Gluten free Buckwheat Crepe/ Pancake/Galettes/ Blini : Diabetic Friendly

Buckwheat, I learnt about them when I had soba noodle in Japan. In fact, buckwheat flour/ Kuttu ki atta is commonly used during certain festival (Navaratri, Ekadashi, Janamashthami, and Maha Shivaratri), as part of fasting diet in northern India. When people in North India skip eating rice, wheat, lentils etc, they substitute the diet with gluten free flour like amaranth flour, buckwheat flour etc.  I had not heard about them. India is a huge country with its diverse food culture that varies from states to states. 

Nowadays I am in quest of finding new flours and incorporating them in diet. Most of the time my mission won’t reach completion, and still I am struggling to make flat bread with sorghum. For the time being I have dropped that idea and moving on with my new flours. One good thing is poor hubby will support me in all these culinary experiments.

Buckwheat has more protein than rice, wheat, millet or corn and it is high in amino acids like lysine and arginine which is not present in other cereal crops. Due to this presence of amino acids it one of cholesterol-lowering food resulting in lowering blood sugar (and thus helping diabetics) and control of obesity, it can also help in our heart health by lowering hypertension/high blood pressure.  It also contains phytonutrient like Lignans, which are known to protect against heart diseases. Read more from here

 Do you know that there is a buckwheat festival in Preston County, West Virginia during the summer months? West Virginia is another place where I first stayed and worked in USA. I love that green hilly mountains areas, and you can’t drive the car without making sharp turns and lots of time, visibility  is only about 1 mile, after that you need to make turns. My driving instructor told me if you learned driving here in the roads of West Virginia, you can drive anywhere in the world. 

Buckwheat groats/ seeds are used as porridge in Eastern Europe, In Japan it is consumed as soba noodles. In Russia it is used to make pancakes/blini. In France it is used to make crepes called Galettes. Buckwheat flour has strong earthy taste. It also belongs to the group of food that you need to develop an acquired taste according to me.  Either you love or you hate it. My hubby found that buckwheat pancakes are tastier when you consume with maple syrup, or jam than the savory version.

I bought buckwheat flour from Whole Foods at first, but then came to know that it is one you can see it as kuttu ki atta in Indian store. Latter ones were cheaper than  from Whole Foods. After buying it, I was in intense search of recipes, but most was for blinis, or of a mix with All-purpose flour. I love to work with yeast, so I found recipe here and here.

I liked the idea of adding sour cream to buckwheat flour, but not yet ready to add sour cream and yeast along with buckwheat so used only buckwheat flour, sugar and yeast for fermentation overnight in the refrigerator and next morning added sour cream, egg and milk to make this pancake. They are delicious if eat with maple syrup.  I think sweet side of this pancake makes it more appealing than the savory side.  So if you are willing to try buckwheat flour, make this pancakes they make great breakfast.

Here goes the recipe. 

 In a Tupperware mix buckwheat flour and sugar and yeast and mix with   1 ½ cup warm water and let yeast do its job. Refrigerate the dough  for overnight.

 The next morning, mix in with milk, salt, ghee and egg yolk. Whip the egg white into soft peaks and fold in to form a loose crepe/pancake batter.

When your skillet is hot just brush with ghee. Add ¼ cup batter to form a circle.  Cook for 1 minute one side and flip the other side and cook for another minute or until it develop brown spots on both sides.

Remove from the fire enjoy with maple syrup still they are warm.           

                                                           Print Recipe from here

Gluten Free Buckwheat Pancake/Crepe

Adapted  from  here and here

Prep Time 20 minutes + overnight for fermentation

Cook Time    15 minutes

Serves    12 no

Ingredients:
Day before making

1 ½ cup Buckwheat Flour

1 ½ teaspoon instant yeast   

1 ½ teaspoon sugar

1 ½  cup  warm Water

• Mix everything in a plastic container and set aside with lid closed for overnight fermentation in Refrigerator.

On the Day of Making  Crepe
           1 cup  warm milk     ( I used 2 %)
            ⅓ cup  Sour Cream ( I used full fat)
            1 ¼ teaspoon salt
            2 tablespoon Ghee/ Melted butter
            2 egg yolk
            2 egg white
             ½ teaspoon sugar
             

•  Heat milk in microwave safe bowl for 1 minute add sour cream,   1 tablespoon of ghee and salt. and mix  everything to combine well and set aside

• Take out the  dough of buckwheat flour and yeast from the refrigerator and set aside for about 1 hour to bring it to room temperature.
• In the meantime beat the egg white with ½ teaspoon sugar to  stiff peak and set aside.
• Add egg yolk, sour cream-milk-salt-ghee mixture to fermented buckwheat flour and mix well.
• Gradually fold in  the egg white and mix everything to form  loose pancake batter.

• Heat a skillet in the stove add a drop of ghee brush well to spread everywhere. To this add ¼ cup of batter and  by swirling the pan get batter to spread it into a round crepe.
• Cook for about 1 minute on side and flip and cook the other side for another minute.

• Continue to make crepe until you finish the entire batter.

• Serve warm with maple syrup, Sour Cream and apple. I think maple syrup is best.

Variations:

• If you want you can add sour cream  along with yeast.

I am linking this healthy  crepe/pancake to Hearth and Soul Blog hop Hosted here.