Thursday, October 14, 2010

The Return of Recipe Thursday! Pancakes

The other night, I was planning on making a split pea soup for dinner (and subsequent meals). I figured that on a cool October evening, hot split pea soup with biscuits would be warming and very satisfying.

But then the weather decided it didn't like October, and opted for more July-like temperatures of the 80s (Fahrenheit). I like split pea soup, but it was just going to be too hot, and too heavy of a meal.

Our pantry is pseudo-stocked. A lot of pieces, they just don't all go together. I had pancakes in my head, though, and we decided on that for dinner. We had almost everything on hand, except butter, which had been used up in making our brunch omelets. Off to the store went my husband, and I set out measuring and mixing.
It was 1.5 cups of flour, sifted with 3 TBS sugar, 1.5 tsp baking powder, and 1 tsp salt. I was supposed to sift before measuring the flour, but I didn't.

Mix 3 TBS melted butter, 1 - 1.25 cups milk, and 2 beaten eggs. Really, I was supposed to separate the eggs, beat in the yolks, and whip the whites till fluffy and fold them in. I didn't.

I actually made two batches, so we would have leftovers (seriously yummy), and each time, I started out with just 1 cup of milk, but thought the batter was too thick, so I opted for 1.25 cups of milk total. This lead to a very thin batter, which made the pancakes really spread out in the pan.

The thin cakes, and using about a quarter TBS of butter to grease the pan between cakes lead to pancakes that were cooked through, but not exceptionally brown, and with a texture reminiscent of a thicker crepe. This is actually delicious.

We had pancakes with butter and powdered sugar as our main course for dinner that night. Can't tell you how devious that can make you feel.

One issue I almost always have with doing eggs or pancakes is temperature control of the pan. My brain freaks out most of the time, and I end up with a pan that is too hot or one that is too cold. This time, I set the pan over high heat initially, and let it get to the right temperature (according to my Joy of Cooking, this is when cold water sprinkled on the pan will sizzle and dance a bit). Then I reduced the heat to medium. I didn't have to turn the heat back up, because, as I am sure you know, keeping the pan over the gas flame for the amount of time it takes to make a batch of pancakes keeps the pan above medium heat! (Another phenomenon about which I have frequently forgotten.)

Looking back over this post, I realize that for someone who likes to follow recipes and directions, I sure do take a lot of liberties with them.

How about you? Enjoy breakfast-for-dinner? Enjoy following recipes or winging it?

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