Ricotta Pancakes with Blue Bird Grain Farm's Hard Wheat Flour

I found out about Blue Bird Farm from Sunset Magazine not too long ago. I was very curious about the flavor of "open-pollinated" wheat grown on a small, family owned organic farm and freshly grounded to order. It is not exactly local (they are in Washington State), but it is probably closer than the flour from Trader Joe's or even the ones we pick up from Jimbo's or Whole Foods. Anyhow, I wasn't quite sure how much heavier their "hard wheat" is from the run of the mill white flour. It includes the whole germ and bran. I thought I would use 1/2 cup of pastry flour just to lighten things up a bit. Dennis isn't sure if it is the flour, or the addition of ricotta or almond, but he thought the result was a bit reminiscent of corn bread. I'll try my next batch without the pastry flour and will report the results. For now, we thought this was quite delicious.

Whisk together:

1 cup Flour (hard wheat or whole wheat)
1/2 cup pastry flour
3 tbs sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbs almond meal (if you don't have this handy, just leave it out and increase butter to 3 tbs)

Whisk together in another bowl:
1 cup ricotta cheese
3/4 cup milk (heat up to either warm or room temperature)
2 tbs unsalted butter, melted
2 large eggs
1/2 to 1 tsp vanilla

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and whisk gently until just mixed. Don't overmix. Cook over griddle or on nonstick pan. Add a small pat of butter (if you wish) on the pan for each pancake. Serve with slices of lemon, maple syrup and butter.