Buckwheat Pancakes with Burnt Honey

Buckwheat is not wheat and does not behave like it. There is no gluten to develop, so the batter needs no resting and cannot be overworked. What it gives you instead is a grey-brown pancake with a savoury edge, closer to a Breton galette than to the sweet American stack.

Burning the honey

Put the honey in a small pan over a medium heat and leave it alone. It will loosen, then foam, then start to smell of caramel and smoke at the edges. Ninety seconds is usually enough. Pull it off the heat the moment the smell turns, and add a spoonful of water at arm’s length: it will spit.

What you get is honey that has stopped being simply sweet. It is bitter at the back, which is what stops a plate of pancakes turning cloying by the third one.

The pan matters more than the batter

A heavy pan held at a steady medium heat gives you an even brown. A thin pan gives you a pale pancake with scorched spots. If the first one is a disaster, that is the pan telling you it was not hot enough yet, which is true almost every time.