A recipe for buckwheat cakes from the dining cars of the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad.
Ingredients:
1/2 cup warm water, 110 degrees
1/2 ounce dry yeast
4 cups buckwheat flour
1/4 cup molasses
2 ounce melted butter
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup milk
1/2 tablespoon baking soda
1 Tablespoon water
flour if needed
How to do it:
In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Meanwhile, add enough water at room temperature to buckwheat flour to make a soft spongy dough. Add dissolved yeast to dough, stir to mix, cover loosely and let stand overnight. Before using, add molasses, melted butter, salt and milk and beat well. If batter is too thin, sift a little flour over the batter and stir to mix. Let batter rise 10-15 minutes before using. Add baking soda dissolved in 1 tablespoon lukewarm water and mix well into batter.
Pour batter onto hot griddle to form 6 inch pancakes. Cook until the top of each is full of tiny bubbles and bottom is browned. Turn once to brown the other side. Serve with hot maple syrup.
Yield:
24 pancakes