The SECOND best thing about Saturdays is... PANCAKES!
For many years now, Saturday has been pancake day. I don't know how this tradition started, but now, every Saturday morning brings the delicious smell (and taste) of homemade pancakes. Of course, pancakes have been known to show up on any day, at any time, for any meal... but Saturday morning is definitely pancake time!
Maybe I do know how the tradition started... Once upon a time, in a not so far-off kingdom, there lived a very happy pancake maker. He loved to mix flour and eggs and butter together and whip up batches of delicious pancakes that everyone in the castle flocked to the table for.
The kids loved to help out - Prince Louis learned how to crack his first egg while helping King Dad to prepare his special recipe, and Prince Curtis, at the tender age of two, learned that pancakes taste better when he puts the flour into the bowl rather than on the floor. Who knows, perhaps the strength of arm that they developed while mixing the batter might even have contributed to their future successes on the jousting field, er, tennis court...
But then, disaster!
The evil Witch Celia of Sprue cast a spell over the merry little kingdom. "Mwa-ha-ha-haaa! I've had enough of your happy little bakery! You shall no longer enjoy pancake Saturday! Or any other baking, for that matter! You will forever be allergic to wheat! Mwaaaa-ha-ha-ha-haaaaa!" And she cast a spell on the king so that he could never eat gluten again.
The king was sad... but only for a little while. He went to the royal grocery store in search of a pre-mix! Curses, he tried them all, and they tasted... well, they tasted OK, but they just didn't make Saturday special any more. But the king was determined.
Week after week, he experimented with flours that Celia of Sprue had no power over. Rice, potato, tapioca, corn... he mixed his flours, trying to duplicate the magical recipe that had once enchanted his kingdom.
At last, success! A recipe that equalled the wheaty version! Tasty enough that the kids love them and look forward to helping out on pancake Saturdays... even when school's out for the summer!
OK, maybe it isn't just my pancakes. Maybe it's the time we spend making them. But I'd like to think the recipe has something to do with it. :-)
Here are both the gluten-free and wheat-based versions of the recipe. Please note - there are subtle differences in the amounts of the ingredients between the two, and tiny differences do matter when you're working with gluten-free flour blends.
Scott's Gluten-Free Pancakes
(makes about 15-18 4"-diameter pancakes)
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups gluten-free flour blend (*see note below)
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3 tsp sugar
2 eggs, slightly beaten
1 1/8 cup buttermilk
3/8 cup (1/4 plus one-half of 1/4) milk (I use whole for this recipe)
3 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted
Vegetable oil for brushing griddle
Instructions:
Prepare a griddle by lightly oiling the surface as needed. Pre-heat the griddle to 325-350°F.
Melt butter in microwave.
In a medium-to-large bowl, mix all dry ingredients together with a whisk. Add milk, buttermilk, and slightly-beaten eggs to the dry ingredients and whisk just until blended. Add melted butter and whisk only until blended. (With pancakes, it's important to not over-mix. Over-mixed batter produces tough pancakes, even the gluten-free variety. Don't worry if there are lumps in your batter.)
Pour about 1/4 cup of batter onto the griddle. Repeat as space permits. Cook until small bubbles form on the surface of the pancake, or about 2-3 minutes. Flip the pancakes over and cook for another minute or two until golden brown. Top with maple syrup or fruit or powdered sugar and cinnamon... whatever you like!
(Tip: if you like butter on your pancakes, a good time to put it on is right after you flip the pancakes to start cooking the second side. It melts easier than if you try to butter them when they're on your plate at the table.)
(Tip 2: in my experimentation, I found that adding xanthan gum (a common additive to aid in gluten-free baking) is unnecessary for this recipe.)
* Gluten-free flour blend can be either Bette Hagman's Featherlight blend, but I make my own blend of:
1 cup white rice flour
1 cup tapioca flour
1 cup corn starch
1 tsp potato flour
I mix up a big batch of this and store it in an air-tight container in the fridge.
Scott's Wheat Pancakes
(makes 8-10 4"-diameter pancakes)
Ingredients
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp sugar
1 large egg, separated
3/4 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup milk (plus a Tbsp or so extra if the batter is too thick)
2 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted
Vegetable oil for brushing griddle
Instructions:
Prepare a griddle by lightly oiling the surface as needed. Pre-heat the griddle to 325-350°F.
Melt butter in microwave.
In a medium-to-large bowl, mix all dry ingredients together with a whisk. Add milk, buttermilk, and slightly-beaten eggs to the dry ingredients and whisk just until blended. Add melted butter and whisk only until blended. (With pancakes, it's important to not over-mix. Over-mixed batter produces tough pancakes. Don't worry if there are lumps in your batter.)
Pour about 1/4 cup of batter onto the griddle. Repeat as space permits. Cook until small bubbles form on the surface of the pancake, or about 2-3 minutes. Flip the pancakes over and cook for another minute or two until golden brown. Top with maple syrup or fruit or powdered sugar and cinnamon... whatever you like!
(Tip: if you like butter on your pancakes, a good time to put it on is right after you flip the pancakes to start cooking the second side. It melts easier than if you try to butter them when they're on your plate at the table.)
If you're looking for a yummy pancake recipe, I hope you'll give this a try, and maybe it'll make your Saturday mornings as special and delicious as ours. Enjoy!
- Scott
For many years now, Saturday has been pancake day. I don't know how this tradition started, but now, every Saturday morning brings the delicious smell (and taste) of homemade pancakes. Of course, pancakes have been known to show up on any day, at any time, for any meal... but Saturday morning is definitely pancake time!
Maybe I do know how the tradition started... Once upon a time, in a not so far-off kingdom, there lived a very happy pancake maker. He loved to mix flour and eggs and butter together and whip up batches of delicious pancakes that everyone in the castle flocked to the table for.
The kids loved to help out - Prince Louis learned how to crack his first egg while helping King Dad to prepare his special recipe, and Prince Curtis, at the tender age of two, learned that pancakes taste better when he puts the flour into the bowl rather than on the floor. Who knows, perhaps the strength of arm that they developed while mixing the batter might even have contributed to their future successes on the jousting field, er, tennis court...
But then, disaster!
The evil Witch Celia of Sprue cast a spell over the merry little kingdom. "Mwa-ha-ha-haaa! I've had enough of your happy little bakery! You shall no longer enjoy pancake Saturday! Or any other baking, for that matter! You will forever be allergic to wheat! Mwaaaa-ha-ha-ha-haaaaa!" And she cast a spell on the king so that he could never eat gluten again.
The king was sad... but only for a little while. He went to the royal grocery store in search of a pre-mix! Curses, he tried them all, and they tasted... well, they tasted OK, but they just didn't make Saturday special any more. But the king was determined.
Week after week, he experimented with flours that Celia of Sprue had no power over. Rice, potato, tapioca, corn... he mixed his flours, trying to duplicate the magical recipe that had once enchanted his kingdom.
At last, success! A recipe that equalled the wheaty version! Tasty enough that the kids love them and look forward to helping out on pancake Saturdays... even when school's out for the summer!
OK, maybe it isn't just my pancakes. Maybe it's the time we spend making them. But I'd like to think the recipe has something to do with it. :-)
 |  |
| Curt | Louis |
Here are both the gluten-free and wheat-based versions of the recipe. Please note - there are subtle differences in the amounts of the ingredients between the two, and tiny differences do matter when you're working with gluten-free flour blends.
Scott's Gluten-Free Pancakes
(makes about 15-18 4"-diameter pancakes)
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups gluten-free flour blend (*see note below)
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3 tsp sugar
2 eggs, slightly beaten
1 1/8 cup buttermilk
3/8 cup (1/4 plus one-half of 1/4) milk (I use whole for this recipe)
3 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted
Vegetable oil for brushing griddle
Instructions:
Prepare a griddle by lightly oiling the surface as needed. Pre-heat the griddle to 325-350°F.
Melt butter in microwave.
In a medium-to-large bowl, mix all dry ingredients together with a whisk. Add milk, buttermilk, and slightly-beaten eggs to the dry ingredients and whisk just until blended. Add melted butter and whisk only until blended. (With pancakes, it's important to not over-mix. Over-mixed batter produces tough pancakes, even the gluten-free variety. Don't worry if there are lumps in your batter.)
Pour about 1/4 cup of batter onto the griddle. Repeat as space permits. Cook until small bubbles form on the surface of the pancake, or about 2-3 minutes. Flip the pancakes over and cook for another minute or two until golden brown. Top with maple syrup or fruit or powdered sugar and cinnamon... whatever you like!
(Tip: if you like butter on your pancakes, a good time to put it on is right after you flip the pancakes to start cooking the second side. It melts easier than if you try to butter them when they're on your plate at the table.)
(Tip 2: in my experimentation, I found that adding xanthan gum (a common additive to aid in gluten-free baking) is unnecessary for this recipe.)
* Gluten-free flour blend can be either Bette Hagman's Featherlight blend, but I make my own blend of:
1 cup white rice flour
1 cup tapioca flour
1 cup corn starch
1 tsp potato flour
I mix up a big batch of this and store it in an air-tight container in the fridge.
Scott's Wheat Pancakes
(makes 8-10 4"-diameter pancakes)
Ingredients
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp sugar
1 large egg, separated
3/4 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup milk (plus a Tbsp or so extra if the batter is too thick)
2 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted
Vegetable oil for brushing griddle
Instructions:
Prepare a griddle by lightly oiling the surface as needed. Pre-heat the griddle to 325-350°F.
Melt butter in microwave.
In a medium-to-large bowl, mix all dry ingredients together with a whisk. Add milk, buttermilk, and slightly-beaten eggs to the dry ingredients and whisk just until blended. Add melted butter and whisk only until blended. (With pancakes, it's important to not over-mix. Over-mixed batter produces tough pancakes. Don't worry if there are lumps in your batter.)
Pour about 1/4 cup of batter onto the griddle. Repeat as space permits. Cook until small bubbles form on the surface of the pancake, or about 2-3 minutes. Flip the pancakes over and cook for another minute or two until golden brown. Top with maple syrup or fruit or powdered sugar and cinnamon... whatever you like!
(Tip: if you like butter on your pancakes, a good time to put it on is right after you flip the pancakes to start cooking the second side. It melts easier than if you try to butter them when they're on your plate at the table.)
If you're looking for a yummy pancake recipe, I hope you'll give this a try, and maybe it'll make your Saturday mornings as special and delicious as ours. Enjoy!
- Scott
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