Acorn Pancakes
The question is, was all the work worth the effort? Making red oak acorn flour was about a week-long project. A few minutes of collecting, an evening of digging out nutmeat, a few days of leaching, a few days of drying, and with the help of a food processor, a quick job of grinding the nutmeat into flour. I decided to see what the final product tasted like in the form of pancakes.
Mixing eggs, milk, a touch of baking soda and a dash of salt together with the flour made for a fairly heavy batter that separated a bit when left to sit. I fried up a pancake of pure acorn flour, then decided to add a touch of all-purpose flour to see if I could homogenize the batter a bit more. It was helpful. Mostly, I just stirred the batter just before scooping some up for the frying pan. If you want fluffy pancakes, this will not do it for you.
Taste test passed
These cakes were heavy and hearty. I served my husband a short stack and he couldn’t finish them. I should have served one at a time. The nutty flavor definitely came through which was really delightful. They tasted of their true natural origins. I was afraid of a bitterness that the remaining tannin would impart, but I must have leached enough, because this was not too much of a problem.
One of my colleagues detected a slight distasteful after effect, but one out of 6 tasters isn’t too bad. As one of my fellow educators and taste-tester remarked, “I wonder what pancakes made from white oak acorn flour would taste like”. I invited him to prepare that batch.