Why it works: Buckwheat and flour work together. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 660 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Marie Paidar
Ingredients
Directions
Make the batter
Dissolve one-third cake yeast and two tablespoons brown sugar in the two cups lukewarm milk and one cup lukewarm water.
Add two cups buckwheat flour, one and one-half cups white flour, and one tablespoon salt to the liquid and mix.
Beat the batter until smooth.
Cover the batter and keep it in a cool place overnight.
Bake and serve
Heat a griddle until hot and bake the pancakes.
Serve the pancakes with butter or syrup.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
Counts 4 of 7 ingredients. The other 3 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.
What these numbers assume: 4 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Flour | 1 cup (125g) all-purpose | 455 |
| Milk | 1 cup (244ml) whole | 149 |
| Sugar | 1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated | 49 |
| Salt | 1 tsp (6g) | 0 |
| Water | not in our table | 0 |
| Buckwheat | not in our table | 0 |
| Pancake | not in our table | 0 |
One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures. See the original page.
Explore the science
The flavor team
The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.
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Buckwheat + flourtop 4% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together660 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Milk + buckwheattop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together328 recipes
Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, creamy).
-
Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
-
Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together77,875 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Milk and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 78,219 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Yeast (in the method)
- Ferments the batter, producing gas that lightens the pancakes and adds flavor.
- Buckwheat flour
- Provides the main body and the characteristic nutty flavor of the pancakes.
- White flour
- Adds gluten structure so the batter holds together and the pancakes stay tender.
- Milk
- Adds moisture and richness, and its proteins contribute to browning.
The step that matters
Keep the batter cool overnight. Slow fermentation in a cool place lets the yeast develop flavor and rise gradually; too much warmth can over-ferment the batter and make it sour or collapse.
Swap the buckwheat
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, sugar, flour):
- Cinnamonfits better
- Jalapenofits about as well
- Buckwheatthe original
- Nutmegfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against milk, sugar, flour. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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