Buckwheat Oven-Pancake

I adapted a regular "easy oven-pancake" recipe, by using buckwheat flour and adding rum-soaked raisins. Makes one large, thick, dense pancake - just the way I like it. No baking powder or other leavening in this recipe - if you like fluffy, standard American-style pancakes that can easily be squeezed into a tiny matchbox: look elsewhere!

Soak time: 1 hour
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Bake time: 1 hour
Makes 1 serving (just for me!). If you want to share (or are forced to do so): 12 servings
Freezes well.

Latest page update: July 2021 (adjusted baking time)

Previous updates: April 2021 (added note about baking dish volume, added picture of stem ginger balls);December 2020 (added baking powder, changed regular flour type); 19 April 2020

INGREDIENTS

6 eggs
45 grams butter ( = 4 tablespoons; 2 for frying the apples, 2 for the baking pan)
240 ml (1 cup) milk
150 grams (1/2+ cup) buckwheat flour (D: Buchweizen; F: sarrasin, blé noir)
75 grams (1/2 cup) type "00" flour (a.k.a. pizza flour)
Buckwheat is tasty. Unlike what the name may suggest, it is not a cereal and contains no gluten. This is important for folks with celiac disease, and nice for misguided anti-gluten freaks, some of whom pay premium for gluten-free drinking water (note: according to extensive medical studies, les than 0.01 % of people claiming to be gluten intolerant actually are). Buckwheat by itself makes for a rather dry (pan)cake. So, real wheat flour is added. You may use all-pupose flour (D: type 550; F: type 55) instead, but it will result in a slighlty different texture.
2 teaspoons baking powder (not baking soda!)
5 medium size apples (variety that stays firm when cooked, i.e., not apple sauce type apples)
This may look like a lot, but the apples pieces shrink when panfried.
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon vanilla extract (not artificial flavoring!)
pinch of salt
125 grams (1 cup, lightly packed) dark raisins.
Dark rum, enough to cover the raisins in a cup
To minize the amount of rum needed, tightly pack the raisins in, e.g., a coffee cup.
I normally use "Myers's Original Dark" Rum from Jamaica - the flavor is perfect for deserts and drinks. If I run out, I use another dark rum, sometimes fortified with some Stroh Rum "80" from Austria for flavor. This stuff is 80% alcohol by volume = 160 proof - we used to mix this with Cola when I was in highschool. It also easily kills most bacteria and viruses.
75 grams (8 balls) of stem ginger in syrup - drained and coarsely diced
Stem ginger is preserved candied ginger and is sold in glass jars - either as balls (about the size of the tip of your thumb), or thick slivers. Do not substitute with dry candied ginger that is covered in crystallized sugar, unless it is very moist and soft (which it never is).
Optional: 2-4 tablepoons of bits of crispy fried bacon.

Stem ginger

EQUIPMENT & SUPPLIES

Large frying pan
Large & medium size bowl
Hand-mixer
Wire whisk
Spatula
Heavy baking dish (about 20x20x4 cm = 8x8x1½ inch, or 20x16x5 cm = 8x6x2 inch)
The amount of batter fills a 1.5 liter (1.6 quart) baking dish completely to the top.
I use a clear glass dish, so I can check progress of the baking.
Baking sheet or large sheet of aluminum foil - to catch any batter that rises out of the pan while baking.
Potholders or oven mitts

PREPARATION / DIRECTIONS

Put the raisins in a large cup or mug and compact with your hand. Add rum until completely covered. Let soak for an hour.
Put the empty oven dish into the oven.
Turn the oven on and set to 200 °C (390 °F).
Optional: put baking sheet or aluminium foil in first, to catch any drips from overflowing batter.
Peel, quarter and core the apples. Cut each quarter lengthwise, and then cut each half across, into 3-4 pieces.
If you only slice the quarters, they will not all touch the bottom of the frying pan, and you will have to fry the pieces in two batches!
Sear the apple pieces on all sides in two tablespoons of butter.
Do not cook the apple pieces - they will get baked!

Put the flour, cinnamon, baking powder, and salt in the large bowl and whisk (this is a very quick & easy way to get lumps out, if any; it is also easier to clean than a sifter).
In the smaller bowl, beat the eggs, milk, and vanilla.
Pour the egg mix onto the flour mix and beat with a hand-mixer or large sturdy fork.
Drain the raisins, add them to the batter and mix.
Do not discard the rum: it is the cook's dram!
I sometimes put a tablespoon or two of rum in with the batter.
(Un)fortunately, the alcohol will evaporate in the oven - don't worry, the oven won't explode!
Add the fried apple slices to the batter and fold them in with a large fork, spoon, or spatula.
Stir in the optional ingredients, if any.
When the oven has reached the set temperature:
Stir the batter one more time.
Briefly open the oven and - with potholders or mitts - quickly take the hot baking tray out of the oven.
Quickly put 1-2 tablespoons of butter into the hot baking and swizzle it around, to cover the entire bottom and sides.
Quickly pour in the batter, and put into middle of the oven.
Bake for 40-45 minutes, until dark golden; the pancake will puff up a little..
After 40 min, I check the core temperature with a simple electronic meat thermometer: should have reached 95-96 °C (203-205 °F). If not, bake another 5 min and check again.

Nice and dense - the way I like pancakes! You can see why buckwheat is called "black wheat" (blé noir) in French.

NOTES

Tastes even better the next day - but by then, I ususally have already eaten at least half of it!
Sometimes I get carried away by my culinary enthousiasm, and halfway into the recipe, I notice that I have forgotten to soak the raisins! No worries: I soak them in boiling hot water while I continue preparing the batter. At the end, I drain the raisins very well (squeeze!), and add them to the batter. What?! No rum?! Again, don't worry! I mix 2-3 tablespoons (well... who's counting at this point?) of rum straight into the batter.