Buckwheat Pancakes

We have several food allergies and intolerances in our family.  Two of our children are gluten-intolerant, and one is allergic to dairy and tapioca, among other things.  This means that some people can eat whole wheat bread, and some can eat gluten-free bread but our youngest can't eat either (anybody have any gluten-free bread recipes that don't use tapioca in them?).

I found a buckwheat pancake recipe and with a few substitutions made them safe for the whole family.  They're delicious!!  We typically quadruple the following recipe and freeze some of the pancakes to make peanut-butter and jelly sandwiches later on.

Buckwheat flour can be a bit pricey sometimes.  We buy organic hulled buckwheat groats in bulk once a year from a local co-op and grind them ourselves.  Here are what buckwheat groats look like.

This year we bought 50 pounds.  I'm thinking that next year we may have to do 100.

We just use a simple hand mill, purchased for around $60 online.  It works great for us, has stainless steel parts, and comes completely apart for cleaning.  It's so easy to use, even my kids can help grind (and they love to do it!).  It takes longer than electric mills, but the price was right!

Here's the original recipe and our substitutions:

2 cups buckwheat flour

2 t baking powder (gluten-free is necessary for us)

4 T sugar (we use turbinado--yum!)

1 t salt

2 eggs, beaten

2 c milk (I typically do 1 cup almond or rice milk and 1 cup water)

4 T melted butter (We do just under 4 T of applesauce instead)

splash of vanilla

Enjoy!!