Prep
Cook
Serves
8 mins.
15 mins.
4
Today, I’m sharing a recipe that I found mixed in with my great grandmother’s recipe cards. It’s one that she cut off of the side of what I believe was a bag of flour or a brown paper grocery store bag since it’s printed on brown paper.
Unfortunately, there are no identifying marks on the paper, so I can’t give credit to the author of the recipe, but this is absolutely my favorite pancake recipe.
The batter is easy to make, and since my husband and I are empty nesters, we have breakfast for 3 or 4 days off of this recipe depending on how large we make the pancakes. This recipe makes 10 – 12 medium sized pancakes, but that’s obviously with controlled pouring from a measuring scoop. When I’m being particular, I use a 1/4 or 1/3 cup measuring scoop to portion out the batter.
This recipe calls for the use of regular milk, but I like buttermilk pancakes. Since I know that many can’t buy buttermilk in their area of the world (sad but true), an alternative is to add 1 Tbsp. of white vinegar to the milk and set it aside for 5 minutes to let it turn itself into buttermilk. Lemon juice is an equivalent option if you don’t have white vinegar.
If you have buttermilk then you may need more than 1 & 1/4 cups of liquid since it’s thicker than milk, but add extra buttermilk in small portions slowly, so that you don’t thin out the pancake batter too much, resulting in thinner pancakes.
To ensure that you have a batter that is thick but pourable, stir your flour up with a fork to make it light and fluffy and then scoop it into your measuring cup. If you batter seems too thick add a little more milk a tablespoon at a time. You don’t want a thin crepe batter so make sure you don’t thin it out too much.
I hope that you’ll try this recipe today and that you’ll leave a comment below. Also, for daily updates follow @lifeabovethecafe on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest using the social media icons found on this page.
Stir the flour well before measuring. In a mixing bowl, add the flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar and mix well with a whisk.
In a large measuring cup, measure out the milk. I add 1 Tbsp. of vinegar to mimic buttermilk and set it aside for about 5 minutes (or use buttermilk but you may need more like 1 & 1/2 – 1 & 3/4 cups of buttermilk).
After the 5 minutes are up, melt the butter and pour it into the milk, and stir. Crack the egg into the milk/butter mixture and then mix everything thoroughly with a fork or whisk so that the egg is well incorporated.
Slowly begin to add the liquid into the dry ingredients, stirring with a whisk. Do not over mix. The batter should be thick, but pourable, if it’s too thick slowly add 1 Tbsp. of milk until the desired pouring consistency is reached. If you thin your batter out too much your pancakes will not be thick and fluffy. If you thin the batter out too much, you can add 1 Tbsp. of flour in increments to the batter until a thicker consistency is reached.
I let my pancake batter sit for a few minutes while my skillet warms. Right before I start to scoop out the dough, I mix it lightly to make sure there are no flour lumps.
Heat your griddle or large skillet over medium high heat (note – you may need to lower the heat after the initial pan warming to make sure that the pancakes cook through and don’t crisp too much on the outside). For the crispy buttered edge on a cooked pancake your pan and butter need to be extremely warm when you place the batter into the pan.
With a stick of butter, form a circle the size of a pancake in the pan, or melt butter slices in the pan. Use a 1/4 or 1/3 size measuring cup to scoop and pour the batter into the pan. Or pour your batter back into the mixing cup and pour the batter directly onto the pan from the measuring cup.
Allow the pancakes to form air bubbles all over the surface before flipping them. Cook the pancake on both sides and set aside to a plate or keep warm on a baking sheet in the oven. Turn the temperature on low so that the pancakes do not dry out. Continue cooking the pancakes by adding butter each time before pouring in new batter.
Hints* – If your pancakes are burning on the outside and raw on the inside then turn down the heat level to medium low. Pancakes not fluffy, check the date on your baking powder.
Warm leftover pancakes up in the microwave slowly. Store unused batter, covered, in the refrigerator. Add a little more milk on day 2 if the batter thickens too much.
You can freeze these pancakes in a single layer after they cool, and then stack and wrap them in plastic wrap or place them in a zippered freezer bag or freezer safe container.
