Huckleberries enjoy a late season here in California. From September through November, the tiny, indigo fruits can be found dangling blithely from green-leaved bushes in cedar and redwood forests throughout the Pacific Northwest.
Huckleberry harvesting requires the patience of a zen monk. While painstakingly picking the miniscule fruits, you're better off living in the present moment and smelling the musty earth; listening to the twittering of birds and scuffling of hungry mountain lions in the bushes; noticing the sensations of spiderwebs clinging to your skin, cedar fronds catching in your hair, and dust coating your berry-juice stained fingers. Focusing on your goal merely ensures frustration as you watch your reused yogurt container fill at an agonizing pace. Thoughts like, "Don't I have enough berries for a batch of pancakes yet?" "Why, god, did you make huckleberries so small. Just to torture me?" "What the hell am I doing wasting my time in the middle of this stupid forest? I've got photos to edit!" and "Please, god, don't let me get eaten by a mountain lion. I'm sorry I questioned your judgement re: huckleberry size" will emerge. Notice these thoughts, then let them slip from your grasp like a handful of berries falling into a pit of brambles and mountain lions.
With the harrowing labor involved in our recent huckleberry-picking expedition, I was eager to make good and quick use of them. Huckleberries are tangier than their domestic counterparts - blueberries. They're also smaller, firmer, more flavorful and have a lower water content, all of which makes them excellent candidates for baking into cakes, muffins or scones. (More recipe links below.) I found a fantastic base recipe for Wild Berry Pancakes in a favorite cookbook, Mani Niall's Sweet!, and adapted it to use sprouted wheat flour, yogurt, and maple sugar.
I began experimenting with sprouted flour several years ago at the recommendation of a nutritionist friend.
These pancakes, made with 100% sprouted wheat flour, cooked up into surprisingly light, fluffy pillows with crisp edges and soft middles that reminded me of oatmeal – moist, earthy and mild. Pockets of tangy berries pepper the cakes, bursting from the heat of the pan and infusing the cakes with their intense flavor. A pat of butter or scoop of thick, Greek yogurt and a puddle of maple syrup make a delicious breakfast. Extras store beautifully and re-heat quickly in a toaster oven or hot skillet.
Luckily, making a batch of these pancakes in the comfort of your own kitchen is much less painstaking than forest-foraging (and probably safer if, as in my kitchen, the only wildcat around weighs 9 pounds, prefers stalking feta cheese, and high-tails it under the bed at the turn of a doorknob). Though feel free to use blueberries - wild or domestic, fresh or frozen, foraged or purchased - in place of the high-maintenance huckleberries.
More Huckleberry Recipes:
More Pancake Recipes:
- (Gluten-Free) Banana Buckwheat Pancakes
- Gluten-Free Ricotta Pancakes
- Baked Pancake with Pears and Cardamom
*Bojon appétit! For more Bojon Gourmet in your life, follow along on Instagram, Facebook, or Pinterest, purchase my gluten-free cookbook Alternative Baker, or subscribe to receive new posts via email. And if you make this sprouted wheat pancake recipe, I’d love to know. Leave a comment and rating below, and tag your Instagram snaps @The_Bojon_Gourmet and #bojongourmet.*
Huckleberry Sprouted Wheat Pancakes
Print Recipe Pin RecipeIngredients
- 1 1/2 cups sprouted wheat flour
- 3 tablespoons maple sugar or turbinado sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1 cup Greek yogurt (I used full-fat), plus more for serving
- 1 cup whole milk
- 2 large eggs
- 4 tablespoons butter, melted
- 1 1/2 - 2 cups huckleberries (fresh, or frozen and not defrosted)
- oil for the pan (clarified butter, sunflower oil and coconut oil are all good options)
- maple syrup, for serving (grade B is the darkest and most flavorful)
Instructions
Make the pancakes:
- Preheat the oven to 200º - you will use it to keep the pancakes warm as you fry them up.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In a large measuring cup, whisk together the yogurt, milk and eggs until smooth. Add the melted butter in a steady stream, whisking constantly until combined. Gently fold the milk mixture into the flour mixture until just combined and lumpy, then gently fold in the berries. The batter should be fairly thick, like a fluffy porridge.
- Heat a griddle or wide frying pan over medium heat and coat with a thin film of oil. Drop 3 tablespoons of batterat a time into the pan(a #24 spring loaded ice cream scoop works wonders), spacing the pancakes well apart to allow for spreading. Reduce the heat to medium-low, and cook until the edges look dry and a few bubbles appear on the surface, about 2 minutes. Flip the cakes and cook until the second side is golden, another 2 minutes or so.
- Remove the cakes to a baking sheet lined with paper towels to absorb excess steam, and place in the oven to keep warm as you cook another round.
- Serve the cakes with butter or yogurt and plenty of maple syrup at the table. Extra cakes keep well in the fridge for up to 3 or 4 days and can be reheated in a skillet or toaster oven.
Notes
Nutrition
Gingered Whisk says
These look amazing! :) I have always wanted to try a huckleberry, but have never seen one!
Alanna says
Thanks! I hope you get to one day - they're pretty tasty. : )
Julia | JuliasAlbum.com says
I love the stack of pancakes! Beautiful presentation. And I love the berries too! Unfortunately, where I live I can never find these kinds of berries.
Gary C / Studio City says
I was intrigued by this recipe, and was inspired to make my own sprouted wheat, grind it, and then make the pancakes. We had them on Sunday, kept the batter for two days and finished it this morning. On both occasions they were wonderful: terrific flavor and a truly unbelievable texture. (BTW, I used blueberries one day and blackberries the other.) I was astonished how light they were. Because they have some volume, they also remained hot for much longer than your average flatter pancake. They were the best pancakes I've ever been served or made.
Alanna says
That's so awesome, Gary! Thanks!
Michaela says
Went huckleberry picking yesterday, and searched for a pancake recipe this morning. These are amazing! I didn’t have any yogurt on hand so I used sour cream instead, and I used white flour instead of sprouted. They turned so delicious most of us at them plain.
Alanna says
I'm so glad you liked them! Thanks for the sweet note.
Shenny Ghani says
I bought sprouted wheat flour after hearing about the benefits then searched the internet for a recipe and couldn't find much. I saw these photos and decided to give it a try not expecting much. Boy was I WRONG! These have such a great texture. I used my silicone egg rings to make them into maple griddle cakes for the kids and they fluff up so tall. But they are still light and delicate. I am never going back to my old pancake recipe ever!! These are AH-MAZING!
The Bojon Gourmet says
I am so glad to hear that you enjoyed these :)
Marianna Kokoreva says
Alanna, will non-dairy milk work just as well? If I use dairy yoghurt/sour cream? Thanks!
Alanna Taylor-Tobin says
Hi Marianna,
Yes, non-dairy milk and greek yogurt should work great. Greek yogurt is pretty thick but it has a lower fat content than sour cream. So if you can't find DF Greek yogurt (I see that Kite Hill makes one!), you might have to experiment a bit with the ratios of the ingredients to get the right consistency. Please let me know what you try and how it goes!
-Alanna
Marianna Kokoreva says
Thank you, Alanna! It's more the milk that's a problem. The pancakes look too good not to try. Besides, I have a whole pack of sprouted flour.
Alanna Taylor-Tobin says
Oh fabulous! Please let me know how you like them and happy cooking!
Kay BC says
Amazing recipe! The only thing I changed was using peaches from my tree since I didn’t have huckleberries. Thanks for this delicious and versatile recipe!
Alanna Taylor-Tobin says
I'm so glad you liked the pancakes and that they worked well with homegrown peaches - yum!!
Allison says
Delicious! I was looking for a recipe for my sprouted wheat flour. I used chocolate chips instead of the huckleberries. Love the use of Greek yogurt! Made them moist and helped cut the earthy taste of the flour. My husband said “best pancakes weve ever had”
Alanna Taylor-Tobin says
Mmm I can imagine how delicious melty chocolate would taste against the earthy sprouted wheat flour. So glad the pancakes were a hit with you and your husband!