RED FIFE PANCAKES

Monday, March 21, 2016

Weekends are for wearing your pj's all morning and making pancakes. In our house we have two main pancake groups; UK style thin crepe like pancakes with lemon & sugar and the Canadian style; thick, fluffy and doused in maple syrup. We love both kinds.

I am always looking for new ingredients to use and finding local products that have a great story are my personal favourites. I bought some Red Fife flour at the Old Strathcona Farmers Market from Gold Forrest Grains and I have been having great fun incorporating it into my baking.

Red Fife Wheat is thought to have originated in Turkey, after which it moved across the Black Sea to Ukraine where Mennonite farmers grew it. Red Fife seeds were later shipped to Glasgow, where a friend of David Fife sent a sample to Canada. Fife then grew the variety in Ontario and shared it with other farmers, calling the wheat Red Fife after its distinctive colour. The Red Fife seed adapted to a great diversity of growing conditions across Canada and became the baking and milling industry standard for forty years, from the 1860s to the turn of the twentieth century.

GOLD FORREST GRAINS

The grains we grow, and then mill, are steeped in heritage and tradition. The wheat is antique; Red Fife, Park, Spelt and Einkorn. They taste different, feel different and nurture your body differently. Baking with our flour products takes you back in time to the age of whole, healthful foods. Your baking will have the wonderful, indescribable taste that only your grandparents would recognise.

RED FIFE PANCAKES

WHAT YOU NEED

115 g Red Fife Flour
100 g All purpose flour
2 heaped tsp. baking powder
1 pinch of salt
1 teaspoon white sugar
2 large free range eggs
30 g butter (melted and cooled)
300 ml milk
butter for frying

WHAT YOU DO

Place all of the dry ingredients in a large bowl and whisk to combine and aerate the flour
Place all of the wet ingredients in a large jug and whisk together.
Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and whisk as you go- I find that an extra set of hands helps for this step!
Heat a large non- stick pan and slick a little butter in to help things not to stick.
Dollop the pancake mixture into the pan- the size is up to you but I use a small ice cream scoop to help reduce the mess and my inner perfectionist likes them all to be the same size!
Once you see bubbles rising to the surface and staying its time to flip the pancakes. Cook for another minute and then stack them up on your plate.
Smother them in your syrup of choice but, I would ask that you try our UK/Canadian hybrid method of adding maple syrup and lemon juice. Trust me it's fabulous.

Now you may wish to go all the way with the Red Fife flour and if you do be aware that you may need to add a little extra milk to get the right consistency. I go for a happy half way house as my love of traditional ingredients is sometimes seen as a step too far with my boys (the big one I am married to especially!) These pancakes are the perfect balance, they taste wonderful and they have a golden tan that plain white flour pancakes could never give you.

Gold Forrest Grains products are available at the following locations;

Amaranth Foods - St. Albert
Bonton Bakery - West End
Old Strathcona Farmers Market 10310 - 83 Ave.
Grapevine Deli - St. Albert
Organic Box - Edmonton, Morinville, Sh Park, Ft. McMurrray etc.
ACME Meats - South Central
Urban Organics - Sherwood Park
Dovetail Delicatessen - 124th Street, Edmonton
Spud - Edmonton

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