Buckwheat pancakes on the Griddle
As winter approaches, so does my desire for comfort food: A hearty soup, warm bread, and buckwheat and honey pancakes. You haven’t lived unless you have eaten buckwheat pancakes. I am not talking about 1/2 buckwheat and 1/2 awful white flour. 100% buckwheat, baby. 100% awesomeness.
Breakfast Food for Dinner. Sticks to Your Ribs.
How many of you eat breakfast food for dinner? Pancakes, French toast or eggs? I remember growing up when my father would make us breakfast food for dinner. I loved it. He was the king of making pancakes, tuna, steak, and hot dogs. Back then, dads really didn’t cook. (At least mine didn’t.) I suspect that Dad made breakfast food for dinner when my mom was too busy. It didn’t matter to me because there is something about breakfast for dinner that I can’t describe.
Are you a breakfast food for dinner type of green guy or gal?
After I got married, I realized that I wasn’t the only one who had breakfast food for dinner. And the tradition of making breakfast food continued when I did not make dinner. My husband is an excellent cook and in my opinion, one of the best breakfast food cooks. His eggs are amazing! He makes them wet and moist. Everyone else I know makes them dryer than a barn door. You know what I am talking about, right?
The Nutritional Skinny on Buckwheat.
Buckwheat is not a grain but is the fruit of plant. It is sold as groats, grits, or flour. What I love about buckwheat is it is high in fiber, gluten free, and a good source of vitamins. Many of you may know of the food, Kasha, which is made from buckwheat groats.
“Buckwheat contains more protein than grains and is not deficient in the amino acid lysine as most grains are, so the protein is more nutritionally complete. That makes it a particularly good choice for vegetarians. It’s an excellent source of magnesium, a boon to your blood pressure. A phytochemical in buckwheat may be beneficial in the management of diabetes; studies show it may have the ability to lower blood glucose levels. It’s also a good source of fiber.” [Source.]
Growing Buckwheat. The Little Green Hen that Could.
Buckwheat Seed
You know I grew buckwheat this summer? I heard that buckwheat was a show stopper. And the bees couldn’t have agreed more. (You can catch a glimpse of the buckwheat growing on my video, “A Glimpse of the Garden.” Just a warning, I gush a lot about my plant. I am pathetic but I can’t help it.)
Show stopper but time consuming.
I plucked the buckwheat by hand and felt like the Little Red Hen. Come on. You know the story! Just in case you forgot. Remember the Little Red Hen and her lazy barn animal friends? She sows the seeds and no one wants to help. She harvests the grain and no one want to help. Then she bakes the bread and no one wants to help. Finally, when it is time to eat, everyone wants a piece. My life in a nutshell. Do you feel this way too?
I milled the Buckwheat…
The Little Red Hen took her wheat to be milled. I, on the other hand, have a mill attachment to my Kitchen Aid, and find any reason to use it. (The simplest things make me happy.) So, I mill my own grain. So much cheaper.
Sifting out the Buckwheat Hull
After you mill the grain, there is alot of hull in in the flour and sifting removes most of the hulls. Sifting doesn’t take that much time but my hand gets tried easily if I have alot of flour to do.
Milled Buckwheat Flour with Seed Hull Specs
Buckwheat and Honey Pancakes Recipe.
Are you hungry for great buckwheat pancakes? I thought you would be. I adapted a gluten free Buckwheat and honey pancakes recipe from the Food Allergy Coach to make it dairy free. I added unsweetened carob to the pancakes, which you can get at the GT Store. Unsweetened Carob adds that little bit of sweetness, but doesn’t overpower like chocolate chips can. You don’t have to add anything. My kids who eat boring regular ho hum pancakes love semi sweet chocolate chips in their ‘cakes.
“Ingredients (makes about 5-6 pancakes):
- 1/2 C GF buckwheat flour (I used my own.)
- 1 t baking powder (if you cannot tolerate corn, click here for a corn free baking powder recipe)
- 1/2 t salt
- 1 t cinnamon
- 1 T honey
- 1 egg
- 2 T oil
- 1 t vanilla extract
- about 1/2 C whichever milk you can tolerate (yogurt would be nice, too) (I used rice milk. First time around I used a 1/2 cup and they were a little bit runny. The second time I used 1/4 cup and they seemed dry. So, I would use a little less than a 1/2 cup. You might need to play with it a little. Meaning start at 1/4 cup and if it seems too cookie dough like, add more milk until you get that pancake consistency.)
Directions:
- Mix together the first 3 ingredients.
- In a separate bowl, mix the honey, egg, oil, and vanilla.
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir a little.
- Start adding in your milk a bit at a time until the desired consistency is met.
- Cook batter on a preheated pan or griddle that has been greased. (Master breakfast cook uses organic coconut oil to grease the skillet. It looks a lot like Crisco.)
Buckwheat Honey and Carob Pancakes
The final product! I realized as I posted the picture that one of the buckwheat pancakes looks like part of Mickey Mouse’s face. I don’t think hubby was trying to be creative. As I indicated above, I added unsweetened carob chips. (You can buy them at the GT store.) Hubby hates carob and says he would rather die than eat “fake” chocolate. Personally, I like the taste and I bypass the sugar highs for eating chocolate chips.
What about syrup? I did not use maple syrup because they were sweet enough for me. Hubby used organic maple syrup. Major sweet tooth.
If you aren’t into being the Little Green Hen, you can purchase Organic Buckwheat Flour or Allie’s Gluten Free Buckwheat Pancake Mix at the GT Store. Why should I be the only one eating yummy, heart healthy, hip slimming Buckwheat pancakes? Trust me. They are quite filling.
Questions:
- Do you have a breakfast tradition for dinner?
- Any favorite breakfast recipes? Link the recipes in the comments.
- Cook anything from your garden that you are dying to share?
- Love buckwheat? If so, what is your favorite way of eating it?
- Do you think the Little Red Hen should have shared her bread? (Just checking to see if you are reading or skimming…)
Buy it at Green Talk's Amazon Store
Why shouldn’t I be the only one enjoying buckwheat pancakes? Consider purchasing Organic Buckwheat Flour, Allie’s Gluten Free Buckwheat Pancake Mix, Unsweetened carob chips and/or organic coconut oil. Let me know how any of your buckwheat recipes turn out.
Printable Coupons says
Wow, that looks delicious. and healthy too. i wanna try that..
Brenda Bernstein says
Wow these look delicious! I’m a big fan of millet pancakes which are a little simpler to make 🙂 Here’s the recipe!
MILLET WAFFLES (or PANCAKES)
Makes four 5-inch waffles or pancakes
2 cups millet
¼ cup apple juice
2 TBSP oil (optional)
2 TBSP yacon syrup (or maple or brown rice syrup)
1 tsp vanilla extract
½ tsp ground cinnamon
Place 2 cups millet and 1 ½ cups spring or filtered water in a medium bowl, loosely cover, and let stand on the counter overnight – if something prevents you from using it the next morning, just pour off the water, add fresh and place it (covered) in the refrigerator for up to 2 days.
Next day:
Drain and rinse the millet and place in a blender. Add ¼ cup filtered or spring water and ¼ cup organic apple juice.
Add remainder of ingredients and process into a thick batter with a blender. Add more water and juice to make it desired consistency if necessary. Pour batter onto hot waffle iron, close and bake according to manufacturer’s directions (or pour onto griddle for pancakes).
Vary seasonings to your taste; try nutmeg or coriander. For a lighter waffle, soak 1 ½ cups millet and ½ cup quinoa.
Anna@Green Talk says
Brenda, wow. Sounds amazing. I love millet. Do you think I could mill the millet instead of soaking it? I love using my new toy, my grain mill. Anna
Evan Testa says
Can you deep fry buckwheat … please do tell some ideas :_)
Anna@Green Talk says
Evan, I would worry that the kernels would pop. You can roast it because this is Kasha. You would love the taste of Kasha.
Liza says
Do you happen to have any recipes for buckwheat that is hulled? I don’t have a mill, so do you think I could place it in a grinder and it would be the same thing? Thanks
Anna@Green Talk says
Liza, you can probably put it in your coffee grinder and it will grind it up. I am just worried you would be doing this for a long time, plus it might wear out your grinder. Then you would sift the hull out. The flour is white. Do you have a shifter? If not, do you have a wire mesh stainer? I have used this to sift as well.
Have you ever eaten Kasha? It is toasted buckwheat. It is amazing.
Anna
Mimi says
As kids, we loved these pancakes.
Mom always used dark, not light, buckwheat flour. The dark is so much more flavorful.
Her recipe and directions were similar to yours. She never used the cinnamon, vanilla or honey though. And never, ever any syrup!
The pancakes were served with fried fresh-side bacon (uncured) that still had the rind on it and a slather of Heinz Brown Mustard. Your cakes have me drooling!
Anna@Green Talk says
Mimi, I never heard of dark buckwheat. I wonder what your mom used. Anna
Mimi says
Your picture looks very much like the ones she made. Several years ago,when I moved back home, the first time I bought an Amish brand buckwheat flour it was the dark type( packaged in a white paper sack). The second bag turned out to be the light colored flour and was very bland. The little store no longer caries it. I did a few Google searches and learned the difference. If I remember right most buckwheat today is grown in Canada and there was one web site that specified they carried the dark type. I’ve since bought several brands (located in Pennsylvania) and they have all been the light type of flour.