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Monday, September 27, 2010

As Canadian As Apple Pie

The lovely Canadian cookbook guru Sarah Kramer has done it again with an awesome Apple Pie Pancake recipe for September on her 2010 Go Vegan wall calendar:

These fluffy pancakes are made with local Gala apples, raisins, and whole oats. I picked a few from this stack and smothered 'em in maple syrup for a hearty, sweet breakfast. Every month, I make the featured recipe from Kramer's calendar, and I believe this one is one of my favorites (March's Aloo-Yoop Curry Potato Wraps were also quite spectacular). If you don't have the calendar, the Apple Pie Pancake recipe is also included in Kramer's La Dolce Vegan.

Wanna hear something really cool about these pancakes? I made them with fresh, locally-ground whole wheat pastry flour from FunderFarm. The Funderburks live in Coldwater, Mississippi, just a few miles south of Memphis, and they grind fresh grains for flour to sell at the Memphis Farmers Market. This flour was ground on Friday of last week! And I purchased it at the market on Saturday!

Did the freshness make a difference? You bet. The pancakes were fluffier than any I've ever made with whole wheat pastry flour. And I could totally taste the freshness. It may not be uber-obvious to your average eater, but any foodie palette would be impressed. The Funderburks also sell fresh rye, kamut, and spelt flours and fresh steel cut oats (I'm totally buying the oats next week).

Question: What's your favorite local product from your area? Is there one item that you always buy local when you can? And these don't have to be produce items ... could be locally-brewed beers, cookies, granola, jams, pickles, whatever.

20 comments:

  1. I just ate those pancakes this morning! I personally found there were perhaps too many raisins in them, but other than that they were good.

    I always buy local appples.

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  2. There are a lot of local items I love, apples especially but I always have to buy Safie's Pickles Asparagus http://safiesspecialtyfoods.elsstore.com/view/product/?id=153611&cid=3319
    It's so good even Costco carries it locally. She used to make pickled pink turnips that went to well with falafel. Havent seen it in ages.

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  3. As someone who works at a brewery, I encourage EVERYONE to buy their beer and wine locally! However, my celiac disease prevents me from consuming the product that brings me my livelihood. Thus, I always buy local tomatoes. Because I live a stone's throw from a major agricultural university, I can get fresh ones year-round from their indoor heirloom tomato project, making me one lucky girl.

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  4. I could totally go for some of these pancakes. I love apples!

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  5. Those look awesome! Gotta love that Sarah Kramer. I love to buy spices at farmer's markets, and failing that, apple butter and pumpkin butter are perennial favorites. Wish I had some right now...

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  6. i want the recipe for these pancakes...oh man they're too tempting. as for local products, i ALWAYS stick with 100% pure pennsylvania maple syrup. it's the best! that and local apples from Sorgel's Orchards...to die for...

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  7. I like to buy pumpkin butter from Rebekah Grace, which is based out of Hazard, KY about 3 hours away from us but they sell many of their items in our local stores.

    Those pancakes look amazing! :)

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  8. Peach salsa! They have the best here in Texas :).
    Those pancakes look astoundingly good.

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  9. Those sound like awesome pancakes--hooray for Sarah Kramer! :)

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  10. Salsa! There is a company called Rico in Salt Lake City that makes amazing roasted tomato salsa :)

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  11. apple pie pancakes are one delicious way to start off a fall day. yummers! that is AWESOME on the locally ground whole wheat flour, Bianca! they have some whole wheat grains at our local natural foods store where you can use their machine to grind your own - and it DOES make a difference. i make dan's weekly loaf of whole wheat bread for sammies with it and the bread is fluffy and soft. :)

    there are these vegan gluten-free cookies made just a few miles aways from us and i always pick up a bunch whenever i visit the market, and we only buy local tofu & tempeh (unless we need the silken water-packed tofu as they don't make it locally unfortunately) - it's the best!

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  12. I just love freshly ground flour.. it does make a huge difference.

    I love to pick veggies locally.. they are just so great! .. and apples! ..

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  13. Tofu! Why, yes, I do in fact live in Japan...

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  14. Bianca, we met at the Farmer's Market when you were making this purchase. Love the blog! Wanted to ask a chef question----when you work with whole wheat flour---especially whole wheat pastry flour---and you're using a recipe that originally calls for white flour, do you find that there is some typical rule of thumb for converstion? Is it one cup to one cup? Or does it vary per recipe? Many thanks in advance for the feedback! I'm just trying to find my vegetarian/whole foods way......

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  15. Hey!!! It was so nice meeting you at the farmers market. I'm always amazed when I run into local folks who read the blog. Makes me soooo happy!

    As for whole wheat pastry flour vs. white flour in baking, I generally sub it out one to one. If a recipe calls for one cup of all-purpose, I sub out one cup of whole wheat pastry flour.

    That works for most recipes, but I tend to stick with all-p in cakes because I find that it has a better rise, especially since I don't use eggs in baking.

    Also, when using whole wheat pastry flour in yeast breads, the rise isn't quite as great...but it still works. Sometimes it helps to add a Tbsp. or so of vital wheat gluten flour in breads when using whole wheat pastry flour. Hope that helps!

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  16. Thanks for the advice! I'm digging in!

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  17. Woah, apple pie pancakes? That sounds so good!

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  18. Yum! Pancakes are my fave, and these sound great.

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