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My Mother’s Pancakes
By Rebecca | March 27, 2008
My mother did not use recipes in her daily cooking. She memorized basic rules to cook the things she liked. To make pancakes, she memorized the simple ratios of flour to baking soda and baking powder.
For every cup of flour she taught me to add 1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder and 1/4 teaspoon of baking powder. These three are the entire list of dry ingredients for her pancake mix.
I sometimes mix up eight cups or more and store it in a large jar or plastic container. Then I measure it out as I need it, add the moist ingredients and cook my pancakes.
Because there is no recipe, there are no measured quantities for the other ingredients. Eggs are optional. For a small batch use one egg, or for a larger batch use a couple of eggs. If you do not use eggs, just add some extra milk. Pour in some buttermilk–usually anywhere from half a cup to a whole cup is about right. Again, it depends on the size of the batch being made.
Last, but not least, water is added. Enough water to make the batter the right consistency for pancakes. If you don’t know what this looks like, well, I was never very clear on it myself. During my growing up years nearly every batch of pancake batter was a different thickness. (This is one of the side effects of no recipe.) So, if you want a better idea, get some Bisquick, mix it up and see how thick it is. Then make your homemade batter that thick.
We usually made wheat pancakes. Half of the flour used was whole wheat flour and half was white flour. (It’s a delicious way to rotate some of your food storage wheat.) For waffles my mom always told us to make the batter a little bit thicker. Then we cooked it in the waffle iron rather than on a griddle.
Cook the pancakes until the batter begins to bubble and then flip it over.
My favorite way to eat them is with applesauce on top.
Topics: Budget, Cooking, Family, Food, Food Storage, Parenting, Recipe, Teaching, Uncategorized, Word of Wisdom |
