The Easiest Gluten-Free Pancakes

Pancakes . . . so simple, and yet out of reach for many gluten-free people because they don't know just how simple pancakes are to make.  Gluten-free pancakes are just as easy to make as wheat pancakes, and they taste just as good!  If you know the secrets of gluten-free flours, there's very little you can't do.

One of the biggest gluten-free flour secrets is this:  Gluten-free flours are "thirsty."  That's right.  They seem to need more liquid in a recipe than regular wheat flour does.  They seem to absorb the liquid more than wheat, and where a batter should be relatively thin, with gluten-free flours it often ends up too thick.  This can change the final results of your recipe.  However, as long as you keep this peculiarity in mind, you can easily work around it.

Okay, so I like a lot of maple syrup on my pancakes.  Arrest me!  :)

You can use any gluten-free flour mix you like for this recipe.  I use my own mix, called "Mel's Magic Mix," because I find it to be the best for all-purpose baking.  It's a mixture of sorghum and rice flours with corn, potato, and tapioca starches.  I find a 3:1 ratio (flour to starches) works best for me.  But I think any good gluten-free flour mix will do just fine here.  If your mix already has xanthan gum in it, omit it from the ingredient list below.  Let's get started!

Place your gluten-free flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and xanthan gum in a bowl.  Mix well with a wire whisk.  I think a whisk really mixes all the ingredients together well.  In a separate bowl, beat the egg with a fork and then add the oil and beat again.  Then add the milk to the egg mixture and stir well.  When you mix the egg and oil together first, the egg acts as an emulsifier.  An emulsifier allows you to mix oil and liquid together without the oil separating and floating to the top.

Now add the liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir well.  TAKE NOTICE HERE:  This is where the gluten-free flour gets "thirsty."  It just loves to hide in clumps on the bottom of the bowl!  So really scrape down there with your spoon.  Then check your spoon.  You'll find a big clump of it stuck there as well.  Mix it all in.  And then . . . WAIT.  Let the batter sit for a good five minutes while you heat up your pan or griddle.  After five minutes or so, use a wire whisk and mix the batter again.  You won't believe how much it has thickened!

Grease your pan with your oil of choice and pour out some pancakes.  You'll see some bubbling in the middle of the batter as they cook and get closer to the flipping point, but not as much as you might see with wheat pancakes.  So watch the edges of the pancakes and flip them when they start to brown nicely.  Don't worry.  If you flip too soon, you can always re-flip.  :)

This recipe makes eight 6-inch pancakes, enough for two people to have a pancake breakfast or four people to have pancakes as a side.

1 cup (130 g) gluten-free flour
1 tbs sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp xanthan gum
1 extra-large egg
2 tbs (25 g) oil
1 cup (8 oz) milk

Mix the dry ingredients well with a wire whisk.  Beat the egg and then add the oil and beat again.  Add the milk to the egg mixture and mix well.  Add the liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix well, being sure to get any gluten-free flour clumps up from the bottom of the bowl as well as from the spoon.  Let the mixture sit for a good five minutes.  In the meantime, heat your pan or griddle.  After five minutes, mix the batter again with a wire whisk.  You will find it has thickened a bit.  Grease the pan and pour out some pancakes.  Flip when edges start to brown nicely.  This recipe makes eight 6-inch pancakes, enough for two people to have a pancake breakfast or four people to have pancakes as a side.

TIPS: 
1.  Use a digital scale.  I can't stress enough that it is a necessity in gluten-free baking.  One cup of gluten-free flour can vary dramatically in weight from brand to brand.  If you use a scale, you'll always use the proper amount of flour needed with respect to the liquid ingredients.  It makes the difference between a good baker and great baker!

2.  Keep in mind that gluten-free flours are "thirsty"!  Don't worry that your batter may seem too thin when you first mix it up.  After five minutes of sitting, it will thicken up considerably.