Gluten Free Pancakes

Gluten Free, Egg Free, Nut Free Blueberry Pancakes

I am absolutely a breakfast person.  If I don't get my breakfast within an hour of hopping out of bed, I become seriously headache-y, cranky and miserable.  Most days I settle for variations on scrambled free-range eggs (or in the US "certified humane") procured from an old neighbour whose father keeps chickens and sells eggs at a good price.

However, Sundays I like to go all out, make a mess and dirty some dishes.  So this Sunday I made gluten free, egg free blueberry pancakes.  This comes out of the pancake recipe that my mother has made for me all my life.  It is actually the very first recipe I tried modifying to be gluten free, way back when I first found out I was gluten intolerant.  More recently I've modified it to be egg-free as well, because I've been trying to cut back on my egg consumption (I love eggs.  Yes, I use free range, but eggs can be expensive so I'm working with cutting them out of my baking and just using them for breakfast).  

Non-gf folks who've had these think they're great, and they beat out glutinous pancakes from a box any day of the week.  They are fluffy and scrumptious.  This is one of my fiance's favorite breakfasts, and he's not even gluten intolerant.  They freeze really well too (just add a bit of wax paper between pancake layers to keep them from freezing to each other).  I add frozen blueberries to mine most of the time, but you could also slice an apple thinly and add apple slices instead.  Then serve with syrup or your favorite toppings. 

Makes about 12 pancakes. 

Ground flax seed and water replaces 1 egg

Ingredients:

1Tbsp ground flax seed
3 Tbsp water
(or use 1 beaten egg and eliminate flax and water)

Dry Ingredients

1c either brown or white rice flour
1/4 c tapioca flour
1/4 c potato starch
1 tsp xanthan gum
1-2 Tbsp sugar of your choice
3 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

Wet Ingredients
1 3/4 c milk (I use water with a tablespoon of milk powder, or rice milk instead)
2 Tbsp oil of choice (canola or coconut work well)
Oil for frying

Directions:
1.  Heat an electric skillet or pan on medium-high heat.

2. Mix the ground flax and water together and let sit for 10 minutes, while you prepare the other ingredients.  The mix should have a congealed consistency, like a beaten egg.

3. Sift the dry ingredients together in a large bowl.  Mix well.

4. Add the wet ingredients and the flax mixture (or beaten egg) and mix until smooth.  

5. Drizzle some oil on the skillet or pan (or spray with oil).  Pour the mix onto the pan.  Add blueberries or apple slices if desired.  When using frozen blueberries, I use no more than 4 blueberries per pancake lest they get too mushy.  Cook until bubbles form on the top of the pancake and the bottom side is browned.  Flip and cook until both sides are browned.  Repeat with remaining mix. 

How do you like your pancakes?

*OAS Info: This is free of all the common OAS allergens I have found.