The Gluten-Free Homemaker

Summer isn’t officially over until September 22 and here in Maryland we’re still having 90° weather.  Therefore, I thought I would hold off another month on a challenge that requires the oven.  Instead, let’s use the griddle and waffle iron.

Besides making terrific breakfasts, and a great change of pace for dinner, pancakes and waffles can also be used in place of bread for sandwiches and roll ups. 


If you are new to gluten-free cooking, or even if you're not, I suggest starting with a gluten-free recipe and making some changes.  You also might want to start with a small batch and see how it goes.  Cooking gluten-free pancakes and waffles is not as tricky as baking a loaf of bread, but things can go wrong.  I have ended up with some pretty heavy pancakes before.

The purpose for doing these challenges is to get people to be creative and branch out a little with their gluten-free cooking.  I know I can get stuck in a rut.  There's certainly nothing wrong with depending on a receipe that you know works, but sometimes we come up with new favorites when we try something different.  Here are some suggestions for how you might add variety to your pancakes:

1.  Vary the flours.  There are a number of gluten-free flours, and I think most of them would work well in pancakes or waffles.  Try a new flour in yours for a change of pace or added nutrition.

2.  Vary the wet ingredients.  Instead of milk use yogurt or sour cream.  Or try different milk substitutes.

3.  Additions.  Blueberries and chocolate chips are probably the most popular.  Try one of those if you don’t usually, or come up with your own additions.

Tip:  One thing I’ve learned and also read on other blogs is to let the batter sit for about five minutes before cooking.  This gives it time to thicken up.

If you need inspiration, here are a few of my recipes.  You are welcome to modify them and post your version of the recipe.

• Belgian Waffles
• Pancakes
• Buckwheat Pancakes

Remember to come back on Wednesdays and link your challenge posts any week in September.  I’ll be looking for challenge recipes to highlight each week.

Labels: monthly challenge