Buttermilk Pancakes

Today is pancake day.  I love making breakfast on the weekends and, in my house, one of everyone's favorite meals is pancakes.  There are so many different things you can do with pancakes.  I've played with so many different pancake recipes and they just never had the "umph" that I was looking for.  I finally combined some of the favorite aspects of some of the different recipes I've tried and came up with this one.  It had some of the best things from other recipes with a few tweaks.  The picture is a Banana Nut Pancake but you can do them just plain if you prefer or add in your own favorites.  My absolute favorite is adding in a squeeze of lemon juice and about a tablespoon of lemon zest to it.  It makes the pancake just so refreshing.  With this recipe I whip the egg whites separately and fold them into the pancake batter then allow the batter to rest a minimum of 20 minutes before making the pancakes.  This is what makes them so light and fluffy.  If you don't have the time you can just add the eggs in with the wet ingredients and make your pancakes.  They won't be as light and fluffy but you will still get a nice tasty pancake.  Occasionally my family is too hungry and too impatient for me to whip the egg whites or I'm just not in the mood to put forth the effort into that extra step and the pancakes are still awesome.  


Buttermilk Pancakes


1 1/2 c. unbleached all-purpose flour 

3 tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
2 large eggs, separated & room temp.
2 tbsp. vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
Pinch cream of tartar

Add flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt to a large mixing bowl.  Add egg yolks, oil, buttermilk and vanilla into a separate bowl and whisk to combine.  Place the room temperature egg yolks into your mixer fitted with a whisk and add the pinch of cream of tartar.  Beat on a medium to medium high until nice relatively stiff peaks form.  Add wet buttermilk mixture into the flour mixture and whisk until just barely combined.  You don't want to whisk until all the lumps are out.  Once the egg whites are at relatively stiff peaks fold them into the pancake batter until just combined making sure to be easy enough to not deflate the egg whites.  Allow the batter to sit for a minimum of 20 minutes before pouring onto a hot skillet or griddle.  I like to use a 1/4 c. measuring cup to scoop out my pancakes and pour onto a griddle to make sure they are all relatively the same size.  Throw a dab of butter down before dropping your batter.  Once you see bubbles on the top of the batter they are ready to flip.  


* A trick to get quick room temperature eggs.  Take your eggs out of the fridge and place in a large cup or bowl and fill with hot water from the tap.  Allow to sit in the water for 5-10 minutes.  Then dry off the eggs and use.