Pancakes!

I was going to title this post Pancake Porn as a little inside joke but having had some random conversations with a SERIOUSLY amateur psychologist and his take on various strange sexual  fetishes...well, let's just say my better judgment won out. There's no telling where my little blog might have been linked to!!

Jim loves pancakes. I couldn't make pancakes or biscuits for the first ten years of our marriage. Well, I could... but they were like rocks or hockey pucks. Fortunately for Jim, there is Alton Brown. On his show "Good Eats" Mr. Brown shines the light into the mysterious world of fluffy pancakes on an episode in which he wears his bathrobe most of the time. The recipe/short video can be found here.  And as with most things he does, Alton makes this pancake recipe SOUND tedious, when in fact it isn't. It's really pretty easy. The key is to make the "instant pancake mix" ahead and use it instead of say, Bisquick or some other shelf mix.
For four large pancakes I use: 1 c. "pancake mix" 1 egg, separated, 1 c buttermilk, 2 T butter plus a little more butter to grease the griddle.

The egg white is mixed in with the buttermilk. The egg yolk is mixed in with melted butter...something about protein molecules will combine better and fat molecules will combine better if combined separately. While you are melting the butter, why not heat up your real maple syrup... from vermont..not maple flavored PLEASE!  I don't own a microwave so this is my work around solution:

Once you have mixed the egg whites with the buttermilk, and the butter with the egg yolk, combine those liquid ingredients together. Now is the time to butter your griddle or cooking surface and heat it to 350.

Add the liquid to the dry flour mixture and stir just to incorporate. It is important not to overwork the batter. Lumps are ok!

Pour and spread with a spoon or spatula your 4 pancakes. They will puff up so just a little spreading helps them cook more evenly.



Kinda sloppy on the front one! Who Cares? They're pancakes!

Cook until bubbles start to form all over the pancake; you can barely lift one up to see that the underside has browned. If you are adding fruit such as blueberries, sprinkle them on the top of the pancakes before flipping. 

Carefully lift each pancake up and as gently as possible turn it over to the other side. The less "splat" the better.

See how fluffy they are ?

Ummm fluffy light flavorful pancakes. I even like them and I'm not a pancake fan.

Serve with bacon (or not) and warmed maple syrup.

 Try  it sometime! The pancake lover(s) in your home will be very grateful.

See you soon.