Perfect Vegan Pancakes
Why I Love This Recipe
Will Rico
Ingredients You'll Need
1 cup flour (all purpose or whole wheat)
1 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tbsp. ground flax seed
1 cup + 1 tbsp. non¬dairy milk
1 tsp. apple cider vinegar
1 tbsp. coconut oil
Directions
Tips for Perfect Pancakes
Over mixing is your enemy. This is the most common mistake. When wheat flour is mixed too much, it stresses the gluten and leads to tough, gummy, terrible pancakes. Seriously, a few swirls to incorporate the wet & dry ingredients is enough. You want to leave lots of lumps in your batter.
Hot pan! The pan must be very hot for pancakes to come out right. If you add the batter into a mildly-warm pan, they will be undercooked and gummy. If you don’t hear a sizzle the moment the batter hits the pan, you’re in trouble.
Wait for those bubbles. When making pancakes, if you get the batter and temperatures right, you should see bubbles on the surface at around the 2-minute mark. Then flip and cook for 1.5 minutes on the other side.
Keep them warm. When making pancakes for the whole family, it can be tough to keep them all warm since you can only make 2-3 at a time. Add a cooling rack to the oven and warm it to 150-200º F. As the first batches are finished, pop them in the oven to stay warm.
One of the most exciting parts about this recipe is that it uses no banana. So many vegan pancake recipes rely on banana to hold things together. This makes the batter too dense, for one, and it also adds a banana taste (not surprisingly). Instead, we’ll use a flax egg, which is 1 tablespoon of ground flaxseed with 2.5 tablespoons of water. Whisk these together in a bowl and set aside to thicken.
In a medium mixing bowl, add the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt) and stir together.
In a separate bowl, add the non-dairy milk and apple cider vinegar to create buttermilk. Then add one tablespoon melted coconut oil and finally the flax egg. Mix the wet ingredients.
Now, carefully mix the two together without stressing the batter. To do this, form a “crater” in the middle of the dry ingredients, then pour the wet ingredients (as shown) into the crater. Slowly stir until most of the batter is incorporated. A few small lumps are your friend, too much mixing is not.
Warm the pan over medium-high heat for 3-5 minutes. Then, use a paper towel to spread a little vegetable oil over the bottom of the pan. Test the temperature by cooking one small pancake first. If it sizzles when it hits the pan and forms bubbles after 1-2 minutes without burning, your temperatures are right.
Use a 1/4 cup measurement to create the perfect 4-inch pancakes. If your pan is large enough, you can cook 2-3 at a time. Again, wait 2 minutes for large bubbles to form on the surface, then flip and cook for another 90 seconds.
Store the first batches in a warm oven while you finish the rest. Then, top with blueberries, maple syrup, chocolate, peanut butter, coconut whipped cream, or whatever you love on pancakes.
