Scratch Buttermilk Pancakes

Never made pancakes before. I have a vague memory of my mom making little 'silver dollar' pancakes occasionally when I was a child, but as an adult I've never been much of a pancake eater and as such I've never bothered to try making them.

So why did I make them, then? That's a long story involving the lovely and thoughtful Mrs. Ford and my picky-eating, stubborn son John.

John only likes to eat carbs. Pop tarts if he can get them, bread/crackers/goldfish if he can't. The only things I cook that he will regularly eat are homemade pizza and homemade bread (I'm not counting desserts like chocolate chip cookies and cupcakes here, obviously...) Lots of evenings if I have made something that I think the kids ought to eat (pasta, rice, lentils, beans, etc.) John goes to bed with no dinner because he refuses to even try a bite of any of the above things.

The Fords came over for dinner this most recent Saturday and got to see the sad sight of John morosely glaring at a plate of buttered tagliatelle while the rest of us feasted on said tagliatelle with meatballs and roasted tomato sauce. When Rebecca pointed out that he really only like breakfast foods Mrs. Ford replied 'we used to eat breakfast foods for dinner sometimes as kids.'

The next day I was pondering dinner options (and honestly, planning on leftover meatballs for me!) and I remembered what Mrs. Ford said. Then I remembered recently reading a Good Eats recipe for scratch buttermilk pancakes (ironically from a cookbook that the Fords gave me for Christmas) and I decided to see whether or not flipping pancakes is really that hard. (the answer, by the way, is 'no, not really') Sydney was as usual a big help - she did much of the mixing and stirring (and egg cracking) and got to enjoy the final product too.



The below recipe can be scaled up or down as you see fit; made as written, it will make about a dozen medium-sized pancakes. You can also make a big batch of the dry team and store it for months in an airtight container if you want to save some time for future pancake making.

Dry Team (aka homemade pancake mix)
2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
2 teaspoons sugar

Wet Team
2 cups buttermilk
4 tablespoons butter, melted
2 eggs, separated

Whisk together the dry team in a large mixing bowl, set aside. Mix the egg whites with the buttermilk and the egg yolks with the melted butter, then combine. Pour the wet team into the dry team and stir to combine - don't overmix, the batter should be somewhat lumpy. If it looks too thick add a splash more buttermilk to loosen it (it should be thicker than cake batter but thinner than brownie batter, if that makes sense.)

Heat a non-stick skillet or a griddle pan over medium heat. You want a cooking temperature of about 350 degrees, which should cause a drop of water to dance on the pan. Lube the pan with a rub of butter or spray of oil and pour a ladle of batter into the center of the pan. They should set up fast - when the edges start to pull away from the pan and bubbles have formed around the top edge, use a large spatula to flip the pancake and cook until the other side is golden brown. For me this was faster than I expected (I burned the first one, and slightly overcooked the second one) - each side only took about 2 minutes. Serve immediately or remove to a warm (200 degree) oven covered with a towel while you make the rest.

Serve with real-deal grade A amber maple syrup (in one of those weird synchronisity moments, this was ALSO a gift from the Fords) and maybe a hint of butter.

So what did John think? He devoured two of them, literally laughing with glee the whole time.



I think I will be making a lot more pancakes going forward.

Special shout-outs to my good friends the Fords for the cookbook, the maple syrup, and most importantly the idea for this experiment!