Buckwheat Crepes and Pancakes

[realitybugll]

The powdered sugar at the store is just refined cane sugar + corn starch. will that work for making them brown, I could not find d-ribose.

The best time I made the pancakes I added 2 tablespoons of molasses which was really good. The other times the pancakes are inedible to me without lots of syrup.

Also I need help because I am only using about 3/4 a teaspoon of baking soda per 1 cup of flour. but I think its working? the texture is good for me, but perhaps it could be better.

I was hesitant to get baking powder because the 1 I did come across had an aluminum sulfate compound i believe it was.

If anyone can handle the inflammation I suggest adding some molasses. I swear it makes the pancakes like 100 times better! 1 tbsp has 50mg of magnesium which is nice.

 

[dugdeep]

Don't use baking powder when making crepes.

Ah. OK, thanks Laura!

 

[Laura]

Molasses would be fine for anyone, I think, as long as it is not a lot.

 

[The rabbit]

Just a note to say we are loving the buckwheat pancakes , sweet xylitol with raisins are really scrummy , also savoury ones with fenugreek , garlic , a little seasalt mixed in. Water in the mix not rice milk.

 

[Mrs. Peel]

Mrs. Peel, I would insist on a gas stove in a new house as a condition of buying it.

Too late. House bought. Electric stove. Actually, none of the ones I looked at even had gas.

Finally, I don't know who said you can't use cast iron on a glass cooktop. Seems kinda dumb to make a stove that doesn't handle all kinds of cookware.

I got an instruction and care booklet with the current stove that stated do not use cast iron, it will scratch the surface. I'll have to check and see if the former owners left a manual for the new stove laying around anywhere. Maybe I can use a cast iron skillet if I don't move it around on the burner.

 

[Laura]

Better yet, sell the stove, buy a gas one and have it installed. Then you can always cook even when the electricity is out... and DO expect it to be out more often than not.

 

[Gimpy]

Better yet, sell the stove, buy a gas one and have it installed. Then you can always cook even when the electricity is out... and DO expect it to be out more often than not.

Hubby and I use what we call a 'portable hell' burner in emergencies, its just a big burner with a propane tank to fuel it. We use that as backup when the power goes out. Our house can support a gas stove, but the pipework is so dodgy we decided against it. It would cost far more to redo the line for safety reasons than to deal with an electric stove. We've got a gas grill that we use when the power is out too. Not typical use for the thing, but whatever works. :D

 

[mada85]

Too late. House bought. Electric stove. Actually, none of the ones I looked at even had gas.

I'm in a similar position to Mrs Peel. I live in a block of flats where the gas supply was turned off for safety reasons nearly two years ago, so I have to have an electric cooker. I went looking in my local stores for a cast iron skillet the other day and only one I could find was from Le Creuset for GBP £50!!! I ended up buying a 'Green Pan' frying pan. Here's their website: _http://www.green-pan.com/cookware/intro.asp. It is non-stick but it does not realease toxic fumes during cooking and I've had good results with it on a glass-top electric cooker. I later found a cast iron skillet from an eBay seller in the UK for GBP £5.99 plus shipping for a 6 inch diameter skillet.

The controls on my cooker are stepped from 1 to 6 and I had the best results with heat on 5, cooking the pancakes for 2 minutes on each side. The batter had 2 cups water, 1½ cups flour, 2/3 cup grapeseed oil, salt, xylitol and spices. I mashed some steamed sweet potato with salt and olive oil and layered it between three pancakes. It was really deliciously satisfying. It's surprising how filling the buckwheat pancakes are.

 

[3DStudent]

I mashed some steamed sweet potato with salt and olive oil and layered it between three pancakes. It was really deliciously satisfying.

I was thinking about putting a steamed sweet potato in the batter for tomorrow's pancakes. Today I made them with half gluten free millet flour. It seems to just slightly alter the taste, nothing really beneficial.

 

[Laura]

I poured off a bit of batter this morning and added some xylitol to make some sweet cakes. It really altered the chemistry significantly. They were soft and not crispy and would not get crispy. So, no xylitol in my batter anymore since I do like them crispy.

 

[broken.english]

I ended up buying a 'Green Pan' frying pan. Here's their website: _http://www.green-pan.com/cookware/intro.asp. It is non-stick but it does not realease toxic fumes during cooking and I've had good results with it on a glass-top electric cooker. I later found a cast iron skillet from an eBay seller in the UK for GBP £5.99 plus shipping for a 6 inch diameter skillet.

Please keep us informed on the further fate of your green pan. It was my first choice a while ago but then I read some local consumer reports, which say that it looses its non-stick properties after six months or so. I only found two types of pan with mostly positive feedback: iron/cast iron pans and a brand named Stoneline, which seems to be free of polytetrafluor-something but I could not find out, whether this stone coating is harmless or not.

Edit=Quotes

 

[Nathan]

I poured off a bit of batter this morning and added some xylitol to make some sweet cakes. It really altered the chemistry significantly. They were soft and not crispy and would not get crispy. So, no xylitol in my batter anymore since I do like them crispy.

I was about to chime in and say this recipe worked wonderfully, and I did add some xylitol while still managing to get them crispy without overcooking them. It's possibly I didn't add enough xylitol to make them soft. Anyway, about to make a new batch now. So I might try a bit stevia instead and observe the difference in crispiness.

P.S. Yum.

 

[Laura]

I was about to chime in and say this recipe worked wonderfully, and I did add some xylitol while still managing to get them crispy without overcooking them. It's possibly I didn't add enough xylitol to make them soft. Anyway, about to make a new batch now. So I might try a bit stevia instead and observe the difference in crispiness.

P.S. Yum.

Try it different ways with bits of batter to see the chemical changes. It's really interesting.

 

[Nathan]

I used duck fat for the first time; my local butcher imports it from France. (Perhaps I can make duck confit? :P)

Compared to lard, I found the duck fat gives the pancakes a very different taste, which is different but great. Much like how olive oil gives pancakes a different taste to butter. The duck lard certainly helps keep the pancakes crispy. It also lasts longer in the pan and keeps the pan coated nicely, as opposed to olive oil or butter. But I found if I used too much duck fat the pancakes became a little ... ducked out.

I made the consistency somewhere between pancake and crepe, and later added a few tablespoons of xylitol and a liberal dose of cinnamon. This did make them a little sweeter. I suspect crispiness was not an issue because the consistency of the batter was almost crepe thin. Also, my baking powder had fallen into another dimension, so they did end up a fraction heavy.

I'll have to experiment further with the next batch. This water/oil recipe is the nicest yet.

 

[dugdeep]

I've been having quite a bit of success with these crepes too. It took a while to get the consistency of the batter right and figure out the right temperature, amount of ghee, etc. But now I've got them coming out perfectly every time. I'm using a ratio of about 1.5 to 2 BW flour to water and a healthy pinch of sea salt. I get the skillet nice and hot and then turn the pan down to medium (not sure why getting it hotter first seems to work better, but it does). I use about 2 tsp. of ghee per crepe and they always seem to turn out crispy and delicious. The problem I was having with them breaking before seems to be gone now.

I've had them almost every day for a week now and I'm quite impressed with them. I didn't think I was really missing sandwiches much, but it's nice to have them back :D