Ployes

 Ployes are made from buckwheat flour. If you live in Northern Maine, you are likely already familiar with this food. Living in the mid-coast, it took me a little time to find buckwheat flour, having to go to a food co-op for it, since the major grocery stores did not carry it (in this era of COVID-19, it's not easy scoring any kind of flour and we learn to make do with whatever is on the store shelf). The buckwheat flour that I purchased comes from the Bouchard Family Farms, established in 1871 in beautiful Fort Kent, Maine.

I like to research my food, if it is new to me. Buckwheat is technically an herb or fruit, related to wild rhubarb. So, it is gluten-free. It has twice the B vitamins of wheat flour. And just how did this crop become popular in the St. John Valley? Well, in the 1830s, wheat crops were devastated in the Northeast by an insect called the wheat midge, and a disease called rust. The wheat farmers turned to oats and buckwheat. By 1850, buckwheat became the most popular crop in the St. John Valley.

This is an easy-peasy recipe, with a rising agent such as baking powder, and equal parts of buckwheat flour and white flour (I suppose you could use all buckwheat flour, but that makes for a very dense bread). Add a little salt, and mix in water to a thin batter consistency. Fry in a hot pan, allowing bubbles to burst before turning pancake. If you make it very thin and crepe-like, you can tuck just about anything yummy inside and roll it up. It is good with butter and syrup, or sprinkle brown sugar on it, or molasses, or pork pate (and, btw, pork pate is a recipe in this cookbook which I look forward to making!). 

The batter and pancakes have a lovely golden color. This is going to be one of my go-to breakfasts, with Vermont maple syrup, to start our day on a cold winter morning in Maine. Why Vermont maple syrup? If you've been following the "maple syrup" related posts, you'll know, I hail from Vermont. So, while Maine maple syrup is excellent, my taste buds are spoiled by a childhood drenched with Vermont maple syrup, having an uncle who sugars off every spring.



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