There's got to be a better way to make pancakes

[Blue-EyedLady]

Originally Posted by BriansLovie

Can you make some sausage or bacon with your pancakes? I know that just pancakes alone does not last long for us either Is your oven gas or electric?

I haven't figured out how to afford meat with breakfast.

Oven is electric.

---------- Post added at 10:52 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:50 PM ----------

Originally Posted by heartofjoy

We eat our pancakes with peanut butter or vanilla yogurt to fill us up better. Can you do something like that?

What about biscuits instead of pancakes? You can cover them with butter, jam, honey, or syrup just like pancakes. A regular biscuit recipe doesn't call for any eggs, you can make tons at a time without standing at the stove, and if you do a drop biscuit, there's no kneading or rolling out.

I haven't found a GF biscuit recipe I like yet. The closest one comes out more like bread than biscuits, and they're a ton of work. Still, it's probably less work than the 2 hours I spent over the stove this morning. DS1 refuses to put anything on them, though. We're dairy-free, so no butter. He won't eat jelly. Sunbutter (no peanuts here) is already a daily staple, but the bread is too soft to spread anything that firm on it.

We have sooooo many food allergies. I hate dealing with food issues.

---------- Post added at 10:53 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:52 PM ----------

Originally Posted by mamaKristin

Even better than bacon WITH pancakes? Bacon IN pancakes! Pre-cook it in the oven (wiht a drizzle of real maple syrup if you've got it ), dice it, and add to the batter as you pour it on to the pan.

AMAZING.

Sounds super-duper yummy! Does the extra fat in the bacon affect the texture of the pancakes?

[BlessedBlue]

I quit making pancakes in favor of waffles.

[MomtoJGJ]

I don't understand why, if you are cooking 6-8 at a time it's taking you that long? Is that part of the gluten free thing that's different from "regular" pancakes? I make 4 at a time and in 15 minutes I have enough for my family plus some... I'd say about 50. So if I were making 8 at a time that would be 100 pancakes in about 15-20 minutes. Now, that's not counting mixing time, just cooking time, but that doesn't add in too much extra time, maybe 5 minutes. I let the pan preheat while I'm mixing and by the time I'm ready it's hot.

But I agree, just pancakes will not make you not be hungry.... they'll fill you up then, but not keep you that way.

Oh, and sometimes I'll use my cast iron skillet and just pour my regular pancake batter in it and bake it. It takes longer, but I don't have to be right there.

[BriansLovie]

sounds like your pan is not getting hot enough. and I understand, meat is so expensive

[Quiteria]

I wonder if they'd cook through better with a lid?

Agree with the pp that perhaps the pan isn't getting hot enough? That might help with the gumminess.

Would it help to add a bean flour or sprinkle some quinoa on them? Trying to brainstorm protein. I haven't prieced those, so forgive me if they're still out of reach (and/or disgusting)...I'm sorry it's so complicated.

[Blue-EyedLady]

I have to keep the pan on medium heat or they burn without getting solid enough to flip. It takes 3 to 4 minutes on a side, so 6 pancakes takes, 7 minutes or so. I probably made 75 pancakes yesterday, so that's about 90 minutes of actual cooking time. It takes me a while to mix them up, too. I have a pancake mix, but then I have to make my egg replacer, add several wet ingredients, and put in the other ingredients that can't be put into the mix for whatever reason. So maybe 15 min or so? Naturally, I get interrupted 30 times in the process, so it's hard to know for sure.

I make my flour mix with bean flour and I add hemp protein powder to the pancakes just before cooking them. I use flax seed meal for an egg replacer.

I don't think I can put a lid on the griddle - or do you mean when I try baking it?

BB - how on earth are waffles faster than pancakes? Whenever I've made waffles, they take longer because you can only make one at a time.

DS1 is eating his 4th plate of pancakes this morning. So for my nearly 2 hours' effort yesterday, we both ate breakfast yesterday, he had pancakes today, and then there will be just enough for both of us to have breakfast tomorrow. So 2 hours = 5 portions. If I was cooking for a family of 5, it would take me 2 hours to make 1 breakfast that doesn't fill us up.

[BlessedBlue]

Originally Posted by Blue-EyedLady

BB - how on earth are waffles faster than pancakes? Whenever I've made waffles, they take longer because you can only make one at a time.

I splurged for a waffle iron that makes 4 at a time. Then I can spend one day a week making a ton of waffles. Freeze, and toast for breakfast as needed.

[Quiteria]

I was thinking a heat resistant lid (like metal) over the pancakes on the griddle to see if that would reduce the 3-4min per side, to get them solid faster. It would only work over 2-3, but you might be able to group them to do 3 under one lid and 3 under another, depending on how big you make them. It's how we manage to get french toast solid in the middle, so it might work for pancakes.

[MomtoJGJ]

I also don't get how waffles are faster... I have a 4 waffle iron and it takes FOREVER to make waffles.

I'm thinking that maybe you need a heavier griddle? My griddle I set on 350 and it is super fast, my pan on the stove I set on medium and it takes like, two minutes on one side and one on the other, so half the time. My griddle I can cook 8 at a time and it's less than 2 minutes till I'm pulling them off. Literally by the time I get the last one poured it's time to flip the first one and then by the time I flip all of them it's time to take them off.

But again, Ive never cooked gluten free, so I'm not sure how much that affects it.

[StumblinMama]

Do you guys eat beans or cheese? When I lived in Nicaragua, those were staples with breakfast I used to eat banana pancakes with gaello pinto (you can google for a recipe, but it's a way of cooking beans and rice) and fried cheese for breakfast every morning

ETA: I missed that you're dairy free, so the cheese is out.

[BlessedBlue]

Can you opt for muffins for breakfast instead? It might not be faster, but you don't have to babysit them as much.

[Blue-EyedLady]

DS1 won't eat beans in any form except bread (bean flour). I've been experimenting with muffins, but the recipes I've found so far are a ton of work (it seems that to make a palatable muffin with my restrictions, one must use 35 ingredients and a 25-step process ) and sooo sweet. When I try cutting the sweet, DS1 won't eat them.

[hey mommy]

How big are your pancakes? Can you just use a larger pan and make the pancakes bigger and thus fill everyone up with less?

[Quiteria]

I was actually thinking about suggesting to make them smaller...see if silver dollar pancakes cook through faster than regular sized ones.

So, between me and hey mommy, I guess our advice is to experiment with size and see what works?

[Blue-EyedLady]

I've tried both sizes, actually. The small ones don't take any less time to cook. Large ones are harder to flip, so I try to make them smaller.

I may borrow my MIL's waffle iron and experiment with that. BlessedBlue - what flour mix are you using? Do you grease the iron before each waffle? What kind of fat do you use?