Buckwheat Pancakes (GF/EF)

These pancakes come out soft and tender, of course not as light as a regular pancake but superior to most other recipes I have tried for Gluten-Free, Egg-Free.  This particular recipe does have milk in it, but it works great with other non-dairy milks if you are dairy-free.  One of our favorites is the almond milk, but it also works great with soy, coconut, and rice.  I have made pancakes with part orange juice as well - makes a great orange ginger pancake, by adding about 1/2 tsp ground dry ginger.  Be creative with these!  We like them with apples and cinnamon or blueberries.  They are good with mini chocolate chips as well.  Sometimes I just add a teaspoon of cinnamon to the plain batter just to liven up simple pancakes.  And, of course, always serve them with REAL maple syrup!


1 1/2 c. Buckwheat Flour*
1/4 c. Granulated Sugar
1 tsp. Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Baking soda
2 Tbs. oil (vegetable oil, light olive oil, or coconut oil)
1 c. Milk (regular or non-dairy)
1 tsp. vinegar
1/4 c. flaxseed egg substitute (see info on "Egg Substitutes" post)
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 Tbs. applesauce

Combine all dry ingredients in a mixing bowl.  Add all the wet ingredients into the bowl with the dry, and whisk until smooth.  That is one beautiful thing about working with gluten-free flours, you really can't over mix a batter.  For instance, with regular pancake batters or muffin batters made with wheat flours, over mixing will produce a heavy, tough product.  I have not found this to be true of the gluten-free flours.

Pancake is ready to flip!

Heat a skillet to medium low heat.  When skillet is hot, grease it with butter.  I use butter to grease pan, but again if you are dairy-free, veg oil, coconut oil or light olive oil will also work.  Ladle batter onto skillet into pancakes, I use a 1/4 cup measuring cup as a ladle for small pancakes, or a 1/3 cup measuring cup for slightly larger pancakes.  Flip pancakes when they start to get bubbles on the top and edges and parts of top look set.  See photo to the left.  Both sides should be a nice golden brown color.  If the pancakes are not getting golden but are cooking through, turn the heat up, if the opposite is happening where they are getting too dark, but the middle is not setting up fast enough to turn them, turn the heat down slightly.

This recipe makes about 8 pancakes when using a 1/3 c. measuring cup as a ladle.  Leftovers keep well in the refrigerator for up to 3 days, reheating them quickly on a hot skillet works great!  They are also good eaten like toast with Sun Butter or almond butter (if you can have those.).

*This recipe does work well substituting 1/2c Masa Harina for 1/2 c. of the buckwheat flour.  I do this when I am running low in buckwheat flour, but have plenty of Masa.  

 YUM!  ENJOY!