Thursday, January 23, 2014

Guest Blog: Pancakes

Today's blog post comes from the amazing author of The Bon Bon Club, Virginia Bell!


Pancakes are time consuming, despite the fact that you'd think fried batter could be quick.
They need to be cooked over medium heat, and as the skillet gets hotter, you might even have to turn them down. Use *very* little oil or butter in the skillet.  Sometimes, I'll twist a bit of butter into a paper towel and use that to swipe the pan with.
You have to wait, in my case impatiently, for dry bubbles. They pop and don't refill.  They need to be all over the top of your pancake, otherwise it's too runny and soft to turn.
These three show what the pancake looks like after turning.  Too hot and it looks a little scorched. Lower and slower make the browning more uniform.


And once you've turned it, it takes just a little for the bottom to get done. Maybe 30 seconds. It's done through when you flip it, but you want the back to brown a bit for prettiness.
And once you've turned it, it takes just a little for the bottom to get done. Maybe 30 seconds. It's done through when you flip it, but you want the back to brown a bit for prettiness.
To keep them warm, put your oven on the lowest setting and put them in there on a cookie sheet or pie pan till you're done with the batch.  I use a tablespoon of batter for silver dollar pancakes, and 1/4 c for regular ones. That way they're relatively uniform, and I know how many I can get out of a batch.

My favorite pancake recipe:
1c All purpose flour
2t baking powder
1/2t salt
1c Milk
1 egg
1T oil

Mix dry ingredients first, then add wet ones, blend till it's mixed, but don't worry about the lumps.

That makes 4 silver dollars and 8 regular pancakes.  Or 9 regular pancakes.  To spruce it up, add a couple teaspoons of sugar.  That makes it a bit more crispy too.  As a tsp of real vanilla or a couple of imitation vanilla.  Cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, whatever makes you happy.

For your own bisquick, one cup = 1 c flour, 1 and 1/4 t baking powder, 1/4 t salt, 1 T shortening or butter.  

Mix the dry ingredients, then work the shortening or butter in until it's all pretty uniform.  If you use butter, you have to keep it in the fridge.  If you use shortening, you can scale up the recipe and make it in big batches to use later.

The flour is all purpose.  If you use self rising, leave out the baking powder.  And the salt.   Self rising flour and shortening would be all you would need.

My Questions to the Guest Blogger:
So a tablespoon of butter might have been too much? Yeah, a Tbsp is a lot.  I shave off a sliver. Just a teensy tiny one, and that lasts for a couple-three pancakes.
If I'm not using a griddle but a pan am I set to fail at pancakes? I use a skillet. I don't own a griddle. I actually like a small skillet to cook pancakes in, because if I can't get the damned spatula under it to turn it, I can just pick the skillet up and tilt it to slide the pancake onto the spatula.  I hate chasing them around the damned pan. 

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