Sunday, February 21, 2010

Fluffy Vegan Pancakes

I really like pancakes. So does BuggaBoo, especially when I sing the pancake song. Which goes something like this:

One, two, three, four pancakes in a pan.
One, two, three, four pancakes in a pan.
One, two, three, four pancakes in a paaaaan...
One, two, three, four, one, two, three, four pancakes in a pan.

I thought I would share my recipe with ya'll. This makes a very fluffy pancake, if you like them thinner then use more liquid. I'm also going to describe my process, you can obviously make it easier by substituting ready-made ingredients. And I'm giving you the batch doubled because if I'm going to go to the trouble of making pancakes I'm going to make it worth my while and freeze the extras. This recipe is adapted from a 1950's Betty Crocker cookbook.

2 Tbsp flax meal mixed with 4 Tbsp water (equivalent of two eggs)
1/4 C raw cashews, sunflower seeds, or another raw nut
2 C water
2 Tbsp lemon juice or vinegar then more water to equal 1/2 C (total liquid will be 2 1/2 C, but keep them separate right now)
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 1/2 C whole wheat flour, or 2 C whole wheat flour with 1/2 C alternate flour (oat, cornmeal, bean, quinoa, etc. I grind many soft grains in my coffee mill.)

As stated mix your flax meal and water first, you want it to reach egg consistency before you mix it into your other ingredients.

Grind nuts, mix with 2 C water in blender, blend until smooth. Prepare lemon juice and rest of water, mix lemon water with nut milk to make a faux buttermilk. Or, if you wanna, pour 2 Tbsp lemon juice into your measuring cup and then add enough ready-made non-dairy milk to make 2 1/2 C. Let this milk clabber while you sift your dry ingredients. Oh, I've also had good success just using lemon water instead of milk, but the milk does make them taste richer.

Sift the rest of the ingredients together. Heat your griddle or pan at this point. I spray oil into my pan for the first pancakes but don't for the rest. I do have a non-stick pan. When your pan is hot enough a water droplet will skip about. When your pan is heated then add the flax and milk to the dry ingredients. Mix until all lumps are gone.

Ladle out batter into pancakes. Because this is a very thick batter I spread my pancakes out with the back of the ladle. These pancakes don't form bubbles like thinner ones, they're ready to turn when the edges and maybe a few spots in the middle start looking a little dry. I like my pancakes really crispy, though, so experiment. This makes about 16-20 pancakes depending on how big you like them.

These pancakes are intentionally not sweetened nor have added fat. We usually eat them with "butter" and something sweet, so why put that into the pancake? Leftovers freeze well, reheat in your microwave or toaster depending on how crispy you like them. One of my favorite things to do with leftover pancakes is to toast them and then split them down the middle like a biscuit. Ta-da! Two thin crispy pancakes.

Okay, I'm outta here. The Hubby just made me some amazing tofu-noddle-broccoli-dish-thing and I'm starved. Have a great night!

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