Buckwheat Pancakes with Brown Butter Pears & Fresh Cranberries

Taste

Buckwheat has been on Quebec breakfast tables for generations — thin galettes de sarrasin with molasses are an old farmhouse breakfast — and its deep, nutty, slightly bitter flavour wants something sweet and sharp beside it. These pancakes are thicker and lighter than the old galettes: half Agrobio’s organic Quebec buckwheat flour and half all-purpose, made tender with tangy kefir. They’re topped with Bosc pears seared in brown butter, then fresh 2026-harvest cranberries from Canneberges Québec simmered with maple syrup until they pop and turn the pan juices into a glossy pink syrup. Fresh cranberries are only around for a few weeks each autumn, and this puts them on the Thanksgiving-weekend brunch table instead of saving them all for the turkey.

Instructions

1. Mix the dry ingredients. Heat the oven to 95 °C (200 °F) and set a wire rack over a baking sheet on the middle shelf, for keeping the pancakes warm. In a large bowl, whisk together the buckwheat flour, all-purpose flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt until evenly coloured.

2. Make the batter and let it rest. In a second bowl, whisk the kefir and eggs together, then whisk in the melted butter. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ones and fold with a spatula just until no dry flour remains — a few small lumps are fine, and overmixing makes tough pancakes. Leave the batter to rest for 10 minutes while you cook the fruit. It will thicken and turn slightly bubbly as the buckwheat absorbs the liquid and the kefir reacts with the baking soda. ⏱︎ 10 min

3. Brown the butter. Melt the 40 g of butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Keep cooking, swirling the pan, until it foams, the foam settles, and the specks on the bottom turn golden brown and smell of toasted hazelnuts, about 3 minutes. Watch it closely at the end: brown butter turns to burnt butter in seconds. ⏱︎ 3 min

4. Cook the pears. Add the pear wedges to the brown butter in a single layer, cut side down. Cook without moving them for 3–4 minutes, until golden underneath, then turn them onto their other cut side and cook until that side is golden too. They should be tender at the edges but still hold their shape. ⏱︎ 4 min

5. Burst the cranberries. Add the cranberries, maple syrup, and a pinch of salt. Simmer, stirring gently so the pears don’t break up, for 4–5 minutes, until most of the cranberries have popped and the juices have cooked down into a glossy, deep pink syrup. Take the pan off the heat; the sauce thickens further as it stands. ⏱︎ 5 min

6. Cook the pancakes. Heat a large non-stick or cast-iron skillet over medium heat and brush it with a little butter. Stir the batter once — if it’s too thick to pour from a ladle, loosen it with a tablespoon or two of kefir. Pour in 60 ml (¼ cup) of batter per pancake, spread each one gently to about 10 cm (4 inches) across, and cook for 2–3 minutes, until bubbles break on the surface and stay open and the edges look dry. Flip and cook until the second side is set and the centre springs back when pressed, about a minute. Buckwheat batter is naturally dark, so judge by the bubbles rather than the colour. Move the pancakes to the rack in the oven and repeat with the rest of the batter, brushing the pan with butter each time. You should get about 16. ⏱︎ 3 min

7. Serve. Rewarm the fruit over low heat if it has cooled. Stack three or four pancakes on each plate, spoon the pears, cranberries, and their syrup over the top, and add a spoonful of yogurt if you like. Put more maple syrup on the table.

Tips

• Pear choice: Bosc pears are the firmest of the season’s pears and keep their shape in a hot pan. Firm Anjou pears work too. Bartletts are softer and break up more easily, so cut them into 4 thicker wedges instead of 6.
• Cranberries: You’ll have some of the 227 g bag left over. Fresh cranberries keep for 2 to 3 weeks in the fridge and freeze well for up to a year; frozen ones can go straight into the pan, with an extra minute or two of simmering.
• Kefir substitute: Buttermilk works the same way. So does 375 ml of plain yogurt whisked with 125 ml of milk.
• All buckwheat: Buckwheat itself is gluten-free, and you can use 245 g of buckwheat flour in place of both flours. The pancakes will be darker, denser, and more fragile, so make them a little smaller and flip them carefully. If you’re cooking for someone with celiac disease, check that the flour is certified gluten-free, since buckwheat is often milled alongside wheat.
• Make ahead: The fruit keeps for 3 days in the fridge; rewarm it gently with a splash of water. Leftover pancakes freeze well: cool them on a rack, freeze in a single layer, then bag them, and reheat from frozen in a toaster.