Buckwheat! (Or Patience is a virtue)

Not that Buckwheat!  Although he was great in Little Rascals, wasn't he? 

No, today we're talking about the other buckwheat.  I thought it was a grain, but it is not.  It is actually the seeds of a flowering plant.  They are called buckwheat groats.  I can remember going to a pancake house (IHOP, maybe, or maybe it was a pancake place in Gatlinburg, Tennessee) and eating buckwheat pancakes.  Man, were they ever good with a strong, nutty flavor.

Well, Tricia was learning that buckwheat pancakes have no gluten in them and have high nutritive value and she found some buckwheat groats at the store. 

Buckwheat Groats

Now, she could have just as easily have bought some buckwheat flour, but where is the fun in that?  We pulled out our grain grinder and Benjamin poured the groats into the hopper and began grinding the buckwheat groats into flour.

What a grind!

After cranking, dumping, and repositioning, Benjamin was seeing the fruits of his labor as the measuring cup kept filling up with flour.  

Go Benjamin.

In no time the big jar began to fill with buckwheat flour as he dumped each cupful into the jar.


Flour Power

We added 2 1/2 cups of homemade buttermilk to 2 cups of Benjamin's hand-ground buckwheat flour and let it soak overnight at room temperature, covered with plastic wrap.  In the morning we added 6 tablespoons of melted butter, 1 1/2 teaspoons of baking soda, 1 teaspoon baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon salt, the yolks from two eggs and 1 tablespoon of honey to the batter.
  

Soaked Buckwheat & Buttermilk

A supposed trick in making your pancakes light and fluffy is to whip the egg whites, so Tricia started whipping two egg whites.


Whipping egg whites

You're supposed to whip them until they have stiff peaks.  Can you see the stiff peaks below?  I think they're ready.

Stiff Peaks

Now we'll just add that to the batter and mix it all up.


Adding whipped egg whites

Once that is all mixed up just pour onto a heated cast iron griddle.  Cook for 1 - 2 minutes on each side before flipping.  You can tell when it's about ready to flip when lots of bubbles appear on the edges like below.

Ready to flip

Using a spatula, we turned this one over.  Look at the steam rising from it.


Almost ready to eat

The official quality control department was on hand to perform taste testing.  He opted to melt some butter on top and pour some Steen's Cane Syrup over the top of the pancake.  Steen's comes in a can, so we pour it into an old honey squeeze bottle for convenience.

Quality Control has given its seal of approval on home-ground Buckwheat Pancakes

The novelty of grinding our own flour for pancakes was interesting and fun for Benjamin.  I wonder if we didn't live in world where everything is instant and convenient, if it would still be fun for him.  We talked about how in the old days, people grew the grain, harvested it, threshed it, ground it, and baked it.  Things didn't always come from a box or a store.  You had to work hard for good things.  You had to wait for things and it didn't happen overnight.  We agreed that we take things for granted.