pancakes

A year or so ago, I was reading a column in Bon Apetit called the BA Foodist, in which Andrew Knowlton  answered questions about...you guessed it, food!  I don't recall this reader's particular question, but I do remember Knowlton's answer.  The question was about brunch, and Knowlton kindly said that he doesn't know why anyone goes out for brunch, as it is the cheapest and easiest meal to make it home.  He has a good point, and it really resonated with me.  You see, prior to coming across Knowlton's answer, I was kind of trying to find a good brunch place in the area.  I liked the idea of going out for brunch, but there were few places around that were good and inexpensive (not that I was trying that hard, but I kind of was).   

Anyway, something clicked and I finally realized that the best place for brunch was in our very own kitchen, and Drew and I have given up finding a good brunch place elsewhere.  And so we've continued having brunch every Sunday, just as we've done since we began dating, but now we have it home pretty much every time.  Sometimes we try a new recipe, and other times we go with a trusty stand-by- pancakes, waffles, tofu scramble.

Last Sunday, we made pancakes.  And when I say 'we,' I mean 'I.'  I don't know how this happened, but it used to be that I would make the pancake batter and Drew would make the pancakes.  Then, about a year or so ago, for whatever reason, I happened to make the pancakes.  And Drew decided that I was much better at it (this could be true, but I don't recall being particularly dissatisfied with his pancakes), so ever since, I've been in charge of the pancakes, while he's in charge of the scrambled eggs and bacon or sausage that accompanies them.  

I used to use Mark Bittman's pancake recipe from How to Make Everything Vegetarian, but about half a year or so, I started using Pioneer Woman's recipe.  I found Bittman's version to be too dense, but to be fair, that could be my fault.  He tells you to separate the eggs and beat the whites separately, and I'm just too lazy to give that a try.  So instead, I found a different recipe, and so far, it's been working out well.  Pioneer Woman uses cake flour, but I use all purpose instead because the pancakes seem to hold up a bit better (I thought the cake flour made the pancakes a bit on the crumbly side).  These pancakes are light, airy, and fluffy.  

As for making the pancakes, we use a two-burner griddle, so cooking them up goes pretty fast.  I think that the trick is to make sure the pan is not too hot (I suspect this may have been the problem when Drew was in charge of making pancakes).  If the pan is too hot, the outside of the pancake cooks too quickly and burns, and the interior remains dough-y and raw (okay, so it appears that I was a bit dissatisfied with his pancakes).  I also don't use butter on the griddle (gasp!  this is probably sacrilege) like most recipes instruct you to do since I try to do as little as possible to give us heart attacks, and instead use cooking spray (which may not be better for you, but I imagine that it is).