Fluffy Orange Pancakes

 

Did you know that you deserve pancakes for breakfast every day? Because you do. And you deserve all your favorite flavors mixed into pancakes, plus all your favorite toppings. This should be your life. It really could be that easy.

Ok, so I’m dreaming for all of us. I know producing an exciting hot breakfast on a busy morning is likely to be completely out of the question. It totally is for me. But then there’s that snowy morning when I have all the need for comforting deliciousness and all the time I need to create it, and just the perfect person to share it with. That’s how these seasonally delicious orange-infused pancakes came to be on a Saturday morning.

This recipe came from an old (like 18 years old!) recipe clipping. (I’m an incurable hoarder.) I swapped out the lemon in the original recipe and made my pancakes with orange juice and zest. I also used some sour cream to increase their rich tanginess, and took out some of the butter. 

 

I kept the most important part of that old recipe: the puffy, beaten extra egg whites. They are the key to making a fluffy batch of griddle cakes with a bit of bounce and a souffle-like consistency. These pancakes do deflate as they stand, so are best eaten as soon as possible after getting them off the griddle. I recommend a pat of butter and real maple syrup for serving, but a fruity sauce would be good, too.

 

Pancakes or other delicious breakfasts that go beyond turning on a toaster or pouring some milk may be an unachievable dream most days of the week, but I think I’ll be happy to dream of these Fluffy Orange Pancakes until I get a chance to make them again.

Fluffy Orange Pancakes

Adapted from Better Homes and Gardens

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon fine salt

1 tablespoon granulated sugar

Finely grated zest of 1 orange

2 tablespoons unsated butter, melted and cooled

1 egg yolk

½ cup sour cream

½ cup freshly squeezed orange juice

3 egg whites

1. In a medium-size bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar. Whisk together to combine well. Add the orange zest and whisk or stir in to distribute evenly. Set aside.

2. In another medium-size bowl, combine the melted butter, egg yolk, sour cream, and orange juice. Whisk together until smooth. Pour into the flour mixture. Stir together just until the dry ingredients are moistened.

3. In another medium-size bowl, beat the egg whites with an electric mixer until they are glossy and form stiff peaks. Spoon a small amount of the beaten whites into the batter mixture. Mix together somewhat briskly to lighten the thick batter. Gently fold in the rest of the egg whites, a little at a time, to make a light, fluffy batter.

4. Preheat an electric frying pan or griddle to 350 F, or heat a skillet over medium heat. Drop the batter in about ¼-cup scoops. Gently smooth out each pancake into a relatively round shape, but without deflating the batter. Each pancake will not spread out much, but should stay puffy as it cooks. Cook until golden brown. Flip each pancake and cook until the other side is golden brown. Keep the pancakes in a warm oven until ready to serve. These are best served just after they are made.

Makes about 10 4-inch pancakes.

Other recipes like this one: Barley Pancakes with Orange Juice and Vanilla, Orange Millet Waffles

One year ago: Carrot Snack Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

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

Honey Wheat Pancakes

Well, February is gone, and I know neither where nor how. I did try some new recipes, but somehow didn’t get around to telling you about them. I do this too much, I know, but as I flip a new calendar page, I try to start fresh, try not look back (except to repeat a good meal, dish, snack or dessert, of course). Flip. Flip. Flip.

Just like pancakes. Delicious, honey-sweetened, whole-grain enhanced buttermilk pancakes. I’ve made these on a couple of non-working weekends, and they’ve made us very happy.

Lately, when I try a variation on pancakes, I start with a very simple buttermilk pancake recipe that I have memorized. That was the case here as well. All I did was sub in whole wheat pastry flour for some of the all-purpose, honey for the sugar, butter for the oil. I tried these with both whole wheat pastry flour and regular whole wheat flour and found that, while both were very good, the texture of pancakes with the regular whole wheat flour was a little more coarse. I found that I favored the softer pastry flour pancakes just a bit.

That difference is small, however, so I’ll probably flip back and for the between them as well as flip back to a white flour pancake or this butter pecan version. Just like I flip that calendar. Except, of course, the flip of the pancake is temporary as I intend to enjoy both sides.

Honey Wheat Pancakes

If you do not have buttermilk on hand, you could substitute with ¾ cup plain or vanilla yogurt and ¼ cup milk.

½ cup whole wheat pastry flour or regular whole wheat flour

½ cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 egg

2 tablespoons honey

1 cup buttermilk

1. Preheat an electric frying pan or electric griddle to 350 F, or heat a large skillet on the stove over medium heat. Preheat the oven to 200 F for holding finished pancakes.

2. In a medium-size bowl, combine the whole wheat pastry flour, all-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Whisk together to combine well. Set aside.

3. Meanwhile, melt the butter. In another medium-size bowl, lightly beat the egg. Gradually pour in the melted butter and whisk to combine well. Whisk in the honey. Whisk in the buttermilk.

4. Pour the egg mixture into the flour mixture and stir just until all the dry ingredients are moistened.

5. Spray the heated griddle or skillet with nonstick cooking spray. Pour a scant ¼ cup of the batter onto the pan for each pancake. Cook until the bottom is browned and bubbles begin to form on the top. Flip the pancakes over and cook on the other side until browned. Place the cooked pancakes in an oven-safe dish and hold in the preheated oven while cooking the rest of the batter. Serve with butter and maple syrup or honey.

Makes about 8 pancakes.

Other recipes like this one: Butter Pecan Pancakes, Barley Pancakes with Orange Juice and Vanilla