Banana Sorghum Pancakes

[sonia]

Inspired by jesse_the_k's Flat Bread recipe and a surplus of ripe bananas, I made a variation of Bojon Gourmet's Sorghum Pancakes that came out well. I replaced the buttermilk with banana + water + vinegar, and they came out fluffy and tasty.

Time
Prep: 10 min. Cook: 20 min.

Tools
Sturdy frying pan. Cast iron is good. Start pre-heating before the batter is ready.
4 cup Pyrex measuring cup is convenient for wet ingredients.

Dry Ingredients
3/4 cup (90 g) sorghum flour (or try millet or oat flour by weight)
1/2 cup (75 g) rice flour (or other GF flour. I used brown rice flour)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon (added because I was finishing off the jar)

Wet Ingredients
1 medium ripe banana, mashed + enough water to bring up to 1 cup
1 Tablespoon vinegar (see Note)
1 large egg
1 Tablespoon (15 ml) maple syrup, plus more for serving
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 Tablespoons sunflower oil (or other neutral oil)

neutral high-heat vegetable oil (such as sunflower), for cooking

Methods

1. In a large bowl, whisk or sift together the sorghum and sweet rice flours with the baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add cinnamon if using.
   
2. In a measuring pitcher or bowl, whisk together the banana, water, vinegar, egg, maple syrup, and vanilla.
   
3. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and quickly stir with a flexible spatula until halfway combined; 8 to 10 strokes. Pour in the oil and quickly but gently mix until the batter is just combined and no oil or flour streaks remain. Some lumps are ok. Take care not to overmix the batter or it will become thin and the pancakes will cook up flatter and more tough.
   
4. Set the batter aside for a minute or two to thicken. Meanwhile, preheat a wide skillet or griddle over medium heat. I prefer well-seasoned cast iron or ceramic nonstick. When the pan is hot, lower to medium-low or low.
   
5. Coat the hot pan with a thin layer of oil. Drop the batter by 1/4 cups into the hot oil. Cook on the first side until the bottoms are golden, 2-3 minutes. Gently flip, taking care not to deflate the pancakes. Cook on the second side until the bottoms are golden, 2-3 more minutes.

Serving
Remove the pancakes to a wire rack. When you’re ready to serve, reheat any cooled pancakes in the hot pan. Alternatively put them in a low oven while you cook the remaining pancakes. Serve with your favorite toppings. I ate these plain since they already had banana and maple syrup in them. I got 9 pancakes total and the leftovers made a great snack/lunch.

Storage
Pancakes can be made ahead and warmed in a hot skillet or toaster oven when ready to serve. They will keep for up to 4 days airtight in the refrigerator.

Notes
I had a hard time flipping these without having them partly fall apart. This may be because of the batter, or because of my lack of skill at making pancakes!

I used cherry-flavored vinegar because I had some on hand, but rice vinegar or any other GF vinegar should work fine.

Comments

These look tasty.

[jesse_the_k]

I assumed bananas would burn because they're sweet -- good to know I can cook them.

Flipping pancakes is hard, yo!

Re: These look tasty.

[sonia]

I think the banana is spread out enough that it's buffered by the rest of the batter. And it might have contributed to the pancakes being floppier. Let me know how it goes if you try it!

Re: These look tasty.

[fred_mouse]

You can do caramelised bananas in a frypan, just need enough butter/other oil in there first, and you do tend to end up with a sticky pan. Riper bananas are better this way.

Apple Cider Sorghum Pancakes

[runpunkrun]

You inspired me to finally try making GF pancakes! They came out great--tall and fluffy and tender.

I used sorghum and sweet rice flour with about 3/4 cup apple cider + 1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar in place of the banana. Apple cider's so thin compared to buttermilk or bananas that I reduced the liquid so the batter wouldn't be too runny.

I put light olive oil in the pancakes, but used a little ghee on my non-stick griddle, and it gave them a delicious warm apple donut taste.

Re: Apple Cider Sorghum Pancakes

[sonia]

That sounds yummy! What a great combo.