Fluffy Multigrain Pancakes #BreadBakers

Made with whole wheat flour, cornmeal and rolled oats, these fluffy multigrain pancakes are nutty and nutritious, as well as delicious.

A few months ago my doctor told me that my bloodwork numbers weren’t great, in fact, she diagnosed pre-diabetes. Which frankly didn’t sound so much like a diagnosis as a warning. Shape up or pay the consequences later! 

Recipes like these fluffy multigrain pancakes are my small attempt to do better but the amazing thing is that I actually like them more than normal all white flour pancakes. They have so much more flavor! Not surprising, really, since I’ve always loved whole grain bread more than white. 

Fluffy Multigrain Pancakes

This recipe made 16 (4 in or 10cm) pancakes. Any leftovers can be reheated in a normal toaster which makes them a great option for busy weekday mornings. This recipe is adapted one from New York Times Cooking.

Ingredients

1 cup or 120g whole wheat/ wholemeal flour

¾ cup or 94g all-purpose flour

½ cup or 85g cornmeal

¼ cup or 30g rolled oats

1 tablespoon sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt

1 3/4 cups Greek yogurt 

1/2 cup or 120ml milk

3 large eggs

¼ cup or 60ml canola oil 

For greasing the pancake griddle: butter

For serving:

Butter

Your favorite syrup

Method

In a large bowl, mix together whole wheat flour, all-purpose flour, cornmeal, oats, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. 

In a medium bowl, whisk together the yogurt and milk. Whisk in the eggs and canola oil. 

Pour the yogurt/egg mixture into the flour mixture and fold well until fully incorporated.

Heat a griddle or large cast-iron skillet over medium heat. You can check to see if it’s hot by sprinkling a few drops of water on the surface. They should sizzle and evaporate immediately.

You'll notice that the batter starts to get fluffy in the bowl as the yogurt reacts with the baking powder and baking soda. When you scoop it out to make the pancakes, try not to knock the air out by stirring. This ensures that the pancakes are lovely and light. 

Add a little butter to the griddle and let it melt. Use a 1/3 cup measure to make pancakes with the batter, leaving enough room between them so you can turn the pancakes easily.  The batter is very thick so you may need to use the edge of the measuring cup to pat it out gently into a circle. 

Cook until about 2-3 minutes or until the last pancake added to the pan is browned on the bottom. Flip the first one first and so on, then cook the pancakes until they are golden on the other side, 2 to 3 minutes. 

Either transfer to a plate as they finish and serve immediately with syrup and more butter on top, if you like. Or, if everyone wants to eat together, fashion a large pouch out of foil and pop the pancakes in as they are done. Fold it closed to keep them warm until the next batch is ready. 

Repeat with the remaining batter, adding more butter to the griddle or pan as needed. 

We are syrup heathens from the south so we use the Pearl Milling (used to be Aunt Jemima) butter light syrup instead of real maple syrup. You can use your favorite syrup and I won’t judge. 

Enjoy! 

It’s the second Tuesday of the month so that means it’s time for my fellow Bread Bakers to share their creations. Our theme today is mixed grains bread! Many thanks to our host Karen of Karen’s Kitchen Stories. Check out the links below: 

• Aromatic Multigrain Bread with Coriander and Fennel from A Messy Kitchen
• Dhapate - Multigrain Flatbread from Sneha’s Recipe
• Easiest Multigrain sourdough Bread from Zesty South Indian kitchen
• Fluffy Multigrain Pancakes from Food Lust People Love
• Multi-Grain Dinner Rolls from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Roasted Potato Multigrain Bread from What Smells So Good?
• Spelt, Barley, and White Wheat Rustic Loaf from Karen’s Kitchen Stories

#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. Follow our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated each month on this home page. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.

Pin these Fluffy Multigrain Pancakes!

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Chocolate Chocolate Chip Mini Loaves #BreadBakers

These Chocolate Chocolate Chip Mini Loaves are baked with cocoa and chocolate chips. Applesauce adds moisture and nutrition - not that you’ll notice it’s there flavor-wise! It's all about the chocolate!

Like many of my friends who love cooking and baking, I have a lot of pans that I rarely use but still keep, you know, just in case. The little vintage loaf pans I used for this recipe are a good example. I inherited them, if memory serves, from my paternal grandmother who used them to make fruitcake to give away at Christmastime. 

I actually own six of these little pans but since there are just two of us at home, it seemed like a good idea just to make four mini loaves. If you don't have mini loaf pans, you can bake this batter as muffins.

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Mini Loaves

This recipe is for a small batch of just four mini loaves but it’s easily doubled if you need eight. Or even trebled. This batter is very forgiving like that. My mini loaf pans have a capacity of one cup or 240ml by volume.

Ingredients

1 cup or 125g flour

1/4 cup or 20g cocoa

1/4 cup or 50g white sugar

1/4 cup, packed, or 50g brown sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup or 75g applesauce (I used homemade but store-bought works fine.)

1 egg

3 tablespoons milk

3 tablespoons canola oil, plus extra for the pans

1/4 cup or 50g semi-sweet chocolate chips plus a little extra for topping, if desired.

Method

Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C and prepare your four mini loaf pans by brushing or spraying the insides with oil.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together your flour, sugars and baking powder. 

Mix in the chocolate chips and use your clean hands to separate any that are stuck together. 

In another smaller bowl, whisk together your applesauce, egg, milk and oil.

Pour your wet mixture into the dry ingredients and fold until they are just combined. 

Divide the batter evenly between the prepared mini loaf pans. Add a few more chocolate chips to the top, if desired.  

Bake in your preheated oven for about 20-25 minutes or until the mini loaves are puffed up and a toothpick comes out clean when inserted in the middle.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool for a few minutes.

Run a offset spatula or butter knife around the edges of the pans and gently turn the  loaves out of the pans and cool further on a wire rack.

Enjoy!

It's the second Tuesday of the month so that means it's time for my Bread Baker friends to share their recipes. Our theme is chocolate breads! Many thanks to our host Wendy of A Day in the Life on the Farm. 

• Chocolate Chip Breadsticks from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Chocolate Chocolate Chip Mini Loaves from Food Lust People Love 
• Chocolate Crepes from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Chocolate Fudge Sauce Star Bread from Sneha's Recipe
• Chocolate Protein Oat Banana Waffles from Cook with Renu
• Chocolate Swirl Buns from Passion Kneaded
• Double Chocolate Chip Bread from Palatable Pastime
• Lemon and Ginger Scented White Chocolate Sourdough from A Messy Kitchen
• Milk and Chocolate Rolls from Magical Ingredients

#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. Follow our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated each month on this home page. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.

Pin these Chocolate Chocolate Chip Mini Loaves!

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Egyptian Mahlab Bread #BreadBakers

Puffy and crispy yet chewy around the edges, this Egyptian mahlab bread is sprinkled with kalongi aka nigella seeds for flavor and decoration. 

First, I have to tell you that this bread doesn’t actually contain mahlab. I haven't even been able to figure out why this particular kind of bread is called mahlab. It has nothing to do with cherries or the spice made from the kernel in their pits. 

Suffice to say that it is Egyptian so it fits this month’s Bread Bakers theme of Mediterranean breads and that’s gonna have to be good enough for me right now. If someone has more info, please let me know. 

Egyptian Mahlab Bread

This recipe is adapted from several I found online. It makes 8 mahlab breads. For some reason, they all didn’t puff up but even the flatter ones were still delicious. 

Ingredients

For the bread dough:

1/2 cup or 120ml warm water

3/4 teaspoon dry yeast

1/4 teaspoon sugar

1 1/2 cups or 187.5g flour

1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt

For the egg wash:

1 egg whisked with 1 tablespoon milk

For flavor and decoration: 

Kalongi aka nigella seeds

Method

In your mixing bowl, mix the warm water with the yeast and sugar. Set aside for a few minutes to make sure your yeast is active. It should start to foam up.

In a separate bowl, whisk together your flour and salt. 

Add the flour and salt to the warm water/yeast bowl a little at a time and stir well until you form a soft smooth dough. I have a Danish whisk that is perfect for this job. 

Knead the dough by hand for several turns then form it into a ball. Place it in an oiled bowl and let it rise for an hour or until doubled in size. 

As you can see from this photo, I let mine over prove but no harm, no foul. Life got in the way. Just punch it down and carry on. 

Divide the dough into eight equal pieces. Mine each weighed about 38g.

Use a cupped hand to roll them into balls against the countertop. 

Roll out the balls to a 1/4 inch or 6mm thickness, brush the tops with the egg wash.

Sprinkle the seeds on top.

Let the little dough circles rest for about 10-15 minutes while you preheat your oven to 400°F or 200°C. They will rise again slightly. 

Place the pan in the oven and bake for 15 to 20 minutes until the bottoms are nicely browned.

Remove from the oven. If you'd like the bread crunchier, leave it to cool completely. 

Enjoy!

As mentioned above, it’s Bread Baker time! Yep, it's the second Tuesday of this new year (and month) and that means it’s time for my Bread Bakers to share their recipes. My daughter Cecilie chose the theme of Mediterranean bread and I was grateful since my brain wasn’t working so great. Fortunately, a lot of my fellow bread bakers are more organized than I am. Check out all their links below:

• Bazluma from Magical Ingredients
• Cheese Fatayer from Sneha's Recipe
• Egyptian Mahlab Bread from Food Lust People Love
• Halloumi Cheese, Olive, and Mint Bread from Cook with Renu
• Ka'ak Asfar from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Olive Oil Blueberry Muffins from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Pita from Passion Kneaded
• Scones with Za'atar and Feta from Palatable Pastime
• Sourdough Man'oushe (Za'atar Flatbread) from Zesty South Indian Kitchen
• Vasilopita from A Messy Kitchen

#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. Follow our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated each month on this home page. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.

Pin this Egyptian Mahlab Bread! 

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Rough Puff Pain au Chocolat #BreadBakers

These rough puff pain au chocolat beauties are so much easier than regular puff pastry but still have the requisite flaky layers we all love so much.

When our host for this month’s Bread Baker event chose laminated dough as our theme, I really hoped to have time to make actual puff pastry. It’s something my son-in-law used to make and, in true Dai fashion, he made it look easy. I know it wasn't!

Time got away from me, as it does to most of us this time of year so I resorted to rough puff yeast dough. No regrets though. It was delicious. 

Rough Puff Pain au Chocolat

If you have access to the special chocolate batons that French bakeries use instead of chocolate bars, by all means, use them. As you can see from the photos, the chocolate does melt out somewhat but my taste testers all agreed that there was still plenty of big chocolate flavor from the dark 70 percent cocoa.

This recipe was adapted from one on Baking a Moment. 

Ingredients for 10

For the rough puff dough:

2 2/3 cups or 333g flour

1/4 cup or 50g sugar

2 3/4 teaspoons active dry yeast

3/4 teaspoon fine sea salt

1/2 cup + 1/3 cup or 188g unsalted butter, cold

2/3 cup or 160ml milk, (add up to 2 – 3 tablespoons more if needed)

For the egg wash:

1 large egg beaten with a teaspoon or two of water

For the filling: 

4 3/4 oz or 135g good quality chocolate (I used Lindt 70% cocoa dark chocolate. Bought 2 bars, used about 1 1/3.)

Method

Place the flour, sugar, yeast, and salt in a large bowl and whisk together until combined. 

Slice the butter into 1/8-inch or 1/3 cm thick slices and toss in the flour mixture to coat.

Add the milk and stir together until a shaggy dough forms. 

If you still have too much dry flour showing, add the extra tablespoons of milk, one at a time, mixing well in between. 

Wrap the dough tightly in cling film and chill for at least 1 hour. This can also be an overnight rest without any problems. 

On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough into a wide rectangle.

Fold it into thirds (like a letter), turn 90 degrees, and roll the dough out again. 

Repeat 4 to 6 more times, folding and rolling, until the dough has large streaks of butter in it but it is smooth and flat. If your kitchen is warm, chill the dough folded and wrapped in the refrigerator or freezer until stiff, before rolling out again. 

Wrap tightly and chill for 1 more hour, then roll it out to a rough square shape about 12 inches or 30cm wide.

Trim off any uneven edges. (Bake these rolled in cinnamon sugar for an easy treat.)

 Cut the dough into 10 rectangles (about 5x3 inches or 13x7.5cm.) I have a very hard time cutting things evenly when you can't cut halves then halves again but it's easy if you fold the two sides in and leave an equal part in the middle. 

Simply cut that middle piece out, then cut the other two pieces on the fold lines. Voilá, five reasonably even pieces! 

Cut your chocolate bars into short lengths and line a large baking pan with parchment. 

Place one piece of chocolate near the short end of each rectangle. Place another piece of chocolate about 1 1/2-inches from the other short end of the rectangle.

Roll the dough up around the chocolate pieces. Place the pain au chocolat seam side down in your prepared pan.

Cover them loosely with cling film and put the pan in a warm place. Prove until doubled in size. Alternatively, you can prove them overnight in the refrigerator then allow them time to rise at room temperature before baking the next day.

Preheat the oven to 375°F or 190°C and gently brush the pain au chocolate with the egg wash.

Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until puffed, golden brown, and flaky.

Enjoy! 

It’s the second Tuesday of the month so that means it’s Bread Baker time! Today we are sharing baked goods made with laminated dough. Check out the treats below! Many thanks to our host Kelly from Passion Kneaded.

• Cranberry Brie Appetizer Pinwheels from A Messy Kitchen
• Croissant Bread from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Herbed Cheese Scrolls from Sneha's Recipes
• Kakaós Csiga from Passion Kneaded
• Rough Puff Pain au Chocolat from Food Lust People Love

#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. Follow our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated each month on this home page. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.

Pin these Rough Puff Pain au Chocolat! 

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Sweet Sourdough Pumpkin Buns

These sweet sourdough pumpkin buns are soft, fluffy and flavorful. Sweetened with brown sugar, they are the perfect bread to serve with to your Thanksgiving feast. 

I am here to tell you that my sourdough starter, John Dough, is a survivor! I abandoned him in my Houston refrigerator in May and when I got back in September, I fed him a couple of times and he is back to normal. Go, John, go! 

I had a back up plan, though. In her fabulous book, The Sourdough Whisperer, Elaine Boddy gives useful and easy to follow instructions on how to dry out a sourdough starter for foolproof transport. I tried it with Jane Dough (my Jersey, CI starter) before I headed back here to Houston but then I didn’t need to use it when John revived.

What that means though is that I have dried sourdough starter to share, if a friend happens to need some or if John Dough gets into a slump. I can highly recommend connecting with Elaine if you love baking with sourdough and/or want to get started. Her books are great for experienced bakers and beginners alike. Plus she’s a really nice person. Tell her Stacy from the delicious. group sent you!

Sweet Sourdough Pumpkin Buns 

The dough for these sweet buns uses a fed sourdough starter. Your dough will rise nicely but there isn’t a pronounced sharpness from the starter. This recipe was adapted from one on Aberle Home.

Ingredients for 12 buns

1/2 cup or 113g FED sourdough starter (100% hydration)

1/4 cup or 60ml milk, lukewarm

1/2 cup or 120g canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling!)

2/3 cup or 132g dark brown sugar

1 large egg

2 3/4 cup or 344g unbleached bread flour

1/4 cup or 56g butter, softened

3/4 teaspoon fine sea salt

Optional to finish: 2 tablespoons melted butter

Method

In a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook, mix together the fed starter, milk, canned pumpkin, brown sugar and egg until well combined. 

Sift in the flour and mix again until there is no dry flour showing. 

Cover and allow to rest for 30 minutes. Mix in the butter and salt until thoroughly combined. 

Knead on medium speed (or in the bowl by hand) for an additional 8-10 minutes or until the dough becomes very smooth and elastic. You might need to scrape the bowl down a time or two at the beginning to incorporate butter that has stuck to the sides. I did. 

This is a really soft dough. Form it into a ball as best you can in the bowl, and cover. Allow to rise at room temperature until it has doubled in volume or overnight in the refrigerator. (If you do an overnight cold prove, allow time for the dough to come back to room temperature before continuing with the next steps.) 

I did a slow overnight rise for this batch of buns because I believe that the extra time also makes the dough more manageable. 

Turn the dough out onto a clean surface and divide it into 12 pieces (weigh dough for uniform buns - my whole dough ball weighed 864g/12 = 72g for each bun.) 

Dampen your hands with a little water so the dough doesn’t stick to them then form the dough into a tight ball by pinching the sides to the bottom. Cup your hand around the dough ball and push it around gently to create a nice round ball. 

Repeat to shape remaining pieces of dough. 

Place the balls in a baking pan lined with baking parchment, leaving room for them to rise. Ideally, they will touch once they have risen. For these buns, I used a 9x13 in or 23x33cm pan. Cover them with cling film and leave to rise for about 45-55 minutes.

If it’s cold in your kitchen and you have a microwave, put water in a microwavable bowl and heat it to almost boiling. Set the pan of buns on top of the bowl and leave the microwave closed for the rising time. Works like a charm. 

Near the end of your rising time, preheat your oven to 375°F or 190°C.

Bake the buns on the center rack for 12-15 minutes or until they are lightly golden on the edges. (The centers should read 185°F or on an instant-read thermometer when done.) Cool in the baking pan on a cooling rack. 

These are divine served warm. I like to brush them with some melted butter. You might like to as well. 

Enjoy!

It’s the second Tuesday of the month so that means it’s time for my fellow Bread Bakers to share their recipes. Since Thanksgiving is nigh, we are sharing breads that would be excellent additions to your Thanksgiving feast. Check out the list below. Many thanks to our host Swathi of Zesty South Indian Kitchen.

• Crispy Sage and Garlic Parmesan Rolls by A Messy Kitchen
• Easy Sourdough Sweet Potato Dinner Rolls by Zesty South Indian Kitchen
• Keto Coconut Flour Sandwich Thins by Sneha’s Recipe
• Sourdough Cloverloaf Rolls by A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Sweet Sourdough Pumpkin Buns by Food Lust People Love
• Thanksgiving Stuffing Rolls by Karen’s Kitchen stories

#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. Follow our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated each month on this home page. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.

Pin these Sweet Sourdough Pumpkin Buns!

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