Breakfast for dinner is a big deal (and a regular occurrence) in my kitchen and pancakes are almost always on the menu. When I finally ventured away from using boxed pancake mixes (I know. I know.) it took me a while to come up with a recipe from scratch that gave me the same light and fluffy hotcakes I’d enjoyed most of my life. This recipe more than fits the bill, without all preservatives and sodium found in boxed mixes.
Here are a few tips for making great pancakes:
1. Mix wet and dry ingredients separately, then gradually add the wet to the dry for easier mixing.
2. Mix your batter just until ingredients are blended. Overmixing will give you tough, chewy pancakes.
3. Don’t load up your pan with pancakes the first go ’round. The first pancake is often like the first crepe — a sacrificial offering to the gods of getting the pan temperature just right. If your temp’s not right you’ll only lose one instead of a whole batch.
4. Flip pancakes only once! Pour the batter in the pan and let the heat do its job. Over-handling can cause your pancakes to break apart.
Ingredients
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 1 large egg
- 2 tablespoons butter, melted
Instructions
- Whisk flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt together in a medium bowl.
- In a separate bowl, combine the buttermilk and egg. Gradually whisk the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, just until mixed. Stir in the melted butter.
- Heat a skillet (or a silver dollar pancake pan) over medium heat. Lightly coat the skillet with cooking spray.
- For silver dollar pancakes, pour 2-3 tablespoons of batter onto the hot skillet. Cook until bubbles form on the surface of the pancakes, about a minute. Flip the pancakes and cook until golden brown, about another minute. (Pancakes should spring back when touched lightly in the center.)
- Makes about 18 silver dollar pancakes.
I’ve always gone wrong in the past with the pan temperature and always flipping them more than once!
What I’ve found that also helps is if you pour your batter into a ladle so you can pour all the batter in at once! Happy pancake making.