes with a spatula and cook on the other side until golden brown, about 2-3 minutes more.

4. Keep completed pancakes warm in the oven until ready to serve. Serve with butter and maple syrup, or other favorite pancake accompaniments.

Makes about 12 (3 ½ -4-inch) pancakes.

Other recipes like this one: Barley Flour Scones, Light Wheat and Cinnamon Waffles, Orange Millet Waffles, Butter Pecan Pancakes