Very easy pancakes recipe

I like pancakes for breakfast, all kinds. American style pancakes, poffertjes (tiny Dutch style pancakes), baghrir (north African style pancakes also known as a thousand hole pancakes), crêpes, etc. It's just that some are so nice, I tend to overeat them. I want to be able to portion and freeze pancakes to avoid over indulgence. Unfortunately, not all pancakes are freezable, especially crêpes. It's also nice to have a go to breakfast waiting to be thawed in case there isn't anything else to eat. So I prefer freezable pancakes. 

Also, since I'm trying to lose weight, I'm always looking to decrease my calories without making too much sacrifices (if that makes sense, lol). Typically pancakes contain milk, eggs and fat - in addition to be cooked in yet more fat. Substituting white flour for whole wheat (and/or oat flour) is something I've been doing for a long time already, but I was looking for a solution for the eggs and milk. Don't get me wrong, I'll still consume eggs and milk, but I just prefer them as is, not as an ingredient just adding more calories. So after some googling and trial and error myself, I came up with partially whole wheat pancakes that don't contain any milk or eggs- and STILL taste amazing. 

For a large batch (around 16-19 pancakes), you'll need: 

2 cups of whole wheat flour 

2 cups of fine semolina (can be substituted for white or whole wheat flour)

1.5 tablespoons of instant yeast 

Half a teaspoons of salt, or a bit less or more to taste 

A tablespoon of vanilla sugar/vanilla flavour/extract (I don't use extract because of the alcohol it contains, but apparently alcohol free extract does exist) 

As much warm water as needed to create a pancake batter- I used around 5 cups 

Oil or butter to cook your pancakes in 

Combine all the dry ingredients and mix well using a whisk. Then add the water, not adding all the water at once to avoid a batter that's on the runny side. If you find it too thick just add a bit more gradually and mix well using the whisk. Mix until there are no more lumps visible and it's a smooth batter. Then cover your bowl, I use a bowl with a lid to avoid using unnecessary disposable plastic. 

Let it sit for around 45 minutes to an hour and a half, depending on your room temperature. If you've got enough time it should even be possible to let it rise in the fridge. 

If the batter has doubled in volume and is bubbly it's done and ready to bake. Heat up your skillet, and use about one ladle or a bit less (depending on your preferred size of pancakes) of batter per pancake. Cook them as you would regular pancakes and let them cool. 

These pancakes might seem a bit flavourless, but trust me, they're so yummy! The semolina gives them that rich flavour and so does the yeast. There's absolutely no need for eggs or another ingredient for binding, which makes these pancakes not only easy, eggs allergy-friendly, vegan and lower in calories, but also WAY more affordable in this economy 😉 

Some notes: 

I made this the night before breakfast and kept the ones I was planning to eat in a container, the others went into the freezer right after cooling down.  

Keep in mind- both semolina and whole wheat flour absorb more water than white flour does, so keep in mind you'll need more liquid than when making regular pancakes. You can make this batter with whichever flour you like, making it 100% whole wheat or 100% white. 

Egg replacements

We've probably read or heard all about the egg shortages in the US lately- that is, if some of us aren't affected directly by the shortages. While we don't live in the US, nor do we eat US imported eggs (as far as I know anyhow), eggs still aren't quite as cheap as they once were, so it definitely won't hurt to reconsider the amount of eggs we consume. 

Since we don't have egg shortages (unlike the other products that we have shortages of, which I blogged about a while ago), we don't strictly have to ration them. But I still like to save money whenever we can, and if that's by replacing one more expensive ingredient by a cheaper ingredient, that's good! And frugality aside, there are other circumstances in which eggless options become an necessity. Think of allergies and ethical/religious dietary requirements. If you're not allergic or being religious forbidden from eating eggs but you're in company of people that are, it's still nice if you can all enjoy the same meal. That's what I would feel like anyhow- being the one with a "special" meal will make me feel left out,  but perhaps that's just a remnant of my childhood trauma when I was always the only vegetarian among the meat eaters 🙂

Enough said... let's talk egg replacements. Since there are quite a lot, I'll just go through my list! 

Banana (mashed)/applesauce: this is great for baked goods such as (pan)cakes, muffins etc. 

Sweetened condensed milk: also used for making baked goods. I remember using them to make brownies and wasn't disappointed at all! 

Corn starch: haven't used it enough honestly, but I do know that they make great French toast. In fact, I actually prefer French toast made with cornstarch now over the variety that includes eggs - even if eggs were free, I'd probably still be using corn starch! I have read (but not tried out myself) that cornstarch is also very suitable to make pancakes, muffins etc. 

Gram flour/chickpea flour: this is whet it gets a bit different. While chickpea flour is a great egg replacement, it certainly has to be used with caution as it does, obviously, have a strong chickpea flavour, which won't always taste great in sweet baked goods (unless you bake Tunisian ghorayba 7oms, or chickpea flour cookies 😉 but that's for another post!). Still, in a lot of savoury dishes, chickpea flour is a very good option. Or when you want scrambled eggs minus the eggs! If you do like the texture of chickpea flour but you're not a huge fan of the taste, you can always opt for other legume based flours, such as soy or lentil flour. I once got a bag of soy flour from a friend that she wasn't using (yes, my friends know I waste nothing, lol) and it tasted quite neutral. 

Speaking of chickpeas- chickpea aquafaba is also a terrific egg replacement that can be used in many ways, I once posted a mayonnaise recipe that uses aquafaba instead of egg. Other people even make meringue with aquafaba instead of eggs, but I'm yet to try that out. Btw, make sure it's chickpea aquafaba and not another kind of bean/pulse water. Chickpea water is really the best to use. 

Flax seeds: flax seeds are very versatile. I mostly use them in my yogurt for breakfast, but I've also used them as an egg replacement. It's usually 1 teaspoon + some water to replace one egg. To get the best result, it's best to use broken seeds, but I just grind up whole seeds in my small coffee grinder, which works perfectly. Apparently, chia seeds function the same as flax seeds, but I'm not a chia seed fan so haven't tried that myself. 

Tofu: if you don't really like the chickpea-y flavour, you still can make scrambled "egg" by using tofu. 

Cream/milk: when you neef an egg specifically for an egg wash for your bread, cream or even milk seem to work as a decent replacement. I've heard that some people have even used pasta water... Not sure how great it would work, so iv you're trying it, do so at your own risk. 

Mayonnaise: apparently this works in savoury dishes such as casseroles as well as certain baked goods as cake, but don't hold me accountable as I've only vaguely remember once using mayonnaise for these purposes 

No eggs at all: you may find yourself in the situation with no eggs and no egg replacements, or just can't be bothered to use any substitutes. The good news is that in many cases you can just leave out the eggs altogether. I've made eggless cakes, pancakes, muffins, and cookies... sometimes you need to alter the recipe a bit, or switch to another recipe but it can be possible. 

Homemade egg free mayonnaise

A lot of what we eat is made from scratch. 

This is for various reasons. First of all, as a homemaker I just really enjoy doing all these kitchen DIY activities! Secondly, it saves us loads of money. It's usually also healthier as you can control how many salt, sugar, fats etc you put in your food, without a lot of other chemicals and additives that processed foods usually contain. In most cases it's more environmental friendly as well, as you use your own containers and you don't have all the extra packaging that goes into a landfill. For us, another reason is simply the lack of availability. Living in a country where simply a lot of the "western" stuff isn't available can sometimes be a challenge when it comes to food, so you end up making a lot of things at home. But in the end, I think that's a good thing. 

Homemade mayonnaise is one of those things I always have on hand. It's just so easy to make when you use this method-- No endlessly whisking! I think that's the main thing that withholds most people from making mayonnaise from scratch. But then there's also the raw egg issue. There's some controversy on whether or not raw eggs are healthy, but to be on the safe side you can easily make homemade mayo with no eggs. Of course, there is also the issue of dietary restrictions and allergies, so no one has to miss out on this delicious condiment. Probably the best thing of all is that no one will even notice that it's eggless!

Though there are many egg alternatives out there, like flax seeds and even bananas, the secret ingredient here is chickpea brine, also known as aquafaba. Since we eat a lot of chickpeas anyway, I just save the brine for making mayonnaise and freeze it. So this ingredient is basically free. 

For one batch, you'll need: 

One cup of oil of your choice- any oil is fine, except for coconut oil (250 milliliters)

About 1/4 (60 milliliters) to 1/3 cup (80 milliliters) of aquafaba (this depends on the thickness, and using canned vs home cooked chickpeas can also make a difference) 

1/4 teaspoon of salt, a tablespoon of honey or any other sweetener, a tablespoon of vinegar, a teaspoon of mustard. 

Put aquafaba in a narrow shaped mug (but still wide enough for an immersion blender to fit in). Then put the salt, mustard, vinegar and honey in the mug and finally the oil of your choice. Starting at the bottom, start to blend. Blend for a few seconds before slightly lifting your blender. Blend for another few seconds again before lifting your blender, untill all of the oil is mixed in and has thickened. Now, refrigerate for a few hours; if the mayonnaise is still on the runny side, usually after refrigerating for a few hours makes the mayo thicker. If you happened to have a runnier batch that won't thicken upthere's still a lot of ways how to use that, but I'll try to elaborate on that in another post. My mayonnaise is always perfect when using this method, though I've heard some people saying that theirs is a bit runny. Possibly it's a matter of trial and error as to how much aquafaba to use.