At the breakfast table
Kefir pancakes, sweet or savoury
The first pancake tells you more than the timer. If it browns before the middle sets, turn the heat down; the rest of the batch will be better for it. Start with grated apple and cinnamon, or choose one of the five other combinations below—including scallion and sesame for a savoury breakfast.
One pan, a few at a time
Method
- Whisk the kefir, egg and melted butter in one bowl. In another, mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Stir the grated apple and cinnamon into the wet mixture.
- Fold the wet mixture into the dry ingredients until no pockets of dry flour remain. Small lumps are fine. Leave for 5 minutes, then check: the batter should drop from a spoon and spread slowly. If it holds a stiff mound, stir in a tablespoon of milk or kefir and check again.
- Warm a lightly buttered pan over medium heat. Start with one pancake, using about 2 tablespoons of batter and gently spreading it into a small round. When bubbles appear, the edges start to set and the underside is golden, slide the turner underneath and flip.
- Cook the second side for about 1–2 minutes, then cut into this first pancake. The centre should be set, with no glossy, wet batter. If the outside is dark before the centre cooks, lower the heat and make the next pancakes a little thinner. Cook the rest in batches, greasing the pan lightly as needed.
Choose your next batch
Each combination below replaces the apple and cinnamon. Keep the rest of the base unless a change is stated. Banana, oats and pumpkin make a thicker batter; check it after the short rest rather than pouring in extra liquid immediately.
Fruit, oats or warm spices
Banana and oat: 1 mashed ripe banana + 40 g rolled oats. The oats are additional to the 150 g flour. Mash the banana well and keep the pancakes small so the thicker middle can cook.
Blueberry and lemon: 120 g blueberries + 1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest. Use fresh berries, or thaw frozen berries and drain well before folding them in.
Pumpkin spice: 120 g cooked, cooled mashed pumpkin + ½ teaspoon cinnamon + a pinch of nutmeg. Use plain pumpkin, without added sugar or pie spices.
A savoury breakfast
Scallion and sesame: 3 finely sliced scallions + 1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds. Omit the tablespoon of sugar from the base.
Sweet corn and chive: 120 g cooked, cooled corn kernels + 2 tablespoons chopped chives. Omit the sugar, and drain the corn well.
Serve either with a spoonful of garlic and chive kefir spread. Add the topping after cooking.
A golden outside can hide a wet middle
They brown quickly, but the centre stays gummy
Lower the heat and spread the next spoonful a little thinner. Thick fruit batter needs time to cook through. Still-frozen berries can also leave a cold, gummy patch; King Arthur’s fruit-baking guide recommends thawing fruit for short cooking methods such as pancakes.
The batter runs across the pan
Check that the flour was weighed and the fruit drained. Stir in 1 tablespoon of flour, leave it briefly to absorb liquid, then try another small pancake. Do not keep adding flour before giving the mixture time to thicken.
They tear when I turn them
Wait for the edge to set, use a wide turner and make a smaller pancake. A spoonful of thick batter is easier to manage than a pan-sized round packed with fruit.
Do not taste the uncooked batter: raw flour and eggs can carry harmful bacteria. Judge the mixture by how it moves, then taste a fully cooked pancake.
Save some for another morning
Refrigerate cooked pancakes in a covered container within two hours, or one hour if the room is above 32°C. Keep at 4°C or below and use within three days, or freeze once cooled. Reheat until hot throughout. A low oven or toaster oven is useful for several at once; a frying pan gives the edges more colour.
The base contains milk, egg and wheat; the sesame version adds sesame. Fermentation does not remove milk proteins. If you need a dairy-free breakfast, a plant-based version needs ingredients chosen for that purpose—water kefir is a different drink, not an equivalent creamy replacement.
What is kefir doing in the batter?
It supplies liquid and acidity. Baking soda reacts with acid to release gas, while the flour and egg set as the pancake cooks. Kefir varies in thickness, which is why a small test pancake is more useful than expecting every bottle to behave identically.
This is a way to cook with kefir. A cooked pancake is not equivalent to the live drink used in a health study. For a cold breakfast, try overnight oats; for something you can bake all at once, make kefir muffins.