crepes vs. pancakes... let's get technical

I think yesterday's celebration pancakes were somewhat premature. We had the night from hell last night with Turi waking up almost hourly. Then because I was so fried I overslept until 8am only to wake and find a very distressed Minty had wet her bed. Lately she has decided she really doesn't like going to the toilet in her nappy so if she can't make it to the potty in time she will take off her pants and and wee… nice. So this morning was spent washing out her stuffed toys and blankets. When I returned from hanging everything on the line I discovered Minty sitting behind the curtain eating a shell (yes that was not a typo, I said a shell). Later Minty dashed out the door and started running bare foot down the street only to be caught by a passer by on their morning walk. This pretty much set the tone for the day.

So today instead of celebratory cooking, I am baking a mile high chocolate pie to sooth my nerves. I'm spreading the recipe across two days so I'll post tomorrow with some photos and the recipe.

I've had a few requests for the buckwheat pancake recipe we made yesterday. To be honest I'm not a huge recipe follower when it comes to early morning cooking. I tend to just go by eye. Basically I just put in the flour with two eggs and then add milk until I get the consistency of thin cream. For the flour ratios use roughly 2 parts buckwheat flour to one part plain flour. Whizz it up in the KitchenAid and then let it rest for a while to relax the gluten in the plain flour (buckwheat doesn't have any gluten) before cooking. And yes for my pedantic readers, these are technically crepes not pancakes since they don't contain any raising agent and were cooked on a crepe pan.

If I am feeling particularly energetic and can be bothered following a recipe, or I'm trying to be super-mum this is my go to recipe for hearty healthy pancakes. It comes from a book called 'The Pleasure of Cooking Collection: Crepes and Pancakes'.

OATMEAL BUTTERMILK HOTCAKES

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup instant powdered milk

1 tablespoon honey

2 cups buttermilk (or milk soured with 2 tablespoons lemon juice)

2 eggs beaten

2 1/2 cups one-minute oats

1 cup wholemeal flour

1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

Mix the water, powdered milk, honey, buttermilk and eggs together.
Stir into the oats, flour, bicarb soda and salt.
Let stand for 1 hour
For each hotcake drop 1/4 cup batter onto a hot, lightly greased surface and cook until bubbles appear on the top. Turn over and cook other side.

These are really tasty and have a slight honey flavour so you can even eat them without toppings.

Join me tomorrow for a slice of pie.