When Isla was still little, she and I came home from a busy morning running errands one day. She’d been sleeping in her pram on the walk home, but woke up as soon as we got in. When I asked her what she wanted to have for lunch she went from drowsy to wide awake in 0.2 seconds flat: “pancakes, mummy!” I strongly believe that pancakes are a basic food group, and that we should never deny a request for one… or seven.
There are billions of pancake recipes out there, but there’s a reason I especially like making the buckwheat variety – for pancake day or any other day. They’re an ideal choice for a nutrient-dense version of breakfast pancakes, dinner pancakes, lunch pancakes, snack pancakes… any pancakes. Making them based on a non-wheat flour also adds variety to your diet and keeps thing interesting for your taste buds!
Using buckwheat gives these vegan buckwheat pancakes a slightly nutty taste, as well as being more filling. The added chickpea/gram flour achieves a few different things; it adds protein, replaces the egg, gives the pancakes a deeper colour and a more interesting texture. The two flours will give you a proper strange batter – don’t be put off, and don’t be tempted to add too much liquid to loosen it up! Buckwheat makes everything gloopy, and the gram flour smells quite strongly and tastes bitter if you try to lick the spoon (who doesn’t). But trust the process – once baked, the pancakes are delicious.
One final note – barista-style oat milk is a key ingredient in this recipe – the higher fat content means you don’t need to add any additional fat to the batter. If you’re using a different milk alternative, I’d recommend adding a tablespoon of a neutral-tasting oil to the mixture. Sunflower, rice bran, or coconut oil are all great – just make sure to melt it if you’re using the latter!
Vegan Buckwheat Pancakes
Equipment
- mixing bowl, whisk, pancake pan
Ingredients
- 2 cups buckwheat flour
- 1/2 cup gram flour/chickpea flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 1/2 cups oat milk I use a barista oat milk, which has a relatively high fat content. If you're using a lower-fat milk alternative, add a tablespoon of oil to the batter
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/2 tsp vanilla omit if making savoury pancakes
- 1 tbsp sugar omit if making savoury pancakes
Instructions
- Mix all your dry ingredients together in a bowl, then add in liquids and whisk until smooth. The mixture will be gloopy, but should be easy to pour – if not, add a little more milk.
- Preheat a pancake pan over medium heat. Once it's hot, pour in the batter for your first pancake. It should be about 2/3 of a cup per pancake, I use a soup ladel for this as it seems to be the perfect size!
- Bake for about two minutes, or until lots of bubbles have risen to the surface. Then flip and bake until golden brown.
- Repeat for all remaining pancakes then serve while still hot!
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