Culinary Agoge

The Cooking through Ratio series continues with breakfast for dinner. I often enjoy a good omelette, fried or scrambled eggs or sometimes cereal for dinner, but pancakes are not really my favorite. Making pancakes was not something which I was really looking forward to, but the ratio was next so I pursued. I have made pancakes from scratch before, but like many things never considered the balance of ingredients that go into them and how they interact to produce the final result.

As the name implies, these are another form of cake made on a pan instead of an oven.  The ratio consists of 2 parts liquid, 1 part egg, 1/2 part fat (butter), 2 parts flour along with sugar, salt, vanilla extract and baking powder.  This produces a thick batter and a cakey pancake once cooked. Pretty simple stuff.

Ironically as I worked on yet another carb laden food ratio, I watched the season premiere of  The Biggest Loser on NBC. It was like a sick joke, but I was able to keep at it reminding myself that the past few weeks of carb overload have a purpose; I am learning.

I combined the ingredients together in a pint measuring cup with the aid of my scale for weighing the dry ingredients. This is probably the thickest batter I have worked with so far. It was much different than the buttermilk pancakes I made previously.

Pancake Batter

Pancake Batter

The batter was mixed until it was smooth and ladled onto a hot pan with butter. It didn’t spread out at all and cooked fairly quickly.

The result was a flavorful, soft and fluffy pancake. The baking powder proportion did its job here. As mentioned, I usually don’t like pancakes, and especially at restaurants I simply won’t order them. They tend to be flavorless or made up of a texture that I don’t enjoy. Besides, they aren’t mom’s and like most things food related, mom’s are simply the best. These were some of the best I have ever had with respect to flavor and texture. To my surprise, they were actually enjoyable and paired well with maple syrup and butter, standard garnish in the northeast.

Fluffy Pancakes

It’s amazing how your taste can change for something can change when it’s prepared in a new and better way. The ratio here was key. The pancake ratio is fast and easy to make, making them well suited breakfast food or in this case dinner. I’ll have to experiment with the liquid part to see if a thinner batter produces results that are better or worse but overall I am happy with the results despite my lack of enthusiasm at the outset.

I’ve never made pancake batter before. Yes it’s true, I have never made my own batter. I’ve mixed together pre-made batter from Bisquick, but I’ve never actually made pancake batter myself which anyone who has knows makes wholly different pancakes.

I did some searching online and found a recipe for buttermilk pancakes . It seemed simple enough and included ingredients I had on hand. After reading it through I realized that it would make too many pancakes so I cut the recipe in half. I whisked my dry ingredients together first, and then whisked in the wet ingredients until well-combined. I also decided to use a teaspoon of vanilla extract for some extra flavor since I like it a lot and enjoy the subtle accent it provides.

Buttermilk Pancake Batter

I used my heavy iron pan for cooking which unfortunately only fits one pancake on it at a time.  After buttering the pan, I used a ladle to place a measured amount of batter on the pan each time.

Buttermilk Pancake

After the dough started to bubble and the sides became visibly solid, I flipped the pancakes over to finish cooking for about a minute.

Buttermilk Pancake

These pancakes were not as firm or sweet as the Bisquick ones that I am used to making. Also they take on a much darker color when cooked. I plated them in a stack and put some maple syup on top. The fluffiness was a different experience and they were very enjoyable. I’m really happy to have another simple recipe under my belt and will look forward to more mornings enjoying buttermilk pancakes at home.