Pancakes. The classic American breakfast staple. For many years, I didn’t have pancakes very often. (Bad news for me, good news for my hips). I had this ever lingering idea that you just can’t make pancakes at home that are as good as a diner. They most certainly don’t come from those box mixes. They always end up falling flat, chewy, or hard as a rock. What is with that, anyways?! And making pancakes from scratch offers millions of possibilities of failure, besides the fact that it’s more time consuming.
Well, lucky for you and me (not so much my hips), I am obsessed with pancakes, and made it my duty to perfect a pancake recipe that will trump any diner pancake you’ve ever had before. Just make sure that you follow along with me exactly, and no one (or any pancakes) will get hurt. Okay? Okay.
Now, lets get started.
Diner Style Pancakes
Makes 12-24 (Depending on size)
What You’ll Need:
+ 3 cups all purpose flour (you can switch out or half with whole wheat)
+ 1/3 cup sugar
+ 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
+ 1 teaspoon baking powder
+ 1 teaspoon salt
+ 2 and 1/2 cups buttermilk
+ 2 eggs
+ 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
+ 8 Tablespoons butter, melted and cooled
Whisk together the flour, sugar, soda, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, combing the buttermilk, eggs, vanilla, and butter. (Be sure the butter is cooled so it doesn’t cook and scramble the eggs). Add the wet ingredients to the dry. Whisk until just combined. If there’s lumps, that’s fine.
[Perfect Pancake Tip: Over mixing causes the gluten molecules in the flour to become tight, resulting in a tough, flat pancake. Leaving some lumps and not over mixing allows the loose gluten to maintain and create a relaxed shape, capturing the bubbles from the leaveners as it cooks, which results in light, fluffy pancakes.]
Heat a griddle pan or large non stick skillet over medium heat. Brush the pan with butter. Ladle about 1/2 cup of batter into the pan. Use the bottom of the ladle to smooth the batter into a circular shape. Allow to cook for about 2 minutes, or until bubbles form on the top and burst. Flip, and cook another minute. Continue with the remaining batter. (You can keep your pancakes warm in a 200 degree oven).
Serve with butter and/ or maple syrup.
Want to make pancakes from scratch even easier? Double, or even triple the dry ingredients and store in an air tight container. Then, whenever you’ve got that pancake feelin’, grab some mix and go!
Enjoy! xo Jessica
A Pinch Here, A Dash There 