Monthly Archives: February 2010

Whole Grain Einkorn “Blender” Pancakes

I’m a mother of 4 kids (with one more on the way) and the worst feeling for me is to provide a healthy breakfast meal first thing in the morning.  I try to feed my family healthy foods but sometimes the “cheap cold cereal” is all too tempting as a cop-out meal in the morning…I’m sure you know the feeling 🙂

Making Einkorn Pancakes

Cooking Einkorn Pancakes

In the last year, I discovered “blender” pancakes in one of those cook books sitting on my shelf (I can’t remember the book).  The pancakes are so easy to make and it’s very quick.  My kids and husband also love them.

Over time, I modified the recipe to use more natural and healthy ingredients; Since we eat this meal so often, I wanted to make it as healthy as possible for the family.

You can see my recipe by clicking here.  I’ve also added some additional comments and pictures below so you can see better how I have made this work for our family.

When I first made this recipe, I was surprised at how simple and easy it was.  It took actually making it to realize just how simple it was so I’ve broken it out into 4 simple steps below.

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Grinding Einkorn

Einkorn falling in K-Tec

Fresh whole grain goodness on it's way to become finely ground flour!

I just ground some fresh whole-grain einkorn flour.  It’s beautiful, slightly yellow and about as soft as powdered sugar.  The household grain mill that I used did an awesome  job.  I can’t wait to make pancakes!

There are many different mills on the market that are easy to use and not too expensive.  The big draw for most people in owning your own grain mill is the taste of baked goods made with freshly ground whole grains and the satisfaction of just knowing that you’re getting pure whole-grain goodness with all the nutrients you can possibly get from your grain.  Flour bought in a bag from the store loses a large portion of it’s vitamins by the time you get it.

Personally, I own two household grinders: the K-Tec Kitchen Mill and the Country Living Grain Mill.  I like the K-Tec for it’s speed and the superfine texture it can grind the grain to.  I like the Country Living Grain Mill for it’s versatility, control over the fineness of the flour and relatively efficient hand-grinding.

Household grinders fall into three basic categories:  1) Ceramic Stone Grinders, 2) Steel Burr Grinders and 3) High-speed Impact Grinders.  Like most things in life, these have their advantages and disadvantages.  So, I’ll list them here and let you decide which is the right type for you and your family.

Ceramic Stone Grinders

Advantages:

  • Grinds finer flour than burr grinders and is on par with high-speed impact grinder.
  • Adjustable coarseness:  ranges from cracked wheat and fine flour.
  • Good in a power failure or emergency (if your unit can be hand-turned).

Disadvantages:

  • Manual stone grinders are usually harder to turn than manual burr grinders.
  • Stones will gum up almost instantly if you try to grind oil bearing seeds.
  • Slow and tiring if you are turning by hand.

Steel Burr Grinders

Advantages:

  • Grinds oil bearing seeds as well as dry grains  – burrs will not gum up.
  • Adjustable coarseness:  ranges from racked wheat and fine flour.
  • Resists damage if you miss a stone in your grain.  (I always sort through my grain before milling.)
Country Living GM burrs

High Carbon Steel burrs from Country Living Grain Mill

  • If you are turning by hand, these are generally easier than stone grinders
  • Good in a power failure if it can be hand-turned.

Disadvantages:

  • Will not grind quite as fine as a ceramic stone grinder.
  • Slow and tiring if you are turning by hand.

High-speed Impact Grinders

Advantages:

  • Grinds grain into very fine flour.
  • Grinds grain very quickly.
  • No sweat dripping down your face afterward.

Disadvantages:

  • Very loud (I use ear plugs when using mine…problem solved.)
  • May self-destruct if you miss a large stone in your grain.  (REPEAT:  Always sort through your grain before milling.)
  • Impossible to completely clean it out if you want to avoid mixing with other types of grain. (Think allergies.)
  • Even on the coarsest setting the flour comes out pretty fine.  No “cracked wheat” or graham flour here.
  • Must have electricity.  (This would be important in the event of an extended power failure.)

My in-laws (and their ill-prepared neighbors) were glad they had extra food stored at their house when hurricane Fran steamrolled Raleigh, NC in 1996.  Store shelves were bare before the first rain-drop even fell on land and the power was out on their street for more than a week.  There is a lot that goes into emergency preparedness and having an appropriate grinder on hand might be an important step.

Lack of Toxicity in Einkorn Gliadin

In 2006, the Scandinavian Journal of Gastroenterology released the results of a study which suggested the possibility of adding einkorn grain to the dietary options of celiac patients.  I was able to get a copy of the full study but cannot post it entirely because of copyright restrictions.  Instead, I have quoted the abstract and posted it below:

(For those who don’t know, the genetic classification of einkorn wheat is Triticum monococcum, which is an important detail as you read this post.)

Study Abstract

Lack of intestinal mucosal toxicity of Triticum monococcum in celiac disease patients

Cultivated Einkorn (Triticum monococcum)

Daniela Pizzuti1, Andrea Buda1, Anna D’Odorico1, Renata D’Incà1, Silvia Chiarelli2, Andrea Curioni3 and Diego Martines1

1 Department of Surgical and Gastroenterological Sciences, 2 Department of Surgical and Oncological Sciences, 3 Department of Agricultural Biotechnology, Padua University, Italy

Scandinavian Journal of Gastroenterology, 2006; 41: 1305-1311

Objective. The treatment of celiac disease is based on lifelong withdrawal of foods containing gluten. Unfortunately, compliance with a gluten-free diet has proved poor in many patients (mainly due to its low palatability), emphasizing the need for cereal varieties that are not toxic for celiac patients. In evolutionary terms, Triticum monococcum is the oldest and most primitive cultivated wheat. The aim of this study was to evaluate the toxicity of T. monococcum on small intestinal mucosa, using an in vitro organ culture system.
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