2-Ingredient Buckwheat Galettes (Buckwheat Pancakes) with vegan option
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Only 3 ingredients are needed for these Buckwheat Pancakes. They are gluten-free, freeze well, and taste great with all kinds of toppings from sweet to savory!
One of the biggest challenges to being a gluten-free family is having affordable bread alternatives around so you can easily throw together a quick meal or a snack. We regularly enjoy our Flax Bread, but it’s a little boring to have the same thing over and over again. This recipe for buckwheat pancakes is another great option to add to your gluten-free recipe box.
This Buckwheat Galette Recipe (that’s the real term for these flat cakes) is one recipe in our home that has become a staple. They make a great gluten-free wrap that is so much less expensive than those “priced through the roof” wraps in health food stores.
They mix up quickly and simply, store well, travel well and are a super flexible background for meals and quick snacks. And they freeze well.
And my kids love them.
Hope you do too:-).
I found this recipe a number of years ago on Whole Approach, a super helpful site for anyone dealing with candida. Candida, if you aren’t familiar with it, is a systemic overgrowth of candida yeast in one’s body.
It is typically associated with the overuse of antibiotics and eating too much sugar and starches.
My oldest son and I figured out that we were dealing with severe candidiasis and as a result went off sugars, most fruits, and gluten and my hunt for recipes that would help us in our quest for health began.
Well, getting well and feeding a family whole foods can take time so I just loved it when I found out how easy these little French pancakes / crepe like breads are. Less time in the kitchen makes for a happier mama and a more peaceful family.
Side note – if you’re struggling with finding easy recipes too, these are some of the more simple ones on my site.
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More Quick and Easy Recipes:
– Quick Drop Biscuits
– Baked Oatmeal / Oatmeal Cake (Two Ways!)
– Super Savory Hummus
– Fast and Yummy Bean Dip
– Focaccia Flax Bread
– Super Fast Kid-Friendly Lentils
– 5-Minute Snickerdoodle Cookie Dough Balls
– Whole-grain Buckwheat Blender Waffles
– No-Bake Coconut Delights
What is a Galette?
Traditionally, galettes are a round, freeform crusty cake. But this recipe is more of a crepe (Breton galette) that French bakeries serve with fillings (source).
Galettes are famous in Brittany, France, and one of the most popular ways to eat them is formed around a center of cheese, ham, and egg. In these photos, they’re shown with homemade coconut whipped cream. You could use that or this dairy-free coconut pudding as a delicious alternative.
Now, I know, a lot of you who follow this blog know that I have recently put my oldest son on a grain-free diet. That hasn’t changed. (Update: we go on and off being grain-free. Depends on the practitioner we are working with and how much we think a certain diet is helping or not.)
And I am on an almost grain-free diet. But there are still two others in my household and we haven’t all gone grain-free….so for now, at least, you will be seeing a mix of both grain-containing and grain-free recipes.
And technically, buckwheat isn’t a grain – it’s a seed. But it’s still heavy in starch.
To reduce the starch and increase the protein content of the wraps, sprout the buckwheat first.
Serving Suggestions
1. Plain
Eat these buckwheat pancakes just as is!
2. Like a Sandwich
Spread with sandwich fixin’s like nut butter, either plain or with jam or sweetener of choice. Top with another pancake and eat like a sandwich. Here’s how to make Homemade Nut Butter.
3. Like a Wrap
Spread with a thin layer of your favorite filling and roll up and eat like a wrap. (The top photo is filled with scrambled eggs, tomatoes and peppers.) We’ve filled them with this Sesame-Free Hummus at times. Yum!
4. Filled Dessert
Fill your buckwheat pancakes with ice cream (like this Chocolate Almond Chip Ice Cream…our favorite!) and drizzle w/ chocolate sauce. Or fill this a light cream cheesy filling and some of this Keto Blueberry Syrup and top with Dairy-free Whipped Cream.
5. Traditional Method
Technically, you are supposed to make a fairly large galette and place filling in the middle and fold the outer edges up. I haven’t tried making these pancakes in this way yet, but I hope to! I think it would work best if you use egg for this method.
These buckwheat pancakes will hold together fairly well as a wrap, but not perfectly. I hope to work on another wrap recipe or two for later.
Recipe Notes and Substitutions
- Egg Substitute: You can use an egg substitute instead of an egg. Here is my Homemade Egg Replacer.
- THM: This recipe qualifies as an “E” for those on the Trim Healthy Mama plan.
- Salt: The recipe calls for 2 teaspoons salt and we love it that way. At least one reader has commented that it’s too much salt. Of course, as with any recipe, you can reduce or even omit the salt if you like. Most galette recipes have this ratio / proportion of salt, but it’s up to you.
2 Ingredient Buckwheat Galettes (Buckwheat Pancakes) with vegan option
Ingredients
- 2 cups buckwheat flour (330 grams)
- 2 teaspoons salt (or to taste–see Recipe Notes)
- 3 1/3 cups water (750 ml)
- 1 egg (or substitute)
Instructions
- Mix flour and salt in a large bowl.
- Add water gradually by adding in 1/4 – 1/2 of the total amount each time, stirring well after each addition.
- Add the egg or substitute.
- Cover batter and refrigerate for 1-2 hours (optional. I've, opted not to do this when I am in a hurry. For best nutrition, soak the buckwheat mixture prior to adding the egg).
- Ladle batter onto a prepared skillet, greased as necessary.
- Cook until galette starts to brown.
- Flip galette over and cook on the other side.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional information is provided as a courtesy and is merely an approximation. Optional ingredients are not included and when there is an alternative, the primary ingredient is typically used. We cannot guarantee the accuracy of the nutritional information given for any recipe on this site. Erythritol carbs are not included in carb counts since they have been shown not to impact blood sugar. Net carbs are the total carbs minus fiber.
What do you think you would fill your Buckwheat Pancakes with?
Thank you for sharing! Great galletes! instead of eggs I used flex seed jelly (slow boil flex seeds, drain the liquid and keep in refrigerator), i love the recipe! I will be sharing galletes with many!
So glad to hear it!!! Thanks for taking the time to comment!vv
Followed the recipe.. wasted a bunch of time and ingredients lol. These took forever to not even cook right.
Taste is good but with how long these took to cook there is no way I’ll be patient enough to use the whole lot..
They turned out nothing like the picture either, your look all light and airy whereas these are coming out very solid and brown and crispy but pure smoosh on teh inside. About ready to give up on pancakes I think.
Hi Amy – I’m sorry you felt they took too long to cook – how long? I haven’t made them in a long time but I don’t think that was my experience. My photo is very close up and they aren’t very airy. More of a flat pancake. Wth eggs they would be more airy. I would think you are cooking yours a lot longer than mine if you are getting them very brown and crispy – mine are just cooked ’til lightly brown. I hope that helps.
I really wanted to like these….I’m on a candida diet and “pancakes” or wraps are hard to come by. I soaked the batter overnight at room temperature before adding the egg (replaced one tbsp of the water with whey from cheesemaking) per your “how and why to soak grains” instructions. In the morning, I added the egg and whisked up the batter. Poured it into greased frying pans (tried cast iron and stainless steel). They stuck to the bottom of the pan and had a hard time cooking all the way through, like some other commenters have said. They tasted like the batter, too salty, and kind of sour from the whey. Yes, the batter was pretty thin–not very thick. Should I have still refrigerated it for 1-2 hours after the overnight soak and after adding the egg? Also, when I mixed it up the night before, I added all the water at once and stirred the lumps out as best as I could–could that have been a factor? Or maybe I needed more flour in the beginning? Anything that could help the sour taste from soaking? Should I use less salt? Thanks for your help!
Oh I’m so sorry – have you done soaked grains before? They always have somewhat of a sour taste. Perhaps don’t soak next time?
I tried making these and just cannot make it work. The batter is runny but it seems like it doesn’t fully cook. All I taste is batter… YUK. So I tried to alter the ingredients a bit and it still isn’t working cooking all the way through.
Hi Erica. Sorry they didn’t work for you. Is the batter pretty thin?
Oops sorry. ..just found my answer further down in the recipe! ?
How much of your egg replacer is equivalent to one egg?
These are GREAT. I used freshly ground buckwheat and I made the vegan version… and they were wildly crepe-like! I’m talkin’ white flour, tons of eggs and dairy fat crepe-like. Except here they are gluten free and vegan. Whhaaatt??! Very good proportions of ingredients. Ate these babies with garlic herb cashew “cheese” and wilted spinach. Bet they’d be delish with sweet ingredients too! Thanks for the recipe!
YAY!!!! That cheese sounds great. This one might interest you as well: https://wholenewmom.com/recipes/garlic-and-chive-cheese-dairy-and-soy-free/
I have an Iron crepe pan, but my galettes keep sticking. Can you tell me how hot the pan has to be to cook these properly? Is there a way to prepare the iron pan before use?
I’m not any good w/ iron pans. Sorry – wish I was.
Hi Adrienne, thanks for this recipe. I am mostly raw vegan, with the occasional cooked potato 😉 My husband and I wanted to make wraps and this recipe is perfect (pancake, wrap, omelette hehe). Filled with raw veggies, they are the perfect mix of raw/cooked.
I also added turmeric and black salt one time and it almost passed for an omelette (black salt taste like eggs) 🙂 Thank you!
Yea!!! Thanks and I agree w/ you on the egg taste!
These look great! I’m not crazy about the ingredients in powdered egg replacer – would flax seed/water “egg replacer” also work in this recipe? Thanks
I think so. Please let me know how they turn out. 🙂
I’m so tired of another crappy recipe. These were a mess. they didn’t stick together. I couldn’t flip them. Now I have a bowl full of wasted organic ingredients….Over this!
Hi Krissy, I am so sorry that you had this experience. I haven’t had that issue ever. Was the batter really thin or really thick?
LOL
Yeah Adrienne, you’re awful!
Thanks :).
Hi, I have included your wonderful recipe in my best healthy Pancake roundup on my blog 🙂
Thanks much. 🙂 Oh, but buckwheat isn’t typically considered to be paleo. Are you aware of that?
I tried to do a half batch in the first place so that is one problem. When I tried to cook them I used a greased cast iron skillet. They took forever to cook. I don’t think any got done. So I made more like buckwheat panscramble. 🙂 maybe too much liquid and not enough egg? The batter was very tasty though!!
Panscramble…hmmmmm…well, you could still eat it I guess? I wonder if maybe something wasn’t measured right? I have that issue sometimes when I am cutting a recipe. I haven’t cooked much in cast iron so I can’t speak to that. Let me know if you try again.
These did not work at all. 🙁
I’m sorry – what happened? We’ve never had a problem.
These are brill – I’ve been using them for dinner, lunch wraps, breakfast, snacks… Thank you from Scotland x
How wonderful – You are welcome from the U.S. – but my father is from Ireland :).
Can I also make this recipe with a ‘flax egg’ instead of an egg?
Thankyou!
Yes, you sure could. I have never used egg b/c my son has life threatening allergies.
Love the buckwheat wraps!
Can I also substitute the egg with a ‘flax egg’?
Thankyou so much,
Frederique
Yes, you sure can.
Hi! I’m trying to make these right now and am having a hard time getting the to cook all the way through. Mine are much darker than yours and I’m wondering if I’m not spreading it out enough across my pan or if it’s b/c I have “whole grain” buckwheat flour. Is there a “white” buckwheat flour? Mine is coming out almost purple.
I use whole grain but I have seem different colored buckwheat. My batter is quite thin,–maybe add a tad more water?
Thanks!
These galettes are amazing, they’re a speciality in Brittany France where most of the time they’re enjoyed with whatever savoury filling of your choice,then closed in parcels, bliss. And a major bonus is that you can use up your leftovers easily that way too.
This is what I’ve been looking for. A easy bread substitute for my family that is gluten free & dairy free, with the possibility of being vegan friendly for me. I just spent ages trying to google “gluten free lavash bread” couldn’t find anything that fitted the bill. While this isn’t lavash bread I think it will be much easier to make. I’d love to make square wraps if possible…. wonder if I can track down a square fry pan lol. do you think these would be good for lunchboxes and how would you recommend I freeze them? THANK YOU
They’d be GREAT for lunchboxes and you could freeze them too. I think ideally you would put them b/t wax paper or parchment, but that gets pricey. Maybe clean cloths you could wash and reuse then? So glad to hear it helps!