Posts in Category: Pancake
Kéfir Pancakes
I bought kéfir (pronounced kə-FEER) so I could try Kéfir Pancakes. Kéfir is a fermented milk drink similar to a thin yogurt that is made from kéfir grains and milk. I have made waffles with yogurt as the dairy, but thought kéfir sounded interesting. Kéfir is found in grocery stores near the yogurt.
Kéfir adds an interesting flavour to the pancakes. My wife even likes them without syrup, just some butter.
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- Kéfir
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- Foamy kéfir batter
Milk is added to thin the kéfir. How much milk you use depends on how thick you like your pancakes. 1/4 cup milk on the 2-cup batter recipe will result in a thick pancake. I prefer mine fairly thin, so I use 1/2 cup milk. If you use 1/4 cup milk, spread the batter on the griddle with the bottom of the ladle. Note, this recipe does not use any baking powder. Kéfir is acidic, so only baking soda is added. Whisk the wet and dry ingredients together for a short period, as the baking soda/acid bubbling comes quickly. A long mix drives the bubbles out. You can add some baking power to help with the rise if you mix too much.
- 1 cup (125 g) Flour
- ¾ tsp (6 g) Baking Soda
- ½ tsp (3 g) Baking Powder (optional)
- ¼ tsp (2 g) Sea Salt
- 1 cup (240 g) Kéfir plain
- ¼ - ½ cup (60-120 g) Milk
- 1 (50 g) Eggs
- 1½ TBSP (25 g) Unsalted Butter, melted OR Sunflower Oil
- ½ tsp (3 g) Vanilla extract
- For griddle surface Non-stick Spray or vegetable oil
- 2 cups (250 g) Flour
- 1½ tsp (11 g) Baking Soda
- 1 tsp (5 g) Baking Powder (optional)
- ½ tsp (3 g) Sea Salt
- 2 cups (480 g) Kéfir plain
- ½ - 1 cup (120-240 g) Milk
- 2 (100 g) Eggs
- 3 TBSP (45 g) Unsalted Butter, melted OR Sunflower Oil
- 1 tsp (5 g) Vanilla extract
- For griddle surface Non-stick Spray or vegetable oil
- Turn on griddle. Heat until drop of water sizzles
- Griddle - 350°F/180°C/Gas 4 - Moderate to 375°F/190°C/Gas 5 - Moderately hot
- In a large bowl, whisk dry ingredients
- In a medium bowl, whisk kéfir, eggs, milk, butter and vanilla extract
- Add ALL of the wet mixture to dry and whisk, but not too long.
- Apply non-stick spray or oil to the griddle.
- Pour ¼ cup batter to make 1 pancake. If the batter is thick, spread out with bottom of ladle.
- Bake on side until many bubbles appear on surface and the edges are set, about 2-3 minutes
- Holes will appear, pop and not fill in.
- Flip over and bake until bottom golden brown, about 2 minutes
- Remove and serve
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- Bake until bubbles appear. About 2-3 min.
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- Yummy with butter and syrup
Recipe inspired by Kefir Pancakes – Hubert Cormier, nutritionist.
https://www.liberte.ca/en/kefir-pancakes
Details: How to make Pancakes
Included with each pancake recipe.
Equipment
- Two bowls. A smaller one for the wet ingredients and a larger bowl for the dry ingredients / final mix
- Whisk – In a pinch you can use a large fork
- Scale
- Measuring spoons
- Measuring cup or ladle to pour mixture onto griddle
- Griddle – I use a low cost electric griddle
- Spatula – I use a Winco NC-RS Nylon Fish Spatula
A common question in North America is why use a scale. When I went to baking school, the first thing we were told is to do measuring with a scale. Especially for flour. Flour packs and a cup of flour can weigh anywhere from 100 grams to 140 grams. I use 125 grams as a cup so regardless of whether you flour is packed or just sifted, 125 grams is a cup. For small measurements I do use measuring spoons.
Why grams and not ounces? Commercial baking is done in grams and my training is commercial.
Directions
- Turn on griddle. Heat until drop of water sizzles. 350°F/180°C/Gas 4 – Moderate to 375°F/190°C/Gas 5 – Moderately hot. Let griddle warm up for 10 minutes for heat to distribute evenly.
- In a large bowl whisk dry ingredients.
- In a medium bowl, break egg(s). If you get any shell in it is easy to remove. Whisk to break up the yoke. I sometimes use a large fork.
- Add other wet ingredients and whisk.
- Add 2/3 of the wet mixture to the dry and whisk. This thicker batter makes it easier to work out the lumps. Then add the remaining liquid and whisk.
FOR RECIPES WITH BAKING SODA ONLY: Add all wet to dry in one step. Do not whisk too long as the bubbles appear immediately and will be driven out. - Apply non-stick spray or oil to the griddle.
- Pour 1/4 cup batter to make 1 pancake. I use a measuring cup with a long spout.
- For thicker batters, such as the Orange Juice Whole Wheat Pancakes, use a small ladle.
- Bake on side until many bubbles appear on surface and the edges are set, about 2-3 minutes. If the bottom is too dark but the top is not set, lower your het temperature.
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- White All Purpose Flour
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- Whole Wheat Flour Bubbles
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- Some batches give you lots of bubbles
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- Orange Juice Whole Wheat
- Holes will appear, pop and not fill in. Whole wheat pancakes will not show bubbles as much. All purpose flour tends to show the bubbles more than whole wheat.
- Flip over and bake until bottom golden brown, about 2 minutes
- Remove and serve with butter and maple syrup or your choice of toppings.
Whisk eggs
Whisk 2/3 of wet into dry. Easier to eliminate lumps.
Pour batter.
Pour with a small ladle
Tips
You can freeze and reheat extra pancakes. Store in a freezer bag then reheat at 350°F/180°C for a few minutes.
Pancake Recipes
Pumpkin Spice Pancakes
One of my favourite things my wife bakes is pumpkin pie. She buys a large can of pumpkin puree and goes to town. She mentioned that a small amount was left over so I thought, what about a pumpkin spice pancake? This is a spin on my Lemon Milk Pancakes adding pumpkin and three spices. I found many of the other recipes too strong. The aroma of pumpkin pie was in the air. The only trick is the pumpkin tends to thicken up the batter. I found if I poured it then spread it out some the resulting pancakes were nicer.
Also the batter is orange so it turns dark quicker. Again, I thought the pancakes were done when it was just them turning dark. Great with butter and some maple syrup. If you have any left over, just place on a rack to cool then bag and freeze.
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- Spread batter out with a ladle to avoid them getting too thick
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- Wait for the bubbles to appear.
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- Flip and Serve
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- They are naturally dark. I like mine with butter and maple syrup
- 1 cup (125 g) All Purpose Flour
- 1 tsp (5 g) Granulated Sugar
- 1 tsp (5 g) Baking Powder
- ½ tsp (4 g) Baking Soda
- ¼ tsp (2 g) Sea Salt
- ½ tsp (4 g) Cinnamon
- ¼ tsp (2 g) Ginger
- ⅛ tsp (1 g) Cloves Powdered
- 1 (50 g) Eggs
- 1¼ cup minus 1 TBSP (285 g) Milk
- 1 TBSP (15 g) Lemon Juice
- ¼ cup (50 g) Pureed Pumpkin
- 1½ TBSP (25 g) Unsalted Butter, melted OR Sunflower Oil
- ½ tsp (3 g) Vanilla extract
- For griddle surface - Non-stick spray or vegetable oil
- 2 cups (250 g) All Purpose Flour
- 2 tsp (10 g) Granulated Sugar
- 2 tsp (10 g) Baking Powder
- 1 tsp (7 g) Baking Soda
- ½ tsp (3 g) Sea Salt
- 1 tsp (7 g) Cinnamon
- ½ tsp (3 g) Ginger
- ¼ tsp (1 g) Cloves Powdered
- 2 (100 g) Eggs
- 2½ cups minus 2 TBSP (570 g) Milk
- 2 TBSP (30 g) Lemon Juice
- ½ cup (100 g) Pureed Pumpkin
- 3 TBSP (45 g) Unsalted Butter, melted OR Sunflower Oil
- 1 tsp (5 g) Vanilla extract
- For griddle surface - Non-stick spray or vegetable oil
- Turn on griddle. Heat until drop of water sizzles
- Griddle - 350°F/180°C/Gas 4
- In a large bowl whisk dry ingredients
- In a medium bowl whisk eggs, milk, pureed pumpkin, butter/oil and vanilla extract
- Add ½ of the wet mixture to dry and whisk. This makes it easier to work out the lumps. Then add the remaining wet and whisk.
- Apply non-stick spray or oil to the griddle.
- Pour ¼ cup batter to make 1 pancake. Spread out with ladle to avoid it getting too think.
- Bake on side until many bubbles appear on surface and the edges are set, about 2-3 minutes. As the batter is dark, the pancake will look more done then it is.
- Holes will appear, pop and not fill in.
- Flip over and bake until bottom golden brown, about 2 minutes
- Remove and serve
Mini German Pancakes
Watch the batter rise in the oven.
German Pancakes are popovers. They are also known as Dutch Babies, Bismarcks or Dutch puffs. Think of a cross between an omelette and a soufflé. Simple recipe of milk, flour, sugar, eggs, vanilla extract and butter. Once removed from the oven, they collapse to form Yorkshire pudding-like sides with an omelette centre.
Serve with a fruit topping, icing sugar or your favourite maple syrup and butter.
2020 Feature recipe of the Sunderland Maple Syrup Festival.
- 2 (100 g) Eggs
- ⅓ cup (80 g) Milk
- ½ tsp (3 g) Vanilla Extract
- 1½ tsp (7 g) Granulated Sugar
- ⅓ cup (45 g) All-Purpose Flour
- 1 TBSP (15 g) Unsalted Butter
- 6-cup muffin pan
- Set oven to 350°F/180°C/Gas 4
- To a bowl, add eggs and whisk to break up the yolks.
- Add milk, vanilla extract and sugar, then whisk.
- Add flour and whisk to remove lumps.
- If NOT using a silicon pan, spray muffin pan with non-stick spray.
- Put ½ tsp butter in each muffin hole.
- Place pan in oven for one minute to let butter melt.
- Remove from oven and spread around the melted butter.
- Pour 3 TBSP batter per muffin hole.
- Bake 25-30 min until the sides rise up and brown.
- Carefully remove from oven and watch the top and sides collapse and pull in from the sides.
Orange Juice Whole Wheat Pancakes
Want your family to eat more whole wheat flour but they don’t like the taste? Try using orange juice instead of milk in your pancakes. The citric acid dulls the fibre taste and makes for an interesting flavour. I like to use orange juice with extra pulp for even more flavour surprises as you eat. As the juice has so much sugar, no need to add more. The sweet juice makes for a dark colour as the sugar caramelizes on the griddle.
This recipe uses the acid in the juice and baking soda to build on the baking powder leaven to make for a high soft pancake.
Batter Up – What is a Batter?
The older I get, the more I realize two things: time is precious, and homemade is superior to store bought. Reconciling the two can be a challenge.
I was thinking about my baking recently and realized my passion has moved from dough to batter. Baking with batter has several attractions for me. First, start-to-eat is often as short as 15 minutes. Second is portion control. As our kids are grown and on their own, all of my batter recipes have a 2-portion version and a 4-portion for families. The third attraction is that it requires only low-cost tools and machines. Basics include bowls, a scale, measuring spoons, whisk, measuring cup, spatulas, waffle maker and a griddle.
Simple Milk Pancakes
My third waffle to pancake recipe is Simple Milk Pancakes based on my Simple Milk Waffles. Like that recipe, this is a foundation recipe to me. It is what I build others from. This is a light fluffy pancake. I prefer the Lemon Milk Pancakes. Mainly I use this as a foundation recipe to build on when I don’t want to add an acid.
In the Oat Gluten-Free Lemon Milk Pancakes recipe, I explain how I convert a waffle to a pancake recipe.
Lemon Milk Pancakes
My second waffle to pancake recipe is Lemon Milk Pancakes based on my Lemon Milk Waffles. Like that recipe, this is a foundation recipe to me. It is what I build others from.
Lemon Milk Pancakes use lemon juice and baking soda to build on the baking powder leaven. I love the hint of lemon the juice adds.
Oat Gluten-Free Lemon Milk Pancakes
I was recently advised to reduce my carb and sugar intake. I have been exploring pancakes so I decided to take my Oat Gluten-Free Lemon Milk Waffles and convert it to pancakes. The bonus was that the oat waffles have no sugar. Pancakes require a thinner batter with less fat/sugar and more milk. My starting point to convert a waffle recipe to pancakes is: