Pancakes

Friends in Canada served us pancakes one morning. The maple syrup was good, but the pancakes, made with white flour, were bland and rubbery. To avoid the rubberiness, don't use wheat. To avoid the blandness, use whole grains.

I mix up what I have on hand. As a guideline:

• let at least half the dry ingredients be rolled oats;
• let some part of the remainder be cornmeal (it adds a sweetness);
• beyond this, use flours of rye, buckwheat, spelt,…; use barley sparingly, as it can cause mushiness.

Add salt, oil, and soymilk (or let some of the dry ingredients be soy flour or some other bean flour). The batter should pour, but just barely. (Too much liquid and, in the pan, it spreads away from the rolled oats. After pouring, you may spread the batter on the pan with a spoon.)

I cook these two at a time, one on each of two cast-iron pans. They take some time to cook. Turn once; a crust should form on both sides.

Serve with butter if you like, and real maple syrup. (In Washington, one of our regular houseguests would fill her plate with a puddle of our expensive maple syrup, while complaining that she didn't like it much. I held my tongue. Eventually her boyfriend bought her cheap supermarket sugar syrup.)