You might just flip for these pancakes

Pancakes have been a breakfast staple for centuries. Over the years regional specialties emerged, but restaurants have tended to go for the standard buttermilk pancake topped with syrup or fruit. As Bon Appétit reports, today restaurants are venturing into new territory by making pancakes with diverse ingredients such as alternative grains, coffee flour, and sourdough. 

Chef Jason Wilson, of The Lakehouse in Bellevue, Washington, sings the praises of a unique ingredient:  “We make our pancakes with  coffee flour, which is made by milling the usually discarded coffee fruit into a powder,“ he says. It doesn’t taste like coffee, but rather has fruity, floral notes. It also adds vitamins, protein, and fiber. 

Some places use vegetables to give their pancakes a boost. Guy Turland, Chef-Owner of Bondi Harvest in Santa Monica, California puts  “puréed vegetables like butternut squash and pumpkin into our batter in the fall and zucchini in the summer,” adding that any vegetable  with natural sweetness will do the trick. 

Pancakes are easy to make at home, and you can easily experiment with different flavors and textures. Although you can’t go wrong with good old-fashioned buttermilk pancakes, here are a few alternative ideas you may want to consider:

• Red pepper, corn and Sriracha pancakes from The Guardian Feast Supplement by Yotam Ottolenghi
• Coconut-cashew pancakes from Cooking Light Magazine
• Sweetcorn pancakes from Waitrose Food Magazine 
• Bruleed pancakes with ruby grapefruit from Delicious Magazine (Aus)
• Japanese souffle pancakes with lemon curd and blueberries from Closet Cooking by Kevin Lynch
• Rye pancakes with maple-pear compote from Leite’s Culinaria by Food & Wine
• Blueberry, banana and quinoa pancakes from Donna Hay Fresh + Light (pictured above)