10 minute Pancakes

My old room mate worked at a pancake house. If I ever visited her there, I was tortured with plate after plate of every kind of pancake sailing right under my nose, while I poked at my eggs and ham. Eventually I stopped going because, even the possibly contaminated eggs were a risk. Even if you aren't the go-out-for-breakfast type, pancakes are a special breakfast need I think many of us have.

Fortunately, pancakes are one of the easiest gluten free recipes, and perfect for someone who is just starting out. I love this recipe because, as long as I have all the basic ingredients, I can make it at a moment's notice! The preparation for this recipe only takes about 10 minutes, and they are very easy to flip once on the frying pan.

What you'll need:

• 2 eggs
• 3/4 cup rice flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/4 cup oil
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 3/4 teaspoon xanthan gum
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  
• 1 cup milk

-Place all the ingredients in a medium-sized bowl. Mix very well. It works best if you add the milk last, as it will help thicken the batter. Heat a pan or griddle to medium heat, (A drop of water should "dance" on the surface) and if you like your pancakes golden brown, melt some butter in the pan. Pour the batter in the pan to your desired size of pancakes. Cook until small bubbles appear on the surface and the bottom is lightly browned. Flip and continue to cook until lightly browned on both sides. It's so easy!

And Yummy!

Note about cooking: It's important for these rice based pancakes to make sure they are cooked all the way through. I prefer smaller thinner pancakes to large thick ones, because they are more likely to cook thoroughly and much less likely to splatter when flipped. Cooking these pancakes slowly will have a prettier and tastier outcome than cranking up the heat and browning them quickly.

Also, if you are just making pancakes for yourself, half this recipe is plenty. If you have extra batter, put it in a container or put plastic wrap over the top of your bowl and put it in the fridge. You may want to add a little extra milk when you take it out again, to thin the batter. It is more difficult to get a thin pancake with thick batter.

And have fun! Experiment. This pancake is very yummy with fresh blueberries added, or chocolate chips, or just butter and maple syrup. It's extremely versatile in terms of taste. When I've got nothing else, apple sauce or jam work well too.

And just in case you have already mastered the art of gluten free pancakes and you want something new and exciting, I recommend this recipe: Sour cream Pancakes. The first time I made this recipe I ate two huge pancakes with jam (fruit and jam go amazingly well with the sour cream base) and then I ate another two for lunch! Simply substitute rice flour for the "cake flour" and you've got yourself an exotic, new, gluten free pancake recipe. I usually half the recipe because I don't need that much batter and I use low-fat sour cream because I think it's delicious.

(This rice-based pancake recipe came from "You Won't Believe it's Gluten Free" by Roben Ryberg. Versions using cornstarch, oat flour, or potato starch also exist. Thankyou again Roben and thanks to the recipezaar member who formulated the sour cream pancake recipe.