I make gluten-free pancakes at home. I use a traditional recipe, but substitute in a mix of sorghum, rice and garbanzo (chickpea) flours for all-purpose wheat flour and I reduce the baking powder. The result is a decent, but slightly drier and firmer, version of a pancake. But tasty – especially if most carby goodness treats are not an option for you.
GF Flour Recipe
This recipe was given to me by a friend from her sister. The sister has celiac disease and says she formulated this mix herself. A google search for “Gluten free flour mix” will yield a ton of recipes, some claiming to be better suited for different types of baked goods. I usually make about 1/2 gallon of the stuff and keep in it in a container for general use.
1 1/3 cup Sorghum Flour
1/4 cup Sweet Rice Flour (I usually use the easier-to-find Rice Flour)
1/4 cup Garbanzo (Chickpea) Flour
GF Pancake Recipe
I found this recipe on the internet ages ago using a general google search for “pancake recipe”. I can’t give credit to a specific source anymore, but most of the recipes I found in a recent search resemble this one:
1 1/2 cups flour (GF or all-purpose)
1 tsp baking powder (if using wheat flower, up baking powder to 3 1/2 tsp)
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp white sugar
1 1/4 cup milk
1 egg
3 tbsp butter, melted
Yum, yum, yum! The Hubby eats the GF pancakes and enjoys them, but sadly, I can’t compete with the traditional buttermilk pancake.
However, The Original Pancake House of Eden Prairie can.
YUM!
The Hubby and I had breakfast at The Original Pancake House (OPH) in Eden Prairie this morning. He really likes pancakes, and I figured that I could get some sort of egg-based breakfast. I only cut gluten from my diet about three years ago, and when I was growing up OPH in Tinley Park, Illinois had been one of my favorite breakfast places. I would always order the Apple Pancake. For those of you who like pastries of the the apple persuasion, and who haven’t had an OPH Apple Pancake, you must take thee to an OPH location and have one at your earliest convenience – it is the pinnacle of apple+pancake experiences. The apple is baked into the pancake, but it’s also baked on top of the dough and covered in cinnamon and butter. Seriously, it adds another hour onto the treadmill, but who cares?
This is the Original Pancake House’s signature Apple Pancake...drool…
So back to this morning’s experience: We get to OPH at 9am and the place is swarming with families – lot of babies and kids, tired looking parents, and patient grandmas and grandpas playing with the kids and cajoling the parents. This is the last place on Earth I ever really want to be. I drop the Hubby of at the doors so he can run inside and see how long the wait would be. I drive in a circle around the packed parking lot – dodging the occasional excited kid or the zombie-looking-mom-with-stroller combo, and twice stopping for some idiot on a cell phone who blithely meanders in front of my car.
I think, Thank goodness I sent [The Hubby] inside – the wait’ll probably be 30 minutes or more and we can go someplace else. I make my round just as he’s coming back outside. I make eye contact and start to drive forward, already planning Plan B, but he signals me to park and come inside and then dashes back through the doors.
Noooo! I start to grumble thinking that he’s put us on the waiting list. He can be much more patient that I am when it comes to restaurants. He’ll wait 20 minutes in line to eat at one location, while I’d rather drive 20 minutes away and to eat somewhere with no wait. But I’m a good wife, so I go park the car with only one little sigh and start the marathon trek back to the restaurant. I even leave the smartphone, the iPod and the Saturday paper in the car because The Hubby likes to have conversations when we eat out. What up with that?
I get to the door and end up holding the door for this huge family of 12 (I counted), which isn’t so bad, except one really wound-up kid ends up going in and out three times before being pulled to a screeching halt (the screeching part…that’s literal) by a harried looking woman who I’m guessing is Mom. I see the Hubby across the lobby-sized waiting area and he motions me over. I give him my best shoulder shrugging “how the hell am I supposed to get over there” look as I begin sidestepping and weaving my way through the throng. Inside I’m groaning, how long is this wait going to be?.
But behold, a veritable miracle – he’s gotten us a place at the bar! We sit down, the guy brings coffee, water and menus, and we’re off. They’ve got some tasty looking omelettes and sides. I glance longingly at the Apple Pancake (curse you, gluten!), and then, a glorious phrase leaps from the page:
Gluten Free Batter is available at no charge for most of our pancakes.
Woahhhhhhh…..
Ceiling Cat be praised – gluten-free pancakes! It looks like OPH started the gluten-free menu in 2007. I was sad because they couldn’t make me the Apple Pancake with gluten-free batter, but I decided to get pancakes with a spinach, mushroom and goat-cheese omelete.* I was pleasantly surprised by the pancakes – they were light (but not quite fluffy), and they actually absorbed syrup! Woo-hoo! I’ll definitely be going back, especially because there is no extra charge associated with the gluten-free batter.
As *anyone* who follows a GF diet knows, it is possible to find substitutes for our pastas, pizza crusts, sandwich breads and pastries, but by the Flying Spaghetti Monster do we end up paying a ridiculous amount of money for them! Pizza Luce in Minneapolis/St. Paul serves GF Pizzas, but they’re much more expensive. A small pizza made with wheat crust may run you $12. The same pizza with GF crust will cost you $18. A loaf of regular old sandwich bread may run $3; plan on spending $6-$9 for a GF loaf plus a trip to a specialty bakery.
So, a big thank you to OPH, and I promise never to complain (too loudly) about having to navigate the circus of families you attract every weekend! I enjoy the quality of your GF pancakes, and I appreciate your willingness to offer GF options free of charge. We’ll see you again soon!
One more shot of the Apple Pancake:
*As an aside, that’s way too much food. I don’t recommend doing that unless you’re sharing or taking some home. Ugh.