Cast Iron

Chia Seed and Buckwheat Pancakes

by:
January 11, 2013
4
4 Ratings
Chia Seed and Buckwheat Pancakes
  • Makes about 32 pancakes
Author Notes

I kept reading about chia seeds (here and elsewhere), and I was curious to taste them. I found that they have a nutty, slightly smokey flavor that reminded me of buckwheat, which inspired me to pair the two together in these pancakes that have become a new family favorite. The soaked chia seeds soften up and absorb liquid, like tapioca, binding together this buttermilk batter such that it needs just a minimum amount of flour, making for deliciously pillowy, tender cakes. We like to serve these with fresh fruit or thawed berries from our freezer stash and maple syrup (the picture features huckleberries and hardy kiwis from our garden). —Fairmount_market

What You'll Need
Ingredients
  • 1/4 cup chia seeds
  • 2 cups buttermilk
  • 2 eggs
  • 3 tablespoons canola or other neutral oil
  • 1/2 cup buckwheat flour
  • 1/2 cup white flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 pinch salt
  • butter for cooking the pancakes
Directions
  1. In a large mixing bowl, combine the chia seeds with the buttermilk. If you'd like the seeds to be very soft, you can soak them in the buttermilk overnight, but they will soften up quite nicely in about ten minutes (about the time it takes from starting the batter to making your first pancakes). Mix in the eggs and canola oil.
  2. In a separate bowl, mix together the remaining dry ingredients. Then gently mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until they are just combined.
  3. Heat a griddle or large skillet (I prefer cast iron) over medium heat. Melt a small pad of butter to grease the surface. Spoon out dollops of batter with a soup spoon and allow to cook until the batter loses some of its raw pale color and bubbles stay fixed. Flip with a spatula and cook for a minute on the other side. Both sides should be nicely browned. Transfer to a warm plate, and cook the rest of the batter. Enjoy with fruit toppings and maple syrup.
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  • Enjoli Cooke
    Enjoli Cooke
  • Fairmount_market
    Fairmount_market
Fairmount_market
I'm a biology professor and mother of two, and in my (limited) free time I love to cook, which is much more forgiving than laboratory science. Last year I helped start a farmers market in my neighborhood, and to promote it, I created a food blog: fairmountmarket.blogspot.com. I enjoy the challenge of coming up with recipes for local, seasonal ingredients and finding fun ways to cook with my children.

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2 Reviews

Enjoli C.
Enjoli C. August 28, 2013
This was a great recipe. I used oat flour instead of buckwheat flour and the flavor still worked. I think that it may have been better to soak the chia seeds a bit longer than the 10 minutes because some of the earlier pancakes were a bit crunchy.
 
Fairmount_market
Fairmount_market September 14, 2013
I'm glad you like it. And I agree that one should experiment with the soaking time, depending on your batch of chia seeds. You could even soak overnight (I've done this when I've saved leftover batter for the next day).