Gluten Free Pancakes

Friday morning in our house is pancake breakfast. Oh happy day! The kiddos love this Maine maple syrup laden day like no other.

And it's your lucky day too, because to kick off my new "in the kitchen" blog posts I'm going to share not just one, but three recipes. If you scroll ahead a bit you'll see they're really all a part of the pancake recipe so don't get yourselves too excited. But still, three-for-one is a pretty good deal!

First, the specs on this recipe.

These pancakes are vegan, gluten-free, corn-free, oil-free, sugar-free, and surprisingly good.

Corn-free? Well duh - aren't most pancakes corn free? Not if you use baking powder they aren't. Damien gets rashes when he eats corn and did you know that there is corn in nearly everything? So, not only do I make my own gluten-free baking mix for pancakes, I also make baking powder from scratch (pat, pat, pat on my back).

Also, just to clarify, although the pancakes are sugar-free the kids and I like a generous serving of syrup (the real stuff of course) on top. Damien prefers his with loads of fresh fruit. Enough introduction, on to the three part recipe:

Corn-free Baking Powder

  • 1 part baking soda
  • 2 parts cream of tartar
  • 2 parts tapioca starch

Mix up a bunch and store in jar. Use as you would "store-bought" baking powder. Cream of tartar and tapioca starch can be found at health food stores and buying clubs.

Gluten-free Baking Mix

I usually double this to have lots on hand. Mix ingredients well and store in airtight container. Use instead of wheat flour in recipes, may need a little less liquid ingredients. Cannot be used for bread baking but works well for quick breads, muffins and cookies.

  • 3 cups brown rice flour
  • 1 cup garbanzo bean flour
  • 1 cup potato starch
  • ½ cup tapioca flour

Gluten-free Pancakes

Dry Ingredients
  • 2 cups gluten-free baking mix (you could use a packaged mix but making your own is so much cheaper)
  • 1/2 cup quinoa flakes
  • 4 tsp baking powder (when I use store bought the pancakes are flatter)
  • 1 tbsp flax seeds
  • pinch salt
Wet Ingredients
  • 1 small banana
  • 1 cup soy milk
  • 1 1/4 cups water (add more if necessary)
Directions
  1. Combine dry ingredients in bowl.
  2. Heat griddle/skillet on stove.
  3. Blend wet ingredients thoroughly in blender, a small hand blender works great.
  4. Add wet ingredients to the dry mix and stir to combine.
  5. Using 1/4 measuring cup pour cakes onto pan, flip them with tops bubble up. 
Notes

I make these pancakes on my seasoned cast iron pan. After each use I wash it and rub in a little oil so I don't need to oil the pan before frying. This recipe serves our family of 5, with fresh fruit.

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Mother's Day weekend - the photos »
  • Anonymous

    Anonymous on May 10, 2009, 2:37 a.m.

    Do you grind the flax seeds or put them in whole? I always grind mine as I read the body treats it like fiber instead of nutrition if you use them whole. (Is that putting it delicately or what?) :)

    reply

    • renee

      renee on May 10, 2009, 1:17 p.m.

      For this recipe I put them in whole, mostly for the crunch and texture. Though we eat a lot of ground flax in other foods, on top of breakfast and such.

      reply

  • nicola

    nicola on May 12, 2009, 4:34 a.m.

    renee, i read your mother's day post. i hate it when that happens! your photos are lovely and i am so glad your weekend was special! i cannot, however, post a comment in reply to that particular post(??) so i am commenting here! nicola

    nicola's last blog post... oh, mamma

    reply

  • Shawna

    Shawna on May 12, 2009, 5:45 a.m.

    :O) these look delicious. much puffier than mine, so i'll have to try this recipe next time i make gf pancakes.

    have you tried potato starch in your baking powder as well? that's what i had on hand last time instead, and it seemed to work alright.

    i've been kind of on a non-baking soda stint because when i use it, that's all. i. can. taste. be it cake, pancakes, whatever, all i can taste is the tinny soda flavor. does that ever happen to you?

    i'm very much looking forward to your food posts!

    Shawna's last blog post... In which my milk lets down.

    reply

  • Toni

    Toni on May 12, 2009, 5:48 a.m.

    I was going to leave you a comment on the Mother's Day post of photos, but comments weren't available so I'm commenting about them on this one - hope you don't mind! Wonderful images that definitely tell a story about your day. I know the feeling of hitting the wrong "something" and it isn't a good feeling. I did it last week at work and lost minutes of the meeting I was in. Thankfully I was able to recreate them, but UGH.

    I do have a question about this post, though. Where do you find flax seed? I was looking for some today and didn't find any at our local store. Thanks!

    Toni's last blog post... Bloomsday

    reply

    • renee

      renee on May 12, 2009, 12:09 p.m.

      Thank Toni, I fixed that now. Apparently it just isn't my techie day - losing the original post and then accidently closing comments - ack! I find flax seeds at my local health food store but you can find them in the "healthy" section of a regular grocery store also. The grocery stores around here have a natural/healthy/organic section, you could try that. Or maybe with the flours in the regular area of the grocery store?

      reply

      • Toni

        Toni on May 12, 2009, 12:41 p.m.

        Thanks, Renee. I think the flour aisle is the only one I didn't venture down. lol My son called me on Mother's Day and he's gone all healthy on me - told me to get the flax seed. Thanks for the info!

        Toni's last blog post... Follow the Leader

        reply

  • wesker

    wesker on May 15, 2009, 7:08 p.m.

    I do have a question about this post, though. Where do you find flax seed? I was looking for some today and didn't find any at our local store. Thanks!

    reply

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