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Gluten-Free Pancakes

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Pancakes seem like such a simple thing.  They feel to me like one of the simplest items in every bakers collection of recipes.  So simple, you don’t even use the oven to make them.  Whether you call these things pancakes, griddlecakes, hotcakes, or flapjacks, they are anything but simple once you remove gluten from the ingredient list.  

This is where my GF journey really began, and where it almost ended.  The infamous “Fog Cutter Cakes” were my very first “nope, don’t eat that” moment, and I realized I needed to rethink everything.  I began working this recipe with different flours, reading from different GF experts, and using different methods until I landed on the combination of what I found to be the best GF pancakes I’ve ever eaten.  

These mix, pour, and cook like regular pancakes, so there isn’t really any special learning curve here.  Use the tools and knowledge you already possess for making pancakes, whether it’s on a griddle or stovetop, you will find these to be pretty similar.

This recipe, like most, does blend the dry ingredients separately from the wet ingredients, then mixes everything together to form a pourable batter.  Nothing too complex—except this recipe calls for the use of melted butter rather than an oil.  If you mix all the wet ingredients together, the moment you pour melted butter into cold milk, you are going to solidify the butter.  You will then wonder why you melted the butter in the first place.  I approach this dilemma like making a hollandaise sauce, by starting with the egg, whisking it, then slowly adding the melted butter a few drips at a time.  Egg will absorb fat from the butter if you allow it time (thank you, Julia Child).  Whisk in the butter until it is a uniform egg mixture, then you can add the milk & vanilla without chunks of solidified butter.

Notes about my ingredients

Butter

Whenever I use butter, I use European style butter.  It’s yellow—not white, it comes in a block, and it looks like a hunk of mild cheddar cheese.  It also contains a higher percentage of milkfat compared to American style butter, and contains less moisture.  It’s more expensive than American style butter, but it’s a small price to pay in my opinion for better tasting baked goods.  Costco is a life saver for this stuff.

Vanilla

Do yourself a favor, and use a quality, all-natural, real vanilla if you can.  I find this stuff never disappoints regardless of the recipe.  Imitation vanilla is just weird to me, even if the online rumors on how it’s made aren’t true, I just really don’t like it.  Again, Costco is a life saver for this stuff.

Baking Powder

Get yourself a good, aluminum-free double-acting baking powder.  Without debating the semantics of whether sodium aluminum phosphate is dangerous, or how much it would take to cause harm, etc., let’s just say I use the stuff from Bob’s Red Mill—it uses sodium acid phosphate, is certified GF, and just works really well.

a stack of pancakes with berries and syrup on top

Gluten-Free pancakes

Serving Size:  10 – 12 pancakes

Prep Time:  10 minutes

Total Time:  30 minutes

Ingredients

Dry Ingredients

  • 1 cup (150g) of my Gluten-Free Flour blend
  • 2 tablespoons sugar
  • 1 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

 

Wet Ingredients

  • 1 egg
  • 2 tablespoons melted & cooled butter
  • 1 cup milk
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

 

Directions

1.  Melt the butter gently until it is in a uniform liquid state (warm barely melted, not hot) and set it aside.

2.  Beat the egg in a medium size bowl until well blended.

3.  Slowly, starting with a few drips at first, drizzle the butter into the beaten egg mixture while whisking the egg.  The egg will absorb the butter.  Go slow to give the egg time to absorb, as well as to not cook the egg.

4.  Add the milk and vanilla and mix all the wet ingredients together.

5.  In a separate bowl, mix together the GF flour mixture, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and kosher salt.

6.  Add the dry mixture to the wet mixture, and mix until there are no lumps. (You will see the batter thicken as the flour and starches absorb the moisture.)

7.  Let batter rest for 20 minutes.

8.  Heat a heavy skillet or griddle on medium heat until a drop of water spatters on it.  Put a dab of butter or oil in the pan.  Use a little batter to test.  Bubbles should appear within 20 seconds. 

9.  Once the edges appear set, the pancake should be ready to flip.  You can always check for the level of doneness you prefer, and flip when needed.

10.  Adjust the heat as necessary.

 

 

Variations

Waffles 

For waffles, reduce the milk slightly by 1/8 cup and double butter to 4 tablespoons.  Follow directions on waffle maker.

 

Buttermilk Pancakes

This variation is easily tied for second place as my favorite go-to pancake recipe (tied with Banana Pancakes).  Just replace the milk in the recipe with buttermilk and you add enormous amounts of depth to the flavor profile.  Buttermilk, depending on the brand can be quite thick, almost heavy cream-like.  This will impact the pour-ability of your finished batter. If it’s too thick, just add milk back in one tablespoon at a time until you have the viscosity you prefer to work with, and let it sit for 20 minutes.  Also with this variation, they are thicker, and tend to be larger, so my yield is about eight pancakes.

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