Sunday, January 30, 2005

Sunday Brunch: Buttermilk Pancakes

Another lovely Sunday brunch.
Pancakes are always a good option for breakfast. It only takes a few minutes to whip up the batter and a few more before they're done. I love baked goods, too - muffins, scones, etc - but prefer not to have the wait for them to be ready early in the morning. I like to eat breakfast first thing and am definately one of those people who will not skip it if I can help it.
As it so happened, I had some buttermilk in the fridge this morning and wanted to put it to good use. My first thought was to make some muffins, but, as I said above I would basically prefer to have muffins for a snack. Pancakes were the order of the day.
I think I actually prefered these to the buttermilk waffles that I made a few weeks ago, but only because I am somewhat more partial to pancakes than waffles. They were delightfully soft and light. Oh, and did I mention easy? I added some (skim) milk in addition to the buttermilk to thin out the batter a bit; thick pancake batters force you to cook the pancakes longer and make a tougher "skin". No one wants that.

Quick Buttermilk Pancakes
1 cup buttermilk
1 egg
2 tbsp milk
1 cup flour
2 tbsp sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
In a 4 cup measuring cup - to take advantage of the spout for easy pouring - whisk together buttermilk, egg and milk. Dump in dry ingredients and whisk until thoroughly combined. Heat a nonstick griddle until drops of water sizzle when sprinkled on to the surface.
Pour batter onto griddle in whatever size or shape takes your fancy. When bubbles form and edges look slightly dry, use a spatula to flip the pancake and cook for another 30-60 seconds, until second side is evenly browned.
This made about 12 4-inch pancakes.
Any remaining batter can be refridgerated overnight and the recipe can easily be doubled.