+Slack -Cholesterol Hippie Instant Pancakes

Months ago, for a party, we bought some Bisquick, and then had it lying around the house.  I really loved this stuff, in terms of have quick just-add-water pancakes.  I didn't need milk or eggs or anything refrigerated, just the mix.  Nevertheless, when we ran out I didn't buy more, because I try to eat whole wheat stuff, and it was not.

However, as a friend pointed out, Trader Joe's also has well received multi-grain baking mix, so I thought I would try that.  Only, it need milk and eggs!!  what?!  Why don't I just make the damn things myself then?  Is adding baking powder really that much of an inconvenience?  When I want to go lazy, I want to go all the way.


This desire for slack has combined with my current desire to eat less cholesterol, and hot internet cooking trends regarding chia seeds, to produce the following recipe for an instant pancake mix:

In a mason jar, combine:

• 3 cups Trader Joe's multigrain baking mix
• 5 tablespoons nonfat milk powder
• 1 tablespoon chia seeds
• 1 tablespoon baking powder

Make sure to leave 1/3 the volume of the jar empty, so you can vigorously shake everything together to mix it.

When in urgent need of pancakes, combine 2pts of dry mix to 1pt water, stir, and let sit 15min in the fridge.

I think this will be really useful if I start backpacking again. 

How did I get those numbers?

Milk:

According to my dry milk package, 3tbspns dry milk  should be added to 8oz water, though you can go higher for richer milk.

Chia Seeds:

Here is the gooy mix, in all its glory.

The chia seed amount was all about whether you trust public opinion, or expertise.  Bob's Red Mill says that 1/2 teaspoon of chia seeds + 1 tablespoon water = 1 egg equivalent.  The entire rest of the internet (mostly independent food blogs) say 1tbspn of chia seeds + 3tbspns water = 1 egg.  That is a 6 fold discrepancy   As a food blog writer, I am naturally suspicious of the so-called expertise of parvenues like myself, but I 1/2 teaspoon seemed SO little, so I added 1 teaspoon.

The first batch of pancakes were very thin, and so I added both some more dry mix, and more chia seed for the last pancake  It looked lovely, but was substantially more gluey.  Therefore, I decided to stick with the original chia seed amount, but reduce the overall water slightly.  If this doesn't work (I was too full of pancakes to make another batch), I'll revise this article.

Baking Soda:

I basically added this for luck, and because I worry that the baking soda in packaged mixes has gotten old.  Feel free to leave it out.

Pancakes, showing thin and thick