Universal Pancake Recipe

A few weeks ago, I promised that I would post my Universal Pancake Recipe.

The first few years I went gluten-free, I hated it. Okay, I still hate it, but I've also learned to appreciate the staggering variety of flavors and textures that are available beyond the basic three grains.

As I was re-learning how to cook without wheat, barley, and rye, pancakes were one of the first things that really *worked* for me. I'm terrible about following recipes, preferring to eyeball rather than measure, and substitute whatever happens to be at hand. Pancakes were the first thing that I felt comfortable eyeballing, and having at least one dish that I understood well enough to improvise gave me back a lot of my confidence as a cook. They're a great, low-commitment way to try out a new flour or flour blend.

Hopefully, if anybody else out there is struggling with re-learning how to cook gluten-free, this will help give you the confidence to experiment, and the knowledge to rescue something that doesn't seem to be working at first.

These pancakes began as the Alaskan Sourdough Hotcakes recipe from Sandor Ellix Katz's Wild Fermentation (which is a wonderful book for learning to let go of recipes). Over time, I started making them with so many variations that the process became less like following a recipe and more like finding different embodiments for a Platonic ideal of the essence of pancake-ness. Consequently, what follows isn't so much a recipe as it is a starting point, a method, or a rule of thumb, and a collection of suggestions for what to do when things don't go quite the way you want them to.

The base recipe looks something like this:

Ingredients:
2 cups flour (any kind), OR 1 cup of flour and 1 cup of sourdough starter
1-2 eggs (definitely use 2 with gluten-free flour)
2 Tbsp (or a large glug) of mild-flavored oil or melted butter
1-2 Tbsp sweetener (I like brown sugar or maple syrup)
1/8 to 1/4 tsp salt (or a large pinch, or a few shakes)
1 heaping tsp each of baking powder and baking soda
1-2 cups of liquid (usually milk), enough to make a pourable batter

Instructions:
Combine dry ingredients in a mixing bowl. Make a well in the centre and add egg, oil, and a bit of milk, stirring to mix the egg into the liquid, and then gradually incorporating the flour. Continue adding milk or other liquid gradually until the consistency is a thick but pourable batter. Pre-heat and grease your griddle or pan, pour some batter in, and see what happens.

If your pancakes are too thin, add more flour.
If your pancakes fall apart, add more egg.
If your pancakes stick to the pan, add more oil.
If your pancakes are too dense, add more baking powder.
If your pancakes are too thick, add more liquid.
Adjust the amount of sugar and salt to taste.

Makes 6-8 pancakes.

That's it. Sort of. From this base, there are all kinds of variations.

My favorite pancakes are made from wholemeal oat flour. I'll usually add a dash of cinnamon, ginger, clove, and cardamom. Sometimes I'll dice some tart green apples and add them to the batter too. Other times, a handful of chocolate chips go into the pan. These are lovely with the fruit syrups that you can get from Eastern European markets. My husband slathers them with strawberry jam or nutella and sliced bananas.

Oat pancakes with melted butter and
cherry syrup. Does it get any better
than this? 

Another favorite is cornmeal pancakes, with about half and half cornmeal or maize flour and something neutral-flavored that holds together well, like cassava flour or a good all-purpose blend. They are lovely with melted butter and honey.

Different flours will taste and behave in different ways. Some will absorb different amounts of liquid, and others will hold their shape better. Add the liquid a little at a time, and be prepared to add an extra egg if it isn't holding together the way you want.

The purpose of the egg is to act as a binder. If you're making vegan pancakes or simply run out of eggs, flaxseed meal, psyllium husk, and chia seed all work great too. If I'm grinding flour for pancakes, I'll sometimes toss a handful of chia seeds in the hopper with the whatever I'm grinding.

Your main liquid can be milk, buttermilk, milk kefir, whey, non-dairy milk, or even water. I haven't tried using fruit juice yet, but I bet you could get it to work. The things to think about when choosing a liquid are consistency, fat content, and acidity. Buttermilk and milk kefir are thicker than milk and water, so you'll need to add more of them to achieve the same consistency. If you use a liquid with little or no fat (for example, water in a sourdough starter), you may want to add a little extra oil to prevent sticking, or if you're using whole milk, you may want to dial the oil back a little.The more acidic your liquid, the more strongly it will react with baking soda.

Baking soda is an alkaline powder that reacts with acidic liquids to make bubbles, making your pancakes light and fluffy. Milk is slightly acidic, as is honey. Yogurt, kefir, whey, buttermilk, and sourdough starter are more acidic and will react more strongly. Non-dairy milks are not particularly acidic.

As baking soda reacts with acids, it also neutralizes some of their acidity, changing their flavor. If you like a strong sourdough flavor, replace some or all of the baking soda and with baking powder.

Baking powder is baking soda with some acidic stuff (cream of tartar) already mixed in. If you are choosing ingredients that aren't particularly acidic, baking soda alone won't do much of anything, so you may want to swap it out for more baking powder.

Finally, your choice of sweetener will affect not only the flavor but the consistency of your batter. If using a liquid sweetener like honey, maple syrup, agave nectar, etc., you will want to add less liquid in order to prevent the batter from becoming runny.

If letting your batter sour/soak before
cooking, start with a very thick batter. 
It will get thinner when you add oil 
and eggs.

If you want to make a sourdough or soaked grain version of these pancakes, you may want to assemble your batter in a slightly different order. Mix your flour, sourdough starter (if using) and main liquid together first, making a slightly-too-thick batter. (Pro tip: a little milk kefir mixed with flour makes a good, low-commitment sourdough starter.) Let the batter sit until you are ready to cook.

While your pan is pre-heating, stir in the egg, oil, sugar, and salt, and fine-tune the consistency of your batter by adding a little more liquid or flour as needed. Then, sprinkle your baking soda or powder over the top of the batter and mix it in well. The soda will start to bubble as soon as it touches the liquid, so it's a good idea to have your pan hot and ready before the final mixing stage.

You don't have to limit yourself to just pancakes either. With just a few minor adjustments, you can use this recipe for just about anything where a cake-like consistency will do, such as...

Crepes:

Crepes made with 1/2 cup each cassava
flour and Dove's Farm GF all-purpose
flour blend

By omitting the baking soda/powder and reducing the amount of flour, you can make some lovely crepes. I tend to leave the sweetener out as well so that I can eat some of my crepes with sweet toppings and some with savory. That base recipe looks something like this:

1 cup flour
2 cups milk or 1 cup each milk kefir and water or milk (kefir alone is a bit too thick)
2-3 eggs (1-2 if using wheat flour)
2 Tbsp oil
pinch of salt

The main thing to remember with crepes is to use a whisk, not a spoon or spatula, to combine the ingredients. This keeps the flour from becoming clumpy.

The batter should be completely lump-free and fairly thin.

If you don't have a whisk handy, you can still make perfectly good crepes, they just take a little more effort. Instead of adding the liquid all at once, add a small splash at a time and mix it into the flour, forming a thick, smooth paste. Keep adding a little bit of liquid at a time, mixing until the batter is uniformly lump-free, until it makes a smooth, runny liquid.

I make crepes without a non-stick pan, so the quantity of oil in the batter is very important. Without enough oil in the batter, no amount of grease on the pan will keep your crepes from sticking. If your first crepe sticks, try adding more oil to the batter, not the pan. With just enough oil in the batter, the crepe will come loose from the pan on its own once the underside is done.

As the crepe cooks, the edges will start to come loose from the pan.

When the crepe is ready to flip, it should shake loose without sticking.

Pre-heat and lightly grease your pan, and then ladle a little batter into the center, tilting the pan to get a thin, even coating. Once the top of the crepe starts to look solid and the edges begin to peel away from the pan, I give it a shake every 30 seconds or so until the crepe moves freely, and then I know it's time to flip it over. Cook until both sides are lightly browned.

Back when I could eat gluten, I liked making whole wheat crepes. These days, I tend to use buckwheat flour, but sorghum and cassava work well too, as will almost any all-purpose gluten-free blend.

I love rolling these up with cream cheese or cottage cheese and homemade jam inside. If I'm in the mood for a savory crepe, I'll toss some chopped spinach or arugula/rocket, crumbled goat cheese, and either some diced tomato or slices of pickled beet onto the crepe after I've flipped it over the first time. Putting a lid on the pan while the second side cooks helps to steam the greens and melt the cheese. By the time the crepe is done, the spinach is lightly steamed and the cheese is wonderfully gooey.

Waffles: 

Just for the record, I love my cast
iron waffle iron. 

The basic recipe also makes awesome waffles. You might need to increase the amount of oil slightly to keep them from sticking to the iron (mine is cast iron, not non-stick, and the seasoning isn't yet as good as it could be).

I like to make my waffles with sorghum, cassava, or an all-purpose blend for a fairly neutral "white flour" flavor. Swapping in a half cup of millet flour and/or fine cornmeal (maize flour for those of you in the UK) makes for an extra crunchy crust without affecting the flavor too much.

Tea Breads and Muffins:

This recipe works as a good starting point for some hearty tea breads/cakes and muffins. I add a little less liquid so that the batter is just a little too thick to pour gracefully, scrape it into a greased and/or parchment-lined loaf tin, muffin tin, or other baking dish, and bake on medium-high heat until the top is browned and a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean.

My favorite tea bread uses wholemeal oat flour with some cinnamon, ginger, clove, and any other spices that come to hand. Once the batter is mixed, I'll throw in a few handfuls of walnuts and dried cranberries. Fresh (or frozen) cranberries are even better, if you can get them.

For a savoury bread, reduce the amount of sweetener, increase the salt slightly, and throw in some sun-dried tomatoes, olives, herbs, or shredded cheese.

The possibilities or endless.