Boûkète (Belgian Buckwheat Pancakes)

Discover How to Make Boûkète (Belgian Buckwheat Pancakes)! Buckwheat pancakes are not meant to be savory! These mildly sweetened buckwheat pancakes known as ‘Boukete’ are topped with rum raisins and served with light brown sugar- a lovely combination if you’re craving healthy brown stuff for breakfast.

Boûkète (Belgian Buckwheat Pancakes)

Bring a Touch of Belgium to Your Kitchen! A very good recipe to make when you are bored of the regular breakfast. Here you’ll find an easy-to-follow recipe with step-by-step pictures, helpful info plus tips that will help you make ‘Boukete’ easy way at home. I hope you try this recipe and it becomes one of your favorites, just as it is one of mine.  

What is Boûkète?

The name ‘Boukète’ is derived from the Dutch ‘boekweit,’ or ‘buckwheat’ in English.

Boukète is a buckwheat pancake flavored with rum and raisins from the Liege area of Belgium traditionally served dusted with brown sugar and/or apple or pear butter accompanied by wine during the Xmas and national holidays.

Ingredients

• Flour – A combination of buckwheat flour and wheat flour (whole wheat or plain flour)
• Salt – To taste
• Sugar – Adding sugar helps good fermentation
• Dry yeast – Instant or active dry yeast
• Milk – Warm milk or warm water
• Butter for cooking – Substitute with margarine, or lard (traditional)

How Do You Make Boûkète?

Bouketes are made from a fermented batter of buckwheat flour, wheat flour, salt, milk, or water using yeast as the leavening agent. Some recipes also call for eggs.

You can make the batter in advance and then store it in the fridge. The leftover batter also can be kept in the fridge for 3 to 4 days.

When cooking, you melt butter in the pan, pour a ladle of batter in, rotate the pan to spread it, and then sprinkle raisins flavored with rum on it and let cook, turning.

The raisins are typically soaked in rum. If you don’t like to use liqueur in your foods, soak them in warm water. If you don’t like raisins, just omit them and make plain pancakes, or substitute raisins with other types of dried fruits, or use fresh/caramelized apple slices.

Buckwheat – a superfood!

Despite the name, buckwheat is not related to wheat and is not technically a grain, but seeds. It shares many similar properties to cereals but does not come from grass as most other cereals do so it is considered as a pseudocereal. Buckwheat is not related to wheat

Buckwheat (both groat and flour) is highly nutritious and considered to be a superfood and one of the best choices for a gluten-free alternative to wheat. It is a good source of protein and fiber and is rich in minerals and phytochemicals. Some health benefits of buckwheat may include improving heart health, promoting weight loss, and helping manage diabetes.

Buckwheat Groats – Buckwheat groats are the hulled seeds of the buckwheat plant.
Buckwheat Flour – Buckwheat flour is made of finely ground buckwheat groats.

Useful Tips

Good Fermentation

• You need a well-fermented batter to make Boukete with the right texture.
• After good fermentation, the batter will be frothy, bubbly, and smell fermented.
• Cover and leave the batter for fermentation in a warm place (or inside the oven with the oven lights on) for an adequate time.
• Don’t rest your batter too long and don’t let it bubble too much.

The consistency of the batter

• The batter should be easily spreadable, and not too thin or thick.
• If the batter is too thick – Try thinning the batter with 1-2 tablespoons of warm water, stir it well, and rest for about 10 minutes.
• If the batter is too thin – Add one tablespoon of flour, stir well, and rest for about 10 minutes.

The pan heat

• Heat is a crucial factor, so you need to control the heat throughout the cooking process.
• The pan should be hot but you cannot spread the batter if your pan is too hot.
• If the pan is not hot enough, the batter will not stick to the pan.

How to test your pan heat?

You can check the right temperature by splashing water on the surface of the pan. Water should sizzle and evaporate after dancing for a moment on the surface of the pan.

Serving Suggestions

Boûkète is best served warm, and typically served dusted with brown sugar, yes a lot of it, I love the crunchiness of cane sugar. It is also served spread with apple and/or pear butter. You can also try them with other types of toppings, just to name a few – jam, honey and butter, maple syrup, fruit compote, Nutella, or sweet sauce (chocolate, caramel sauce) to match your mood.

Storing Suggestions

Boukete will keep up to a week in the fridge a plastic bag or in an airtight container, or up to 3 months in the freezer.

How to Activate the Yeast?

If you use instant yeast, you can just mix it with flour, however, you need to activate active dry yeast before adding it to the batter.

In a small bowl, mix 1/2 teaspoon sugar and 50ml warm water (or milk) and then sprinkle the dry yeast. Cover and let stand for about 10 minutes until frothy in a warm place. Make sure to use warm water (100°F to 110°F or 37°C to 43°C); hot water kills the yeast while cold water will not activate the yeast.

More Yeasted-Batter Pancakes To Try

Pancakes are one of the oldest, simplest, ubiquitous, and remarkably versatile foods, so every culture has ‘pancakes’ that they are proud of. “Around the World in Pancakes & Buddies” is one of the fantastic food journeys I am bound on. Would you like to join me?

Boûkète (Belgian Buckwheat Pancakes)
Step-by-Step Recipe

(Check out the printable recipe card at the end of the post)

Prep Time 10 mins
Resting Time 1 hour
Cook Time 15 mins
Yield 4

Ingredients

60g buckwheat flour
60g whole wheat flour or plain flour
1 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp instant or active dry yeast
250ml warm milk, adjust as needed
butter for cooking
2 tbsp raisins (or as needed)
1 tbsp rum
Cane or light brown, sugar for serving

Notes

• If you use instant yeast, just mix it with dry ingredients.
• If you use active dry yeast, you need to activate the yeast first.
• You can use other types of dried fruits or apple slices instead of raisins.
• If you don’t like to use rum in your foods, soak the raisins in warm water.

Instructions

Wash and then soak the raisins in the rum for about 1 hour.

Place the flour, salt, and sugar in a large bowl and mix well. Add yeast if you use instant yeast and mix again.

Add half of the milk and whisk until you have a thick paste. Mix in the yeast mixture if you use active dry yeast.

Add the rest of the milk, a little at a time, and continue to whisk until you have a smooth batter without lumps.

Cover and leave the batter for fermentation in a warm place. This could take 1 hour or more, depending on the temperature.

After good fermentation, the batter should look bubbly and frothy on top.

Gently stir the batter. It should be free-flowing, adjust the thickness adding some warm milk/water as needed. Let rest for another 10 minutes.

Heat a pan over medium-high and grease generously with butter. Gently stir the batter before scooping and pour a ladleful of batter onto the center of the pan. Then tilt and rotate the pan to spread the batter evenly on the surface.

Add a few rum raisins or as many as you want to the pancake as you cook it. Cook for about 2 minutes until the top surface is set and the edges start to turn brown.

Flip and cook on the other side for 30 seconds or so. Remove from the pan and repeat with the remaining batter.

Now comes the fun part! Serve warm sprinkling with sugar, or/and spread with apple butter or the toppings of your choice.

Serve and Enjoy! You can, of course, serve them with a glass of wine as they do in Belgium.

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Deliciuos Crepes & Pancakes to Try

Pancakes are one of the oldest, simplest, ubiquitous, and remarkably versatile foods, so every culture has ‘pancakes’ that they are proud of. “Around the World in Pancakes & Buddies” is one of the fantastic food journeys I am bound on. Would you like to join me?