Pancake Project #1

Mostly I will only blog here once a week...maybe only every other week, we shall see. Think of today's post as just an extension of yesterday's introduction, here is the recipe I tried out yesterday.

I decided to just use the first cookbook that "fell" out of the cabinet...it happened to be one of my favorites, a local Methodist church cookbook I received when I worked there briefly about nine years (WOW--has it been that long??)

The recipe was entitled WORLD'S BEST PANCAKES...so obviously I had to try that one.

The Ingredients:
1 cup self-rising flour
1 cup buttermilk
1 egg
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp soda
1 T oil

The Instructions:
Combine dry ingredients, mix well. Beat egg. Slowly add buttermilk and oil while beating. Continue to bea and slowly add dry ingredients; beat until smooth and the lumps are gone. If consistency is not to your liking, add whatever it takes to get it right. Bake on 350-375 degree in frying pan or griddle. Turn once. Serve with butter and Georgia cane syrup.

My Review:
I only had WR Self-Rising Flour (from Mississippi) and I had no buttermilk. I know there is a way to turn regular milk into buttermilk, but I honestly didn't feel inclined to scouring the internet for this information before starting the pancakes...it was Saturday after all and I was trying to be as laid back and relaxed as possible. I just used my regular ole 2% milk.

Truthfully I didn't read the instructions before I just combined all the ingredients together. So the first part was already messed up when I started. I used a whisk and just barely mixed it all together ( I learned that on a cooking show once!). The concoction I came up with was rather thick, and since I had no desire for the thicker kind of pancake this morning, I decided to add some milk to make the batter much thinner. The result was a thin pancake with a really good taste. They were not thin and fluffy however, which was my goal...

We added butter and plain ole Aunt Jemima syrup and the result was edible pancakes. Not the WORLD'S BEST, as the title of the recipe proclaimed, but good nonetheless. I am thinking the error was more on the part of this flapjacker, and not the recipe itself.

If you try this recipe out, I would love to hear what you think about it!

Catch you on the Flip Side!
Beverly

And So It Begins...

I have long been on the search for the perfect pancake. Shallow though it might seem, I love a good pancake and when I find one…it deserves a celebration!

Now finding a great restaurant pancake and making a good pancake at home on a Saturday morning are two vastly different things.

Cooking comes easy for me. I have been the recipient of many lessons from my mother, my aunt and a cooking mentor and I can turn out a meal that is both satisfying and “purty” all at the same time. Pat myself on the back, yippee for me!But when it comes to making a pancake at home…I lack some sort of culinary chromosome. They are either too thick, too thin, too hard, squishy in the middle, too sweet, bland…well, you take it from there, I am never happy after having slaved over a griddle to prepare lazy morning pancakes for my little clan. Apparently my clan thinks so too, because I always have leftovers…no one ever asks for seconds and my feelings are always hurt after a morning pancake breakfast.To be honest, I have resorted to buying frozen pancakes at the grocery store and keeping a stash available so I can avoid the humiliation of my pitiful pancake creations.

I have long been a blogger. You can read all about me, my feelings, my hopes, my ridiculous adventures as a wife and mom to a kindergarten princess at my original blog, Happy In The Moment! But I have always wanted to be a food blogger too. I even attempted it once at CIBO, but gave up after the demands of motherhood took hold. Making a meal is great fun for me, taking pictures of every step, every day…well, it shortly became torture.

This morning, as I asked what my daughter wanted for breakfast and grimaced as the reply came wafting in from the living room, ”PANCAKES!” I knew I had to do something. As I realized that my box of ready made pancakes was empty and I would have to actually make them from scratch, heaven help me, I decided to strive for the best I could make this morning. Oh, this morning the breakfast table would be aglow with my creation of soft, fluffy, comforting pancakes. I had high hopes.

In the midst of this kitchen frenzy, I found myself scouring cookbooks, thinking of ways to improve this recipe and that one too. I even made a perfect (or at least it was perfectly round) pancake and rushed for my camera. Yep, that is when it hit me…I need to blog about my pancake passion. You see a blogger who takes a picture…does so with the prime purpose of writing a post about said picture…it is our nature. The minute I snapped that picture I knew I had taken the first step on a new blogging avenue. Pancake, Pancake. One girl’s search for the perfect pancake had just begun.

Thanks for coming along with me. I am on the search for the best pancake recipe EVER…please share yours in the comment and I will try it and post about the outcome.

Catch you on the FLIP side!
Beverly