Wheatless: Buckwheat Pancakes

Buckwheat Pancakes

 I was sure this buckwheat pancake recipe would be declared a success.  They were fluffy, buckwheaty in flavor, and the color of a mustard field in flower.  I was well and truly pleased.  But was my husband, Dan?

(This recipe is an adaptation from Hodgson Mill.)  One egg, 1/2 cup milk, 1/2 cup buttermilk and 2 TB melted butter are whizzed in the blender.

Then add: 1 cup buckwheat flour, 1/2 tsp. baking powder, 1/2 tsp. baking soda, 2 TB sugar, and 1/2 tsp. salt, previously whisked together.  After a minute or two of processing to smooth out the batter, I scraped down the sides, processed again, then set aside for 1/2 an hour to mellow.

I cooked the pancakes in a lightly oiled pan over medium-low heat (low because the sugar in the batter will cause it to burn).

In this photo they look less intensely yellow, but in the photo below, the color is correct.

Buckwheat Pancakes

I served these safety-yellow pancakes with sauteed apples, blueberries, and my favorite topping, whipped cream.

Dan's verdict: taste and texture are right; the color is still wrong.

True enough, I remember buckwheat pancakes being sort of blue-gray.  As it turns out, buckwheat is available in both dark and light versions, depending on how much of the hull is present in the ground flour.  I probably could find some dark flour, somewhere, eventually - but the free-range eggs from the farm will probably make any pancakes yellow.