Quinoa Pancakes | Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free, Soy-Free & Delicious

Back in August I shared my recipe for gluten-free, dairy-free, soy-free Buckwheat Pancakes that were both delicious and fluffy.  I never would have thought I'd be the type of girl to have more than one type of pancakes on her blog, but I've found another fabulous pancake recipe that needed only a little tweaking to suit our families' dietary needs.

This recipe comes from the amazing, and ever-popular Quinoa 365: The Everyday Superfood book.  I bought this book in late 2010 and its already full of wrinkled pages, hand written notes and food splatters, all signs of affection in my kitchen.  

These pancakes are thin, but still fluffy in the middle and they get a lovely crispiness along the edges if you fry them in a little bit of oil (which I do).  These pancakes have a slightly nutty quinoa flavour, but they have the hubs seal of approval, so I urge you to try these with your picky eaters.  I often make a half batch, which makes enough pancakes for the three of us on a Sunday morning with a couple leftover for the boy to eat during the week.  Alternately, if I make a whole batch, I freeze the leftovers and we can easily have breakfast for dinner another day!

I've made only a few changes to the original recipe, first I've replaced cow or soy's milk with rice milk, second I decreased the quinoa flour to ensure a mild flavour and finally I added a little bit of flax seed for a nutritional boost (as if pancakes made from Quinoa isn't nutritious enough).

Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free & Soy-free Quinoa Pancakes

Adapated from Quinoa 365: The Everyday Superfood
by Patricia Green & Carolyn Hemming

Dry Ingredients:

•  2 cups Quinoa Flour
• 2/3 cup Brown Rice Flour
• 2-3 Tbsp ground flaxseed
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 Tbsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt

Wet Ingredients:

• 2.5 cups rice milk
• 2 large eggs
• 2 Tbsp vegetable oil
• 1/2 tsp vanilla

Directions:

1. In a medium bowl whisk together the dry ingredients.
2. In a seperate bowl, mix together the liquid ingredients.  (A shaker cup intended for protein shakes works great).
3. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix well.
4. Drop batter by 1/4 cup onto a lightly oiled non-stick pan warmed over medium-high heat.
5. When bubbles form on the pancake, flip and continue cooking and 30sec - 1 minute.
6. Enjoy the deliciousness!

Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free Buckwheat Pancakes

I love breakfast.  I've always loved breakfast.  Before my gluten-free existence, I would relish  in the delicious laziness of a Sunday morning breakfast out; I nearly always ordered the eggs benny with chunky hashbrowns.  Despite my many breakfasts eaten in a restaurant, I can say with a fair amount of certainty that I never ordered just pancakes.  I've never really been a fan, in hindsight I'm sure it had to do with the fact that they are laden with gluten.

Ironically, since going gluten-free, pancakes are something I've been determined to master.  I've tried gluten-free pancake recipes and mixes and I've adapted traditional pancake recipes, but I've never managed to get quite the right blend to create a fluffy but stable gluten-free pancake.

This weekend however, I had success with these gluten-free buckwheat pancakes - the boy gobbled an entire one up in 5 minutes flat!  Aesthetically, they appear a little grey in colour, but in terms of texture and taste, these pancakes were amazing; fluffy and light and they didn't fall apart when I tried to eat them.  They are filling and nutritious and let me assure you, buckwheat is gluten-free (despite the fact that 'wheat' is in the name) and is a source of fibre, iron, potassium and protein.

I served these with Vegan Becel and blue agave syrup for the boy, which mean he gets all the buttery, sweetness without an unnecessary sugar spike or eczema-triggering dairy.

Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free
Buckwheat Pancakes

Ingredients:
3/4 cup buckwheat flour
1/4 cup potato starch
1/8 cup sugar
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp xantham gum

3/4-1 cup rice (or other non-dairy) milk
1 egg
1tsp baking soda
2 tbsp oil


Directions:

• Whisk together buckwheat flour, potato starch, sugar, baking powder, salt and xantham gum. 
• Mix together 3/4 cup rice milk, egg, baking soda and oil.
• Add wet ingredients to dry and mix well - add additional rice milk as needed to get your desired consistency.
• Heat non-stick pan over medium heat with a small amount of oil, margarine or PAM.
• Pour batter by 1/4 cup onto hot pan and cook until bottom is browned and batter just begins to bubble, about 2 minutes.
• Flip pancakes and cook another minute until cooked through.
• Serve hot and enjoy!