The pancakes of my youth were either too eggy, flat or tasted like a cardboard box. Even butter, syrup or a delicious berry compote couldn’t save them. So, I couldn’t understand why my husband would willingly order pancakes when there were so many other great options on the menu. How could anyone pass up a spinach and cheese souffle or belgian waffle for a boring, flat pancake? Then I tried the pancakes at St. Michael’s Alley in Palo Alto, CA and it all made sense. They were delicious and I was inspired to recreate them at home.
In Search of the Perfect Pancake
From using melted butter or oil to ricotta and sour cream, I have tested all kinds of ingredients and variations in search of the perfect flapjack. Vanilla made them too eggy and butter was delicious but made the cakes too dense. It took me several tries to get this recipe right but this light, fluffy concoction with buttermilk is a big winner!
These pancakes take about 10 minutes to make and are so good that there is no excuse to ever use a box again.
Many thanks to my hubby, daughter and all of my good friends for all the serious taste testing and feedback along the way. 🙂
Ingredients
Yields: 6 – 8 medium size pancakes
- 2 Cups of All Purpose Flour
- 3 Tbsp of Sugar
- 2 Tsp of Baking Powder
- 1 Tsp of Baking Soda
- Pinch of Salt
- 2 C. of well-shaken Buttermilk*
- 1/4 C. of Milk
- 2 Large Eggs lightly beaten
- 2 Tbsp of Canola or Vegetable Oil
- Optional: Lemon Zest, Berries, Chocolate chips, Bananas
*No buttermilk? No problem. Here’s a great alternative:
Add 2 tbsp. of white vinegar to a large measuring cup. Add enough milk to the vinegar to measure 2 cups. Let the vinegar and milk stand for 5 minutes before adding it to your dry ingredients.
Directions
- Combine all dry ingredients in a bowl
- Add Buttermilk, oil and lightly beaten eggs to the dry ingredients and mix until combined.
- Then add a 1/4 c. of milk to thin the batter out a bit. It should look like this:
- Lightly grease and heat a pan or griddle on the stove. Make sure the griddle does not get too hot or your pancakes will not cook evenly.
- Add batter to the griddle. Based on people’s preferences, I like to add berries, chocolate chips, bananas or zest to each cake at this stage.
- Cook your pancakes on one side until you see bubbles appear on the top like so:
Once you see the bubbles, flip your cakes and let them rise up like so. It should only take a minute or so to finish cooking the pancakes through.
Warm up your favorite syrup, sprinkle with berries, add a pat of butter and enjoy!