— Pauline Lucas

So first I'm going to say that this morning I made these, here's a little heart-shaped waffle, which I think looks delicious. And I made a couple of buckwheat pancakes, and I'm just gonna tear this in half so that you can see what the texture is like. I mean, it looks like a normal pancake. So what I used was I used this Arrowhead Mills pancake and waffle mix. And the reason why is because, uh, I can make my own from scratch. But when I started out, uh, on being whole food plant-based, no oil, I needed a little help and a little crutch from products like this, which are made, uh, back 15 years ago when I first began following this lifestyle, it was very hard to find anything. So I'm going to read to you what the ingredients are. The first ingredient is, um, two thirds of a cup of this mix. And I have the recipe because I didn't wanna have extra leftover. And actually, this is gonna be my lunch today. Um, so the next ingredient is, uh, one egg beaten or egg substitute. So I used flaxseed meal, uh, there you go. And I used one tablespoon of flaxseed meal to three tablespoons of water. I started, and after about three to five minutes, it sort of gets a congealed texture to it. And I added that to the mixture. It calls for two teaspoons of honey. Uh, plant-based people don't eat honey. Many plant-based people don't eat honey vegans, especially don't eat honey because it's an animal product. So instead of that, I used maple syrup, but if you wanted to, you could also use, here we go, date syrup. And I'm gonna say that, uh, date syrup, uh, is a great, uh, alternative for honey during, uh, Rosh Hashanah. So there's just something else to think about. And then it called for two thirds of a cup of milk or water. And so what I did is I made a diluted, um, almond milk. So it was, um, a quarter of a cup of, uh, water and a quarter of a cup of milk. I mixed it up, I let it sit for about three to four minutes, and then I made these beautiful, beautiful pancakes. You could, if you wanted to. I forgot to tell you that there's two teaspoons of oil. When something is such a small quantity like that, I just forget about it. Like, oh, it's something I forgot to put into a recipe. However, you could use two teaspoons of silk and tofu, two teaspoons of apple sauce, two teaspoons of, um, banana, anything that is on that list of, um, fat equals, uh, that are plant-based. So my other thing to say is, um, Pauline, is that if you have a favorite recipe that you have been following for years and years, uh, when it calls for a liquid, you can either add your favorite plant milk or diluted when it calls for oil, you can add those substitutes. If it calls for a sweetener, you can add, uh, maple syrup or, um, I'm not a fan of agave, but you can add agave or date syrup or whatever. And, um, it's all about, you know, I always say that cooking plant-based can almost be like science in the kitchen. Sometimes you have to experiment and do what feels right for you, and then have that, you know, yippy yaha moment when, uh, you know, Eureka, you have made the perfect, uh, perfect pancake. So I think, um, the first time that you make something, um, do everything the way that it's called in a recipe, and then after time you kind of like add your own little spin to it and it comes out just the way that you like it. I follow this, uh, mother and daughter who make really, really awful food, but they're two really nice people and I enjoy their personalities. And then the woman is from Staten Island and she always says, this is the way we like it. This is how we make it. And I think, you know, you know what, that's a really good thing to to say because I have a friend who's a cookbook author who will see food that people make and she'll, she'll be like, that's not what it's supposed to look like. It's supposed to look like however you want it to look. So that's my recommendation for the, uh, pancakes. And, uh, you're probably wondering what kind of pan I used. So, uh, I used the caraway pan, um, which is sort of the rage right now. And I used no oil whatsoever. I do think that in order for the pancakes to work in a regular pan, that you kind of need to have something that may have a ceramic coating to it or something. And that's what I used to make, uh, the pancakes this morning. So I think, um, I, I think I'm gonna wish you well, I wanna hear how all of this works out for you because I have to say that, um, a lot of the baking that I do, uh, is, uh, if you've ever read the engine two diet book, rip has a recipe for mighty muffins. And a lot of things that I make are called cousin of the Mighty Muffin. And I did wanna say one other thing if you are, um, this goes back to the question about savory, um, breakfast. If you are a muffin maker and you make a savory muffin like a horn salsa muffin, uh, you can put those into your waffle iron and smash them, and they come out and make a beautiful crispy flat muffin that tastes absolutely delicious. So, um, there are never ending, uh, things to do in the plant-based world when you were, uh, cooking.

Rouxbe Basic Pancake Recipe