Here it is folks -- I have 240 lbs of home grown whole wheat. Here is my recipe for hand grinding and making the most delicious whole wheat pancakes you will ever taste! I'm going to eat a lot of them over the next 6 months.

This recipe introduces Basic QuickMix, a simple and easy basic mix for quick-to-fix recipes to help you enjoy whole-wheat flour products.

It's a quick mix to have on hand for preparing whole-wheat biscuits, pancakes,waffles, crackers, sweet breads, loaf breads, pretzels, and other home-baked items.

Basic QuickMix

You can use Basic QuickMix in most recipes calling for "biscuit mix".

8 C. whole-wheat flour

1/3 C. baking powder

4 tsp. salt

1/2 C. sugar

2 C. powdered milk

2 C. shortening or margarine

Mix dry ingredients well. Cut in shortening until texture resembles cornmeal. A mixer may be used. Store Basic QuickMix in an airtight container in the refrigerator or freezer.

Basic QuickMix Pancakes

1 1/3 C. Basic QuickMix

1 egg

1 C. water

Prepare Basic QuickMix. Mix ingredients, let stand for 5-10 mins. Cook on hot griddle until brown, the turn and brown the other side.

Variation #1: use milk instead of water for better tasting pancakes.

Variation #2: add 1 egg, thoroughly beaten into batter for richer pancakes.

Basic QuickMix Biscuits

1 C. Basic QuickMix

1/2 C. water

Rolled method: prepare Basic QuickMix. Mix with water until soft dough forms. Add additional dry mix if necessary. Keep it easy to handle, the roll it into a ball. Knead gently for 30 seconds. Roll out to 1/2 inch thick. Cut biscuits with 2-inch round biscuit cutter. Bake on ungreased cookie sheet 8-10 mins at 450 F.

Drop method: prepare Basic QuickMix. Combine with water. Drop onto greased baking sheet. Bake 12-15 minutes at 375-400 F.Yield 8-12 biscuits.

-- JoseMiami (caris@prodigy.net), January 12, 2000

Answers

Cool, thanks! printing.....out.........

-- Hokie (Hokie_@hotmail.com), January 12, 2000.

---thanks! gotz plenty o wheat here, too! also whole corn kernels, and corn mix bought late last minute two weeks ago. Can I use your recipes in my archives? Will give credit, of course. thanks again! zoggus

-- zog (zzoggy@yahoo.com), January 12, 2000.

Of course, it is not mine, it came from "Making the best of Basics." JoseMiami

-- JoseMiami (caris@prodigy.net), January 12, 2000.

Thanks for the recipe! I too have a lot of whole wheat.

The following recipe is from Flatbreads and Flavors by Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid. I have made it twice within the last week and have one piece left as of today.

Pebbled Persian Bread, a.k.a. Hushva Nan

1 tablespoon dry yeast

3 and 1/2 cups warm water

7 cups hard whole wheat flour

1 tablespoon salt

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

You need a medium-sized bowl, a large bowl, and a cast iron skillet at least 8 inches in diameter (or a griddle).

Stir and dissolve the yeast in 3 cups of the water in the medium-sized bowl. In the large bowl mix the flour and salt. Pour in the oil and yeast mixture. Stir until the flour is absorbed. Knead for 8 minutes. Wash out and oil the large bowl, put the dough in, cover and let rise until doubled in bulk, about 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

Punch down the dough, add the remaining 1/2 cup of water in the large bowl and knead for 3 minutes. It will be a bit messy but the water will be absorbed. Cover and let rise another 1/2 to 1 hour until doubled in bulk again.

Punch the dough down again. Divide into 8 equal pieces.

Place an oven rack 6 inches below the broiler element. Preheat the oven. Set out a bowl of water (for dipping you hands in). Have a moistened work surface ready (I used a moist dishcloth laid out over a cutting board).

For each piece go through the following routine. Lightly oil and start the skillet heating over high heat. Pick up a ball of dough, wet your hands in the water bowl, pat the dough into a patty, put it on the moist work surface and spread it out with your fingers to an 8 inch disk. once the skillet is hot, put the patty into it and immediately move it to another burner on very low heat. Always keep the same side of the patty up. Cook 3 minutes on low heat, then stick the skillet in the oven under the broiler and broil for 4 more minutes (really until it starts browning). This 4 minutes is a good time to prepare the next patty. When the broiling patty is done, remove and let cool on a rack.

dandelion

-- dandelion (golden@pleurisy.plant), January 13, 2000.

Does it matter if I use hard or soft wheat? Have both. thx

-- (rcarver@inacom.com), January 13, 2000.

To quote from the book on flatbreads:

Soft flour is ideal for soft-textured cakes, but not strong enough to support leavened bread. On the other hand, if hard flour is used for cakes, it produces a tough breadlike crumb because there is too much gluten in the flour.

In short it does matter that you use hard wheat. Also you should use whole wheat for the nan recipe. It does not taste as good otherwise, even if you add more flour to compensate for not using whole wheat. The texture of the bread is important. Pressing the pieces out with your fingers before frying them creates a pebbled surface texture that goes well with the whole wheat.

dandelion

-- dandelion (golden@pleurisy.plant), January 13, 2000.

You can pop your wheat like popcorn, too. It won't open up like corn but watch and notice the plumped up difference. Add butter and salt or sugar and Yum! I use my hot air popper. My kids love it.

-- Mia (jnmpow@flash.net), January 14, 2000.