These pancakes make for a relatively quick, really quite impressive-looking breakfast or brunch dish and can easily be customised to suit individual tastes and preferences. The peaches add a nice natural sweetness - try to find ripe ones - which goes well with the tangy natural yogurt, but you won't go far wrong with a combination of bananas, cinnamon and honey either.
The wholemeal flour makes the pancakes denser than those made with the finely milled, white variety, but also more nutritious because the bran and germ are retained during processing, meaning the flour is higher in fibre.
Using fresh vanilla rather than extract here does make a difference, although if you don't have any, you could use vanilla-flavoured yogurt. Just bear in mind that some of the sourness that the natural yogurt brings to the pancakes will be lost.
Peach and vanilla pancakes
Serves 4 (makes approximately eight pancakes)
375g plain wholemeal flour
1 tbsp baking powder
tsp salt
100ml natural yogurt
200-250ml semi-skimmed milk
2 eggs, separated
1 tbsp honey
1 vanilla pod, split in half lengthways
2 tbsp vegetable oil
2 peaches, pitted and thinly sliced
For the garnish
natural yogurt
1 peach, stoned and thinly sliced
few mint leaves
1 lemon, zest only
Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt in a large bowl.
In a separate bowl, beat together the yogurt, 200ml milk, the egg yolks, honey and seeds from the vanilla pod. Add this to the flour mixture and stir together until you have a smooth batter. It should not be too thick; you can always add more milk later.
Whisk the egg whites (by hand or with an electric mixer) until stiff, then fold carefully into the mixture. If it now seems too thick, add a little extra milk.
Place a large frying pan over a medium heat and add half a tablespoon of vegetable oil. Ladle in some of the pancake batter, swirling to coat.
Top with three or four peach slices and cook for two to three minutes, until the underside of the pancake is brown and bubbles are starting to appear on the top. Flip the pancake over and cook for a further one to two minutes. Remove from the pan, keep warm in a low oven and repeat with the remaining batter.
Serve the pancakes with a spoonful of yogurt and the extra peach slices, with the mint leaves and lemon zest scattered over the top.
Nutritional information for average healthy wholemeal pancakes, per 55.2g
Calories: 105
Calories from fat: 19
Total fat: 2.1g
Saturated fat: 0.4g
Source: www.caloriecount.about.com
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