Pancake Day - Tuesday, 9th February - Thursday, 11th February 2016 for all kinds of pancakes to enjoy !

Ah ha, pancake day is here again and don't we all just love pancakes and eating them.  Of course, its perfectly possible to eat them at any time of the year, for they make a good supper or tea time treat or whenever the fancy takes you....but, to eat them on this particular day, pancake day or Shrove Tuesday, or Fat Tuesday or even Mardi Gras is special because of the significance of the day, the season and the anniversary.

So this year I'm experimenting with traditional, buckwheat, gluten-free and oat flour pancakes.  I've made heart-shaped pancakes too out of  my oat flour ones, for the call of Valentine's Day this coming weekend.  As I happened to own two heart-shaped metal "poaching rings" it was a very simple matter to whip up a batch of these.  I was a little concerned the mixture might stick to the rings but no, not at all!  Here's a picture for you to see for yourself...

Oat flour heart-shaped pancakes

I created my own oat flour from a bag of Sainsbury's Scottish Porridge oats which I tipped into my food blender and processed up to a fairly fine grain.  I used two eggs and quite a good amount of milk plus a little melted butter and I was quite surprised at the amount of milk added.  At first the mixture was really too thick but still usable but with more milk, the mixture became easier to handle, it spread more easily in the hot cooking oil, and was easier too to flip over or toss.  I think the heart-shaped ones could have been thinner too but they were  OK. I used tongs to lift away the ring and then turned over each "pancake" with a palette knife.

The recipe for the Buckwheat Pancakes came from Country Living Magazine online site which is easy to find and they cover many inviting subjects for you to engage with.  Find Country Living on their site pages at -http://www.countryliving.co.uk/create  

Their buckwheat pancake recipe included both chives and flat-leaved parsley which are added after the flour, eggs and milk have been whipped together, and then the mixture was left to swell in size and mature for about 40 minutes.  The mixture is ladelled into your fry pan and hot oil and each one is cooked face-side down first and then flipped over.  I think mine were a little too large so would suggest  using perhaps half a ladle of mixture, particularly if you wish to eat them hot and buttered or with grated Parmesan cheese on top, but the larger size is really best for layering with your crisply fried bacon and fried eggs.  Country  Living's cooking suggestions added eggs poached in the traditioinal way, using a pan of hot water with lemon juice which you swirled to create a "hole" in which to slip your egg to poach.  I have tried countless times to poach eggs this way but, unfortunately, have never been entirely successful.  Idea - must keep trying!!  The finished pancakes, eggs and bacon provided a good filling meal and, of course, buckwheat, a grass is not wheat and its plant relations are sorrel, knotweed and rhubard.  The flour contains gluten but I must say I have suffered no side-effects from my pancake eating.  As ever, I consume extra water when eating any flour product or use organic flour to prevent any problems which might arise.

Here are my Buckwheat pancakes .....

I then made pancakes with Dove Farm gluten-free flour...and here they are served rolled up and spread with my homemade Apple, Damson and Bullace Jam made last autumn.

And here are my traditional pancakes made with organic white flour and semi-skimmed regular milk....

delicious with lemon juice and sugar.  Just finger-lickin' perfect!  

I used Arla Lactofree Skimmed Milk for the oat flour, Buckwheat and gluten-free flour.

My thanks to Wikipedia and Dove Farm Flour for information on Buckwheat and to Country Living Magazine online site for their recipes and ideas.

Happy eating everybody !

Margaret xxx