QQ Buckwheat crepes and pancakes???
Why use buckwheat flour if you can use all purpose flour to cook crepes?
According to Wikipedia, buckwheat is a plant cultivated for its grain-like seeds. Despite its name, buckwheat is NOT related to wheat and is also often mistaken as a cereal grain. Instead, buckwheat is related to rhubarb and sorrel.
So this means that food that is made with buckwheat (with no wheat) is gluten-free!!! Absolutely!!! For people who are not allergy or sensitive to gluten like me, it is nice to know that buckwheat flour is also a healthy ingredient to use for cooking as it is high in fiber and protein, rich in vitamins and minerals and has yummy nutty flavor.
So what is the QQ?
"QQ" in Chinese term means chewy food with bouncy texture. I reckon the use of buckwheat flour has made crepes and pancakes a little different from those that are made with wheat flour (aka all purpose or plain flour). Different because they are extra QQ with nice nutty earthy flavours to enjoy! Yummie....
Here, I like to recommend two very good basic buckwheat recipes that I have tried, enjoyed and adored.
Basic QQ Buckwheat Crepes
Recipe One: Buckwheat crepes made with this well reviewed recipe at Bon Appetit and Epicurious.
I have read the reviews and found two very distinct groups of people who rated this recipe. And it's either you love it or hate it. Me? I love it of course and I like to show how I cooked these QQ crepes and hope that you love it too...
First, I whisked to combine all the wet ingredients.
Like I always do, I always use Alfa One Rice Bran Oil to cook my crepes.
Then I sifted in the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients.
And whisked until everything is well incorporated.
Like most crepe recipes, the mixture has to rest at room temperature for least 30 mins.
It's cooking time!
Remember I said earlier that there are two very distinct groups of people who rated this recipe... The people who hate it say that the batter is too wet and messy to handle but I find this recipe working really well for me. No worries for me to cook and flip!
I guess all that you need is a good non-stick frying pan and lots of good crepe cooking practice!!!
This recipe can yield about twelve to thirteen 22-25 cm (diameter) crepes.
All for us to enjoy with Nutella, fruits or anything!
Savoury or sweet?
Recipe Two: Buckwheat fluffy pancakes made with this highly reviewed recipe at Epicurious.
This pancake recipe is SO SO SO SO SO GOOD!!! They are gluten free, dairy free and egg free meaning that they are great for vegans too!
Even without the addition of eggs, these pancakes are still so fluffy and bouncy and can be made with all common ingredients that can be found in most supermarkets and health food stores. Absolutely no worries as there is hard-to-find ingredients like egg substitutes or food stabilizers.
Plus, this recipe is pretty versatile meaning that you can interchange some ingredients to suit your need and taste. For example, if you are not a vegan or not allergy to dairy products, you can use milk instead of soy milk or almond milk. If you don't want to stock up your pantry with quinoa flour, you can cook with all cornflour instead. If you don't have flax seeds or flax meal or vanilla or ground cinnamon, you can don't add it. If you don't want to use maple syrup, you can use agave syrup, honey, golden syrup or any sweeteners or sugars.
And if you want to inject some cuteness into these pancakes, you cook them with prints too! And this is how I cooked my Mickey and Minnie pancakes...
Basic Buckwheat Vegan Pancakes
Fluffy, gluten free, dairy free and egg free
Watch this... my one-minutes video clip showing how I cooked these fun-looking pancakes :)
So simple and they are so fluffy and delicious!
Here are the recipes
Recipe One: Buckwheat crepes, adapted from Bon Appetit and Epicurious
Makes twelve to thirteen 22-25 cm (diameter) round crepes that can serve 3-4 persons3 large eggs
60ml (1/4 cup) vegetable oil, preferably something healthful like Alfa One Rice Bran Oil, plus a little extra to grease the pan
180ml (3/4 cup) milk
300ml (1 1/4 cup) water185g (1 1/4 cup) buckwheat flour1/8 tsp salt
Place eggs, oil, milk and water in a large mixing bowl and use a hand whisk to combine. Sift in the flour and salt into the egg mixture and whisk until the mixture is smooth and not lumpy. Set aside to rest at room temperature for about 30 mins. Please note that the resting step is VERY IMPORTANT!
Grease a 25 cm (10 inch) diameter nonstick frying pan with a light smear of vegetable oil (like the oil should not be visible).
Heat the frying pan over medium heat. Add 1/4 cupful batter to the heated pan and tilt to spread the batter evenly. Cook crepe until golden on bottom, 30 to 45 secs. Use a spatula to turn crepe over and continue to cook for about 30 secs. Transfer to plate.
Repeat cooking with the remaining batter. Stack crepes between sheets of plastic wrap or baking paper just in case they stick on each other (but mine didn't).
Do ahead: You can prepare the batter on the day before cooking. Cover and allow the batter to rest in the fridge until ready to use.
Serve immediately with Nutella, syrup, fruits, bacons, scrambled cheese or anything!
Recipe Two: Buckwheat Gluten Free Vegan Pancakes, adapted from Epicurious
Makes six to eigth medium thick fluffy pancakes
Dry ingredients:
85g (1/2 cup) buckwheat flour
75g (1/2 cup) corn flour*, absolutely gluten free if required (has to be white and finely milled, not corn meal)2 tbsp arrowroot or tapioca flour
1 tbsp ground flax seeds (or flax meal) - optional
1 tbsp baking powder
1/4 tsp cinnamon - optional
1/4 tsp salt
Wet ingtredients:
250ml (1 cup) milk or unsweetened soy milk or almond milk
2 tbsp maple syrup or agave syrup or any sweeteners
2 tbsp vegetable oil, preferably something healthful like Alfa One Rice Bran Oil, plus a little extra to grease the pan
1/2 tsp vanilla extract or paste - optional
*can be substitute with 1/4 cup quinoa flour and 1/4 cup corn flour
Combine all dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Create a well in the center of the dry ingredients and add in all the wet ingredients. Use a hand whisk or fork to mix and whisk all for about 1 min or until all ingredients are well incorporated. Let the batter rest for about 10 mins and the batter will thicken after resting.
If you are cooking the pancakes with a print:
Pour about 1/2 cup of batter into another bowl. Add enough cocoa powder and mix until the batter is dark and thick. If the batter is too thick to pipe, you can mix in 1-2 tbsp milk or soy or almond milk until the batter reaches its ideal consistency for piping. Pour batter into a piping bag fitted with small round nozzle (like Wilton 4). Place a piece of baking paper (size is slightly larger than the pancake that you are cooking) on a design that you want to print on the pancakes and pipe the cocoa batter along the lines of the print.
Grease frying pan with a light smear of vegetable oil (like the oil should not be visible). Preheat a large flat bottom nonstick frying pan over low heat, not too high otherwise your print will be fluffy and look ugly! If you are cooking the pancakes without a print, you can preheat your frying pan with medium low heat.
If you are cooking the pancakes with a print:
Place the baking paper with piped batter onto the frying pan. Use a ladle to scoop about 2-3 tbsp plain batter over the print or use a piping bag to fill and pipe the plain batter onto the print in a circular motion to form the pancakes.
If you are cooking the pancakes without a print, you can use a ladle to scoop about 2-3 tbsp plain batter to form the pancakes.
Cook for about 2-3 mins. When the pancake start to form air bubbles (but do not expect many bubbles) and you can see that heat-contacted side of the pancakes start to firm up, flip the pancakes (with the baking paper for the pancakes with the prints). Peel off the baking paper if required and cook both sides for 2-3 mins or until both sides are golden.
Serve immediately with Nutella, syrup, jam or fruits. As these pancakes are not excessively sweetened and so they are nicer to enjoy with something sweet.
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