Who doesn’t love a stack of pancakes with real maple syrup on a lazy weekend morning? I know I do, and so does my husband, Seth. If we’re not going out to brunch on Sunday, we’re at home, whipping up these pancakes and juicing some fresh squeezed orange juice.
It took Seth a few years to finally admit that he is gluten-intolerant. Hey, I don’t blame him. It’s not easy giving up foods you love. I had to go without gluten for two years when I was in my twenties and working to heal my gut. (Thankfully, I can eat gluten again now with no problems.)
Of course, his confirmation of his inability to digest gluten coincided perfectly with the launch of my new cooking class, Healthy Whole Grains. Here I am, testing recipes, making pancakes and waffles and pizza every day, and he can’t eat any of it.
The benefit of this to you, dear reader, is that I am going to be including a lot more gluten-free recipes on this blog. I’m in the process of converting all of my recipes to gluten-free versions. So yay!
These pancakes are so delicious, you would never know that they are (a) whole grain (b) sprouted or (c) gluten-free. They just taste like fluffy, perfect pancakes.
Why Sprouted Flour?
Whole grains are better for you, as refined flour has very little nutrition. That said, whole grains contain anti-nutrients such as phytic acid which block minerals from being absorbed. Important minerals our bodies need, like magnesium and calcium.
Sprouted flour is made from grains that are sprouted or germinated, which helps to break down or neutralize the phytic acid and other anti-nutrients, and helps to unlock and release the vitamins and minerals.
Sprouted flour is also a lot easier to digest and better for people with blood sugar problems.
Recipe Notes
You can buy sprouted flour online (see my resources page) or you can make your own sprouted flour. I posted a while back about how to sprout whole grains.
Once you have sprouted grains, you then dry them in a dehydrator or in an oven on the lowest setting with the door ajar. Then you can grind them into flour using a grain mill. Both buckwheat and brown rice, used in this recipe, can be sprouted and ground into flour.
We’re also using unrefined sweeteners in this recipe including sucanat or coconut sugar and maple syrup or honey.
Gluten-free Sprouted Buckwheat Pancakes
Ingredients
Sprouted buckwheat flour (1/2 cup) — where to buy sprouted flour
Sprouted rice flour (1/2 cup) — where to buy sprouted flour
Sucanat or coconut sugar (2 tablespoons) — where to buy sweeteners
Baking powder, aluminum-free (2 teaspoons)
Sea salt (1/2 teaspoon) — where to buy sea salt
Milk, whole, organic and ideally raw (1 cup)
Butter, unsalted, from grass-fed cows, or coconut oil, expeller-pressed (2 tablespoons + extra for greasing the skillet and for serving) — where to buy coconut oil
Egg, pastured or free-range, organic (1 large)
Maple syrup or honey, for serving — where to buy sweeteners
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees.
2. In a mixing bowl, whisk together sprouted buckwheat flour, rice flour, sugar, baking powder, and sea salt. Set aside.
3. In a small saucepan, melt the butter or coconut oil.
4. In a medium bowl, whisk together the milk, butter (or coconut oil), and egg. Add dry ingredients to milk mixture. Whisk until combined. Add more milk as needed for the right consistency (like pancake batter).
5. Set a large cast iron or stainless steel skillet on medium to medium-high heat. Grease the pan with a little butter or expeller-pressed coconut oil.
6. Pour batter onto skillet, making a pancake (if you’re doing a lot of pancakes, it’s a great idea to use two skillets on two burners so you can go twice as fast).
7. Cook until surface of pancake has some bubbles, about 1 to 2 minutes. Check by carefully lifting up the pancake with a spatula to see if it is cooked all the way through. If it sticks or doesn’t seem like it will flip, let it cook longer.
8. Flip with a spatula, and cook until golden brown, about 1 to 2 minutes more.
9. Transfer to a baking sheet or plate. Stick in the warm oven until ready to serve.
10. Grease the pan lightly in between pancakes.
11. Serve the pancakes warm, with butter, maple syrup, or whatever toppings you like.
{ 26 comments… read them below or add one }
I thought buckwheat was low in photic acid?
I read somewhere that you should add a tablespoon of buckwheat flour to your aots while they are soaking to help further reduce the photic acid.
Buckwheat does have phytic acid.
Buckwheat also has a lot of phytase, which is why people add the tablespoon of buckwheat to oats. Oats are typically heat treated and therefore do not have phytase, which is required to break down the phytic acid.
Wow! This recipe looks fantastic! I am going to try it….thanks.
Ann Marie, any idea how much of the phytic acid is reduced by soaking/sprouting? I keep hearing conflicting reports about this, but can’t really find any concrete information.
Yum! These look delicious! We’re introducing buckwheat into my son’s diet after GAPS right now–perfect timing!
Ann Marie,
I don’t have the gluten-free sprouted flours in pantry right now. Would subing in the above for 1 cup whole wheat sprouted flour yield a similar consistency? I imagine you’ve modified your original pancake recipe to be gluten-free.
BTW, I’ve never turned on my oven to keep pancakes warm (though not a bad idea). I usually place them in foil and they stay nice and warm. Probably not the healthiest option. You could also use a tortilla warmer or put them between two ceramic plates. It’s just an energy saving idea and I guess it depends on how long it takes you to make your pancake stack before serving.
Thanks for the recipe!
Yes, you can just use 1 cup regular sprouted flour instead of the 1/2 cup rice flour and 1/2 cup buckwheat flour.
Have you ever, or do you know anyone who has ever used the “dry” canister from a vitamix as their grain mill? I am currently contemplating what I need vs want in my kitchen to eat the way that we should without having “stuff” everywhere… (and without spending our 401K to get it. (just kidding, but, you know…)
Anyways, we have a waffle iron, mixer, ninja, etc, and I would love to have a grain mill or something that works just as well, and a good blender to serve multiple functions (and replace the ninja) but I feel like we have so much stuff. What are your thoughts?
Jen -
I use my dry Vitamix container as a grain mill and it works beautifully. You don’t need anything else!
Amy G.
I have a Vitamix 5200 series dry container and I don’t think it works so well. It doesn’t seem to grind the grains as fine as I want them. It makes my baked goods crumbly because the flour is a bit too “grainy.”
As an experiment, I put my grains through the dry container AND then through the wet container and the flour was not as “grainy” as it was just putting it through the dry container.
My parents let me borrow their wheat grinder and it’s working better.
What wheat grinder?
What grain mill/wheat grinder?
Do canned beans still have to be soaked to deactivate phytic acid
I don’t worry about canned beans because they have been soaking in liquid for a long time. I do rinse them, and I do try to buy beans in BPA-free cans.
Speaking of bpa free cans how do you know if they are, I have looked for soups but have not seen any labeled bpa free
Thanks Bob
HI Bob,
I normally do a quick google search on the brand name and hope I find a good, reliable resource that tells me the cans are BPA free. You can also try calling the company. SOME of trader Joe’s cans are BPA free and I hear Amy’s isn’t. Some company websites disclose that information (the good ones) but most don’t advertise bpa free on their labels.
Thanks I’ll try that
Eden brand is almost all BPA free cans- and it says so right on the label. I like their beans
Thanks
How many pancakes does this recipe make? Looks delicious
Around 8, I think. Enough for 4 people.
OMG those look delicious! I’m going to try subbing coconut flour for the rice flour since I’m grain-free, and coconut milk/oil for the dairy. Fingers crossed. I’ve been looking for ways to use buckwheat since the straight-up oatmeal-style version leaves me feeling a little squidgy in my mouth.
You might try using a bit less of the coconut flour- like 1/4 cup or less- instead of 1/2 like the rice flour. It doesn’t generally sub out 1 to 1. Coconut flour absorbs a LOT more liquid than rice flour in my experience, so if it seems stiff, just add more liquid…
Do you sprout and dry buckwheat the same way as you do wheat? Also, I just sprout some Kamut and I know you said that the tails should be very short, but some of the tails were probably over a quarter inch while some the grains where just barely popping. Is that OK?
Buckwheat pancakes are the best! We follow the simple pancake recipe in Nourishing Traditions and use 100% buckwheat soaked overnight in kefir. My gosh, they are the best pancakes in the world. I made some this morning for the fam!
Nickole
Making the pancakes now and just tried the first.
I folded in wild organic blueberries to the mix (couldn’t resist). I think I added too much milk and stirred the batter too much because I didn’t get bubbling batter on the pan like I should and my pancakes weren’t fluffy (also, the blueberries could have added to it). Also, I wonder if the sprouted wheat flour does not make for as fluffy pancakes as if 1/2 the floor was rice flour…
But were they delicious? Yes!
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