This buckwheat pancake recipe is not your ordinary pancake, and there is nothing quite like a weekend morning breakfast of hot-off-the-griddle pancakes.
Especially when the batter can be made the night before, making these an overnight fermented pancake recipe. Score! Seriously, making pancake batter the night before makes cooking early in the morning a breeze.
This heritage recipe was found among my great-grandmother's recipes, in a cookbook released in 1921, and is an overnight yeast pancakes recipe.
Unlike most modern buckwheat pancake recipes, this one incorporates yeast into the batter, which rises overnight and is cooked in the morning.
Cooking notes:
These simple buckwheat pancakes are best fried in a cast-iron skillet (all pancakes are for the record). Heat your skillet over medium heat until it's nice and hot, and then pour your batter in, the preheating helps keep the pancakes from sticking. If your cast iron is well seasoned, you might not even need to add a fat source, but I like a little melted butter in the skillet just so the pancakes have a buttery taste (because hello, it's butter!). You can find more on seasoning and caring for cast iron here
Wait until bubbles appear on the top before flipping. I prefer to use a metal spatula (and no, it won't hurt a properly seasoned cast iron skillet) to flip my pancakes over.
Healthy Buckwheat Pancakes
Organic Buckwheat Flour– this flour is batch tested and certified gluten-free and organic
Molasses- a long-time stand-by in old recipes and added health benefits with vitamins and minerals, compared to most sweeteners.
Batter can also be saved from the first batch and used for subsequent batches without adding more yeast, similar to a sourdough starter.
For those who may have allergies, this is a buckwheat pancake recipe without buttermilk that is also gluten-free, egg-free, and refined-sugar free, although this was probably not even a consideration when the recipe was written!
Sweetened only with molasses, they are enjoyable served with fruit, drizzled with maple syrup, or topped with yogurt. Try this 1930s Chocolate Gravy Recipe for a delicious vintage breakfast treat.
Cooked pancakes also keep well in the fridge for a few days, and freeze well, too. I also like them toasted and spread with peanut butter.
Due to the yeast and the overnight ferment, these are fluffy buckwheat pancakes!
Sourdough pancakes are another favorite and I share here how to make your own sourdough starter (including gluten-free) and my favorite sourdough recipes!
Buckwheat Pancake Recipe from the 1920s
Ingredients
- 2 cups buckwheat flour
- 1/2 cup cornmeal
- 2 1/4 tsp yeast
- 2 cups warm water
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 Tbsp molasses divided
- 1 tsp baking soda
- USING EXISTING STARTER INGREDIENTS
- 2 cups buckwheat flour
- 1/2 cup cornmeal
- 2 cups warm water
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 Tbsp molasses
- 1 tsp baking soda
Instructions
- Beat first 6 ingredients (only use 1 Tablespoon of molasses) in large bowl until smooth. Cover the bowl and leave overnight.
- The next morning, stir in 1 tsp baking soda and another tbsp of molasses.
- Cook on a greased pan – my cast iron frying pan does the best job with these pancakes. Cook until bubbles form on the top, then flip and cook on the other side.
- If desired, save 1 cup of batter, stored in the fridge, to start the next batch of pancakes. The batter should keep up to 3 days in the fridge. I give mine a quick shake or stir daily to keep it from separating.
- USING EXISTING STARTER INSTRUCTIONS
- Beat first 5 ingredients into saved starter until smooth. Cover the bowl and leave overnight.
- The next morning, stir in 1 tsp. baking soda.
- Follow the steps above for cooking.
That's it! Now you can enjoy this buckwheat pancake recipe all week long!
For many people, corn is just as inflammatory as gluten – both seem to “settle” in my joints & seem like an RA flare. I also take boron I help alleviate RA symptoms as it seems a deficiency will give me RA flares. I also keep as much gluten & corn out of my recipes. I hope you’ll incorporate more GF & corn free recipes. Thanks so much! Love your information & recipes. Cat
I tried so hard to like these but they were terrible. I love buckwheat and make gluten free buckwheat pancakes and waffles all the time. This recipe looked so convenient and simple— I followed the instructions exactly but the pancakes tasted really bad and gave us all indigestion.
Can you share the gluten free buckwheat pancake recipe?
You should consider breaking up the recipe better — I had to re-read it several times to understand and I still accidentally added the baking soda with the first 6 ingredients. So hopefully that doesn’t totally ruin it…any recommendations? I also am using equal parts oat flour in place of the corn so Ill update how that goes.
Please, how much is existing sourdough starter … your usual 8 ounces?
Thank you.
Does this set overnight in the fridge or counter?
On the counter.
Hi,
I am interested in which heritage this recipe sprang from?
Thank you,
Lory Shelton
I am a little confused. In the recipe for 1920 buckwheat pancakes you list the ingredients, Then say using existing starter ingredients, what do I do with them are the top ingred. all of the recipe for one batch?P lease walk me thru this. Thank you so much
Sorry, Judy, I can see how that would be confusing. Yes, the top ingredients are for one batch. If you are making this for the first time, or making it any time when you don’t have any starter saved, just use the ingredients on the top of the list, above where it says “using starter ingredients.” If you are using the starter, add the ingredients listed below “using starter ingredients” to your starter. Then leave overnight, and stir in baking soda in the morning as you did before. I hope that clears it up!
Thanks Andrea, this helps alot. My daughter is coming to visit and she loves buckwheat pancakes!
Do you use regular yeast or the quick rise?
Regular yeast works well with this recipe.
Is there a good replacement for the corn? Thanks!
I haven’t tested any corn meal replacements, however, I think another flour with some texture to it might work, in equal amounts. Oat flour or nut flour perhaps?
I would think chestnut or almond flour would be wonderful! Now I’m hungry!