Buckwheat Crepes and Pancakes

Rabelais said:
Megapode said:
I'll try storing some and see what happens. The very worst result would be a science experiment!

Hi Megapode. Did you ever try this?

Now that I am addicted to them, I was thinking about making up a batch and finding some way to store them. It would be convenient to always have some on hand and ready, when the stove top is already busy with other meal items. I wonder if a fast nuke in the microwave would thaw/warm them without drastically changing their character?

Hi Rabelais,
No, I haven't. I actually forgot about it! :rolleyes: I'm taking vacation this week and I have a fresh bag-o-buckwheat flour. I'll try it and report back. Note to self: starting making more notes.
 
My first attempt at making buckwheat pancakes ended badly. :lol: Maybe my homemade rice milk was too thick or maybe I should've put the mix in a blender or used a mixer. My pancakes would not cook through. There was a thick, pasty center that would not go away no matter how long I cooked them. I did eat the outsides of some of them with preserves and they tasted pretty fair.

Ah well, back to the drawing board. :P
 
Odyssey said:
My first attempt at making buckwheat pancakes ended badly. :lol: Maybe my homemade rice milk was too thick or maybe I should've put the mix in a blender or used a mixer. My pancakes would not cook through. There was a thick, pasty center that would not go away no matter how long I cooked them. I did eat the outsides of some of them with preserves and they tasted pretty fair.

Ah well, back to the drawing board. :P

I'm right there with you, Odyssey -- I tried the pancakes for the first time today, and I made the mistake of using baking soda instead of baking powder :cry: The rest of my family would only eat one pancake each because the baking soda ruined the flavor, and I was disheartened as I had to let my daughter choose to either throw the rest of hers away or slather it in syrup, which has enough sugar in it to sort of defeat the whole purpose of why I tried to use buckwheat in the first place. So we'll have to check back in here when we both try round two!
 
Speaking of baking powder, I have some aluminum free powder. But it does have cornstarch as one of the ingredients though. I haven't been eating any corn, but should we avoid cornstarch too? Or maybe there are some baking powders without it in it.

Edit: sorry for the noise, I looked up some baking powders and found the one I have online, which is Rumford, and it says its from non GMO corn. I looked at the actual container and there was the label that said non GMO corn.
 
Odyssey said:
My first attempt at making buckwheat pancakes ended badly. :lol: Maybe my homemade rice milk was too thick or maybe I should've put the mix in a blender or used a mixer. My pancakes would not cook through. There was a thick, pasty center that would not go away no matter how long I cooked them. I did eat the outsides of some of them with preserves and they tasted pretty fair.

Ah well, back to the drawing board. :P

Well, it took me four times to finally get it right, but it's worth it. The cakes kept sticking to the pan. I'm using stainless steel because I can't use cast iron, due to hubby's health issues, but what I finally figured out was that I needed to lower the temp for SS pans. I was using medium high heat and finally lowered it to med heat and made them thinner, two tablespoons. Keep trying they're delicious! :headbanger:
 
Megapode said:
Rabelais said:
Megapode said:
I'll try storing some and see what happens. The very worst result would be a science experiment!

Hi Megapode. Did you ever try this?

Now that I am addicted to them, I was thinking about making up a batch and finding some way to store them. It would be convenient to always have some on hand and ready, when the stove top is already busy with other meal items. I wonder if a fast nuke in the microwave would thaw/warm them without drastically changing their character?

Hi Rabelais,
No, I haven't. I actually forgot about it! :rolleyes: I'm taking vacation this week and I have a fresh bag-o-buckwheat flour. I'll try it and report back. Note to self: starting making more notes.

Rabelais said:
Megapode said:
I'll try storing some and see what happens. The very worst result would be a science experiment!

Hi Megapode. Did you ever try this?

Now that I am addicted to them, I was thinking about making up a batch and finding some way to store them. It would be convenient to always have some on hand and ready, when the stove top is already busy with other meal items. I wonder if a fast nuke in the microwave would thaw/warm them without drastically changing their character?

I refrigerated some buckwheat pancakes twice this last week. Still warm, I put them, in a covered casserole dish with wax paper between each cake. I stored them in the refrigerator for a couple of days each time. The first batch was a little soggy and the second one was a little dry.I used a papertowel in the bottom of the casserole dish for the dry batch, so maybe that's why. Both batches tasted good. The soggier one had more flavor, it seemed. Muffins are next. :)

I used:
1 cup buckwheat flour
1/2 cup ricemilk plus a little water to desired consistency
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 tsp baking powder
A little bit of grapeseed oil in the batter and the pan for cooking.
 
Tried the pancake recipe a couple of times now and I've gotta say - yum! :P
They're very versatile and, with guidance from the forum, I decided to experiment with sweet and savoury versions.

The very first batch turned out just perfect. Having made pancakes before, I kept in mind the right consistency of the batter and used plenty of oil with ghee. I'm really impressed with ghee, this is the first time I used it.

For the sweet version, I reduced some sliced fruit in a small saucepan (blueberries, black plums, nectarines, blackberries). Adding a bit of water stopped the fruit from burning. The mash slowly simmered away until the fruit became soft and half-gone - it was sweet without having to add any sugar, honey or anything else. Each pancake was filled with a generous scoop of the saucy fruit and then folded over once.

Totally incredible.

I did feel that I could slightly improve the taste for the savoury version. To me, the pancakes tasted, well, very wholemeal. It was a great taste but I wanted to smooth it out somewhat. Also, I thought that a whole tablespoon of gluten free baking powder was too much, so I reduced that to 1 teaspoon per 1 cup of flour.

To smooth out the pancakes, I added a little bit of brown rice flour. This was an interesting experiment and I have a word of warning. Rice flour does make the pancakes sweeter but they tend to stick to the pan a lot more (actually I'm doing all this in a wok). So extra oil was important. I would say that 1/4 cup of brown rice flour with 3/4 cup of buckwheat flour is a good start.

The savoury version had diced bacon pieces (not sure how naughty that one is) with lots of veg like onion, garlic, broccoli, shallots - and spices like turmeric, rosemary, mustard powder, wasabi powder, touch of curry powder. I also added fresh tomatoes to make the mixture juicy - I tend to tolerate them well when fried fresh.

That's it. I like the pancakes so much that today I made two lunch boxes with the savoury version. But this time, I put in thinly sliced lamb instead of bacon and added onion and garlic to the batter . Thanks for the recipes and suggestions posted on the forum. They were very helpful and encouraged me to experiment, too!
 
The more we work with buckwheat, the more we think that an entire cuisine can be built around it the same way cuisines have been built around tortillas and pita bread. This is something that you can mix up and bake on a hot stone if you have to. Sweet, savory, thin, thick and fluffy, small breads, muffins, crepes, cakes, the whole deal can be made with buckwheat. And an added bonus is that I don't use eggs when I cook with it and it holds together quite well. Cakes are a little bit delicate, but if you are careful handling them, they work.
 
Arrowhead mills makes Organic buckwheat pancake and Waffle mix that I would believe that can be so mixed for crepes. They also offer Organic spelt flakes , Kamut flacks, Amaranth flakes, and Maple Buckwheat flakes-glutenfree. There out Boulder Co. and there number for question's is 1-800-434-4267 and there website is www.arrowheadmills.com
 
M.A.O. said:
Arrowhead mills makes Organic buckwheat pancake and Waffle mix that I would believe that can be so mixed for crepes. They also offer Organic spelt flakes , Kamut flacks, Amaranth flakes, and Maple Buckwheat flakes-glutenfree. There out Boulder Co. and there number for question's is 1-800-434-4267 and there website is www.arrowheadmills.com

Be careful with buckwheat flour mixes (pancake/waffle/etc), since they often have wheat flower included as well. One should be using pure buckwheat flour.
 
"Thanks" Anart. The ingredient's on the side panel of the side of the package reads as follows: Organic Buckwheat flour,Organic Whole Grain flour Organic Soy Milk powder,Baking powder,(mono-calcium phosphate,) sodium bicarbonate, corn starch, sea salt flour.
The web has more information and I would think that for critical questions such as what Anart has brought up, of what they sell to call the toll free number.
This would be a be plus if uncertain, for clarification on the ingredients and component's of there products. The red ones would be the ingredients that I would want to stay a way from.
As Anart has pointed out, that research is critical to making sure your getting what is desired, with no side effects!
 
FWIW,

I did today some buckwheat pancakes, but just with purified water, salt and oil. So it's not a must to have or produce ricemilk, plain water does it too. Maybe some flavour gets missing but could get arranged with added spices and as Laura stated earlier wih onions, garlic or ghee.
 
Odyssey said:
My first attempt at making buckwheat pancakes ended badly. Laugh Maybe my homemade rice milk was too thick or maybe I should've put the mix in a blender or used a mixer. My pancakes would not cook through. There was a thick, pasty center that would not go away no matter how long I cooked them. ...

Ah well, back to the drawing board.

That about sums up my attempts with buckwheat pancakes and crepes. It may be that the gas was too high or the griddle pans insufficiently seasoned or ... but they stick in the middle and do not cook through with rice milk and blending with an ordinary spoon. I'll keep practicing to perfect the process for/on Shrove Tuesday. Previous experience with gluten flour and an ordinary stainless steel pan was great! I'll just have to persevere to get it right.
 
Trevrizent said:
That about sums up my attempts with buckwheat pancakes and crepes. It may be that the gas was too high or the griddle pans insufficiently seasoned or ... but they stick in the middle and do not cook through with rice milk and blending with an ordinary spoon. I'll keep practicing to perfect the process for/on Shrove Tuesday. Previous experience with gluten flour and an ordinary stainless steel pan was great! I'll just have to persevere to get it right.


I might try them with just water next time like Gawan.
 
Odyssey said:
I might try them with just water next time like Gawan.

I've found that by using water and mixing 1 part brown rice flour, 3 parts buckwheat, and about 1/3 Cup milled flaxseed; and making the batter slightly runnier than I think it should be so the pancakes are thin - they cook through ok - and the flaxseed adds a bit of nutty flavor.
 
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