Gluten Free Pancake and Waffle Tips

PANCAKE AND WAFFLE TIPS
Mostly, these are tips on how to make my pancakes and waffles. Other people have different tricks and ideas as well as different recipes.

Pancakes:

1.)Don’t second guess the recipe. I made my fluffy gluten-free pancakes/waffles the first time, and they were perfect. I posted them to the blog. The second time, I looked at the wet vs. dry and said, “There’s too much wet! I’ll put a little less in.” Disaster.
Put in the measurements the recipe calls for on your first batch. After that, do whatever you want.

2.)I always let my pancake batter set for ten minutes. Time after time I’ve lost patience and had the first pancake come out horrible. Be patient. Let it sit for ten minutes.

3.)Never stir them after you first mix the dry ingredients and the wet ingredients together. Even then only stir them until just blended. If you stir them any more, you might ruin the batter. When spooning the mix out, cause as little disturbance as possible.

4.)Rice flour doesn’t work as well in pancakes as other flours such as oat flour. However, you can replace the oat flour with rice flour. If you have other flours, it would be a good idea to replace some (but not all) of the rice flour with millet flour or sorghum.

5.)I don’t think pancake mixes are as good as they could be. I’d prefer a homemade pancake any day. If you insist on buying pancake mixes, though, Bob’s Red Mill or King Arthur are not a good idea. I’ve tried their pancake mixes and they aren’t that good. Try Pamela’s pancake mix (Pamela’s products have always been some of the best gluten-free foods) or Namaste Foods pancake mix. If you have a favorite gluten-free pancake or waffle mix, please share!

6.)Never use much xanthan gum, if any at all. Sometimes you need a little bit to prevent the pancakes/waffles from being crumbly, but try not to use much. Usually no more than ½ a teaspoon.

Waffles:

1.)Again, don’t second-guess the recipe.

2.)Again, never stir after first mixing.

4.)You don’t have to let waffles sit for ten minutes like you do pancakes. Also, the rice flour isn’t as big of an issue in waffles…you can replace any oat flour with rice flour if you don’t have any.

5.)If you don’t have a nonstick waffle iron, grease the iron with lots of oil. Otherwise your waffle will be stuck there till the world ends.

6.)See ‘Pancakes’ Number 5 on mixes.

7.)If you end up making up your own recipe, be sure to have lots of oil. Even if your waffle iron is nonstick, you still need a bunch of oil in the recipe.

8.)See ‘Pancakes’ Number 6 on xanthan gum. The same applies to waffles.