Most people like pancakes. If you watch any American movie, pancakes take the form of something quite scary with enough kilojoules to launch a rocket. But it doesn’t have to be that way. In fact, you can enjoy fresh pancakes every day and have the body of a supermodel*. Here’s how
As a bit of background, I’ve been using alternatives to white flour for years – Spelt, Rye, Barley, Buckwheat. The reason behind this is that these grains are made of far more complex carbohydrates, so take a lot longer to breakdown and as a consequence, give you a slow release of energy, as opposed to the traditional white wheat version that gives you a big glucose spike and then brings you crashing down. Also, if you don’t feel the need to replicate an American diner, you can have all sorts of good stuff on them that doesn’t include refined sugar. The recipe for smashed avocado in post 1 of this series is a good example. I’ll put a few more options at the end of this post too.
Here’s my basic recipe. Again, this is home cooking and I’m pretty lose with proportions, so you’ll need to experiment to find what works for you
4 free range eggs
(optional) 1 teaspoon of salt
about 750mls – 1 litre of milk
enough flour to make a batter the consistency of cream
butter, olive oil or coconut oil for frying
Ideally, use a blender to mix it all up. If you have to go by hand, use a whisk and sing a happy song to get you through it. Appliances are good!
Add the eggs and blitz briefly ( 5 secs) until they have all mushed together into a consistent liquid.
With the blender still running, add in 2/3rds of the milk, about enough to come half way up your blender flask.
Now, gradually add in the flour until the whirlpool shape in the middle of the liquid fills in. add a bit more milk, a bit more flour etc to max it all out so that you fill the whole container. Bear in mind, the liquid will thicken somewhat, so err on the side of a thinner constancy.
Heat a medium frying pan ( make sure it is clean of any strong flavours such as onion or garlic as the batter will pick all of these up)
Add in a little butter or oil, pour enough batter to make a thin spread. Once it turns mostly solid, use an egg flip to turn over
Depending on your pan, you probably only need to oil it every second pancake.
Batter will keep for as long as your milk use by date
Here’s some alternatives to hypoglycemic horror
- fresh strawberries, blueberries, mango or banana. Sometimes I like to add a thin spread of coconut oil to bump up the flavour
- Toasted walnuts, roast capsicum, feta, rocquette
- Tomato, salt and pepper, basil. Add bocconcini or Parmesan for an extra blast
- Avocado, mint, feta, lemon/ lime ( see here http://www.teamcuisine.com.au/breakfast-specials-1-smashed-avo/)
- stewed apples, pears, nectarines, apricots – I like to make these with some cinnamon, cloves and sometimes star anise. A little bit of maple syrup sweetens if needs be
- Finally, if you really can’t be bothered – vegemite!
Enjoy!
*They may need to be very tiny, tiny little pancakes if this is your goal
