Best Pancakes

 

History of Pancakes:

Pancakes have been around for centuries and are a staple in many cultures. Experts (pancakes experts?) believe that people enjoyed pancakes as far back as 30,000 years ago during the Stone Age. In fact, researchers found pancakes in the stomach of Ötzi the Iceman, famous human remains that date back more than 5,000 years! Actually, that’s kind of gross…

In ancient Greece and Rome, pancakes were made from wheat flour, olive oil, honey, and curdled milk. Ancient Greek poets Cratinus and Magnes wrote about pancakes in their poetry. Shakespeare even mentions them in his famous plays. During the English Renaissance, people flavored their pancakes with spices, rosewater, sherry, and apples.

People began using the word “pancake” during the 15th century, and the word became standard in 19th century America. Previously, people referred to them as Indian cakes, hoe cakes, johnnycakes, journey cakes, buckwheat cakes, griddle cakes, and flapjacks. Early American pancakes were made with buckwheat or cornmeal.

Thomas Jefferson loved pancakes so much that he sent a special recipe from the White House to his hometown! We’d love to get our hands on that recipe… 

Happy Pancake Day!

Yep, you heard us correctly. Pancake Day is real! Shrove Tuesday (commonly referred to as Fat Tuesday) is the holiday of feasting before Lent. Once upon a time, during Lent, people were not allowed to eat animal products like milk, butter, and eggs.

To prevent them from going to waste, people cooked these ingredients into tall stacks of pancakes. They were consumed in such large amounts that this day earned the rightful name of Pancake Day.

INGREDIENTS

1/2 cup 1 stick butter, melted and cooled

2 & 1/2 cups flour, spooned and leveled

1/4 cup white sugar

1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons baking soda

2 teaspoons baking powder

2 cups buttermilk

1/2 cup milk, I used whole milk

2 eggs, separated

bacon grease, for frying (butter works too)

DIRECTIONS

Heat your oven to 170 degrees F, sometimes called the “keep warm” setting.

Get out 3 bowls: large, medium, and small.

Add the butter to the large bowl and microwave until it is melted. Set aside to cool a little bit.

In the medium bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, salt, baking soda, and baking powder.

Add the buttermilk and milk to the melted butter.

Separate the eggs: add the whites to the small bowl and the yolks to the wet ingredients in the large bowl. Whisk in the yolks.

Use a small whisk of fork to beat the egg whites a little bit, just 20 seconds or so until they start getting a little bubbly. It will help them fold in evenly.

Add the buttermilk mixture to the dry ingredients and stir roughly with a wooden spoon. Don’t overdo it! Just barely combine it. There should still be streaks for flour. See photos.

Beat the egg whites a little then add them to the batter. Fold in gently. It’s okay if there are still streaks of egg white.

Heat a griddle or large frying pan over medium heat.

When it is hot, smear a little bacon grease over the griddle.

Scoop the batter using a half cup measurement.

When bubbles on top start to pop, flip the pancakes. They should be a nice golden brown.

Continue cooking for another 2-3 minutes until they are golden on both sides.

Remove the pancakes to a cooking rack and keep warm in the oven that you turned on.

Repeat with the remaining batter.

Serve with lots of butter and syrup. And peanut butter.