Buttermilk Pancakes

Roger rogerx<at>sdf.lonestar.org
2009.10.04

1. The unique ingredients I'm working with.
2. Just substituting "Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Baking Flour" for flour doesn't work!
2.1 The Recipe.
3. Modify for Waffles.
4. Extreme Low Fat Version.

1. The unique ingredients I'm working with.

Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Baking Flour
Organic Unrefined Safflower Oil
Base recipe from the famed "Alton Brown of FoodTV". (You're looking for his "Instant Pancake Mix" recipe.)
For the Low Fat version, I'm using apple sauce and yogurt, along with the original recipe -- no other subsitutes.

2. Just substituting "Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Baking Flour" for flour doesn't work!

Just substituting "Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Baking Flour" for flour gave results of "flat & sour tasting" pancakes. The flatness was due to the buttermilk being too heavy and prevented the pancakes from raising. The sourness was caused by the many unique flours combined within the gluten free flour.

2.1 The Recipe.

After many months of slaving in a hot kitchen, here's what I modified to make it work with the above ingredients:

Dilute Buttermilk with a 1:1 ratio of water (ie. 1/2 cup Water with a 1/2 cup Buttermilk = Substitute for 1 cup Buttermilk to be used within Alton Brown's recipe.)
Use 1/2 tsp. of Xanthan Gum per cup of Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Baking Flour. (You can experiment using less or no Xanthan Gum at all. Xanthan Gum is a powder refined from corn. Some people shudder at the thought of refined stuff like this.)
Simmer and not grill the pancakes. (This flour seems to be very sensitive to heat and bakes quickly.)
Use at least 1 Tbs sugar per 1 cup of gluten free flour mixture. This might sound like a lot, but this is some really sour tasting flour if you don't! Using honey as a sweetener prevents the pancakes from raising. (Honey, again, makes things heavy.)
Can use really anything as a substitute for butter. For the time being, safflower is a favorite because of it's very neutral light flavor.

These modifications should result a very light and fluffy pancake. Not even needing to be topped with butter afterwards, except for whipped cream, strawberries and syrup.

3. Modify for Waffles.

I have just perfected this recipe for making Waffles. Again, using the same methodology as above, but now using "Bob's Red Mill Sweet Cream Dry Buttermilk Powder". (This buttermilk powder is good stuff because it's made from real buttermilk unlike the store bought cultured stuff.)

1.5 or 2 Teaspoons of "Bob's Red Mill Sweet Cream Dry Buttermilk Powder"
1 Cup Water
3 Tablespoons Unrefined Safflower Oil (I have a "Made in France" organic label boasting unrefined. Refined is OK, but unrefined might be better because this is not sauteing. Be sure and do your own research for; When to use refined and unfined oils for cooking or baking.)
1 to 2 Cups of Dry Mix using the
1 Egg.

The ratio for "gluten free flour" to "liquid mixture" is by no means an exact science yet for me. Gluten free flour tends to absorb more moisture then regular flour by 1/2 cup to even 1 cup at times. The consistency of a waffle batter should "slop" or drop in lumps as you stream it from a utensil after mixing or be slightly thicker then cake batter.

When substituting oil for butter, use slightly less oil then butter. Since Waffle recipes usually double the butter or oil content of their related Pancake recipe. In this case, from 2 Tbs to 4 Tbs, and a little less then this should approximately be 3 Tbs for these Waffles.

Mix Water and Dry Buttermilk Powder and in another bowl, the Egg and oil beaten until light. Mix both mixtures and then add to the gluten free flower. (For the time being, I've been adding the dry to the liquid as I don't have the exact dry:liquid ratio yet for gluten free flour.)

Follow your manufacture instructions for your waffle maker.

All I can say is, I have finally perfected gluten free Waffles! These taste just like the real thing, if not better while providing a better nutritional quality.

4. Extreme Low Fat Version.

Starting with the original ingredients of this recipe, substituted apple sauce for butter and plain yogurt for buttermilk.

When baking with applesauce as a substitute for fat, reduce the amount of applesauce by approximately 25%. (Whether canned or fresh apple sauce is used, divide into smaller portions and freeze the remainder.)

The yogurt is a little thick, so thin with milk (or water) by about 25% -- to the desired "buttermilk like texture".

This batter should work fine for waffles with following the above considerations.