A New Year and Pancakes

Happy 2003 everyone! I thought I'd start my first journal entry of the New Year with the pancake recipe I promised in an earlier entry, but first, a few words.
This past year has been a lot of fun for me in regards to food. I started this website to use as a learning tool and as a place to write about my hobbies, and well... to get my recipes into some organized manner, (those many peices of scrap paper with recipes furiously scribbled on them were starting to pile up). I've enjoyed discovering that there are other people out there who are just as passionate about food and cooking as I am. I've enjoyed reading all the food blogs that people are keeping on the internet. There's something very comforting in the knowledge that I am not alone in my obsession, it's comforting to know, that- really... it's O.K. to talk about yeast for 3 hours or to go on and on about a recipe you've just discovered and simply must try. Let's hope in 2003 it only gets better, without further delay...

Sourdough Buttermilk Pancakes

Ingredients

• ½ cup sourdough starter
• 2 eggs
• 1 tablespoon raw sugar
• 1½ teaspoons baking soda
• 2 cups of buttermilk plus extra
• 2 cups of flour
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ¼ cup cooking oil (vegetable or canola)
• 1 teaspoon of Pure Vanilla Extract

Method

*Day before: Let the starter sit at room temperature for at least 12 hours. *This step is only necessary if you've been keeping your starter in the fridge otherwise, as long as it's at room temperature it should be fine.

Using the "Scoop and Tap" method of measuring flour-scoop 2 cups of flour into a dry ingredients measuring cup-tapping to let it settle then topping it off with a knife to level. Sift the flour together with the sugar, baking soda and salt and set aside. In a large bowl combine the eggs, buttermilk, vanilla, and oil adding the starter last- mix well. Gradually add the dry ingredients until blended. If the batter appears lumpy or sort of dough like in texture add more buttermilk until the consistency is smooth and more like batter.

I use a cast iron skillet, preheating it until it's just about starting to smoke. I don't use added butter in the skillet to cook the pancakes because the oil in the batter works as the fat. I take a ladle full of batter, and dribble the batter onto the skillet, waiting until the side facing me begins to bubble furiously then flip it over and cook until done. I like them with apricot jam and powdered sugar-mmmm

Written by Deb on January 1, 2003 07:22 PM