Oat & Buttermilk Pancakes

I love pancakes.  I love making them for breakfast on a Sunday morning and eating them drowned in butter and maple syrup.

Unfortunately though, I recently found out that I can’t absorb the sugars found in fruit, vegetables and grains (particularly wheat) so I have been experimenting with a variety of flours and only having the bare minimum of maple syrup.  I’ve experimented with buckwheat flour but I don’t really like the taste so tend to stick to oat flour.

I always use the same basic recipe and vary the ingredients depending on what I have at hand or how many people I am making them for.

To make about 6 pancakes whisk together in a pouring jug:

• 300 mls milk or 150 mls buttermilk and 150 mls milk
• 1 large egg
• 1 cup self raising flour or 1 cup oat flour with a ½ teaspoon of baking powder
• sprinkle, or pinch, of salt

Let the batter rest for as long as you can.  For me, this is not vary long but the pancakes do tend to be fluffier if you can wait an hour or so.

I have a couple of 20 cm or 8 inch non stick heavy based pans that I use only for pancakes. I wash them only if I have had a bad day and managed to stick the batter firmly, otherwise simply wipe them out with some olive oil and a paper towels and hide them right at the back of the cupboard where my ‘hotter is better’ family won’t find them to use for cooking foods that burn into the non stick coating.

I heat these pans on gas mark 4 or 5 until a sprinkle of water dances on the surface of the pan and then pour in the batter, and twirl the pan to spread. When the bubbles have burst and the surface of the pancake is nearly dry flip using a wooden spatula – I’ve never managed the art of flipping them using the pan alone.  If the base of the pancake is cooking too quickly reduce the heat slightly. Getting the heat right for your environment and equipment is the key to a pancake that doesn’t stick to the pan, or burn, so you may need to experiment a bit.

To keep the pancakes warm without getting soggy I double a small linen table cloth or a couple of kitchen towels across my serving plate to fold back over the top of the pancakes as I add them to the stack.