Cook’s Illustrated Buttermilk Pancakes
Cook’s Illustrated Buttermilk Pancakes – light & fluffy and no fuss. They’re high on the list of our family’s favorite pancake,
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 8 pancakes 1x
- Category: Breakfast & Brunch
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
If you don’t have any buttermilk, mix 1 cup room temperature milk with two teaspoons of vinegar or lemon juice and let it stand for five minutes. Substitute this “clabbered milk” for the buttermilk and milk in this recipe. Since this milk mixture is not as thick as buttermilk, the batter and resulting pancakes will not be as thick.
- 1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons granulated sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon table salt
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 3/4 cup buttermilk
- 1/4 cup milk (plus an extra tablespoon or so if batter is too thick)
- 1 large egg, separated
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
- vegetable oil (for brushing griddle)
Instructions
Mix dry ingredients in medium bowl. Set aside.
Pour buttermilk and milk (or the milk/vinegar or lemon juice substitute) into 2-cup Pyrex measuring cup. Whisk in egg white. Mix yolk with melted butter, then stir the butter yolk mixture into the milk/egg white mixture. Dump the resulting mixture of wet ingredients into dry ingredients all at once; whisk until just mixed. Allow to rest for five minutes.
In the meantime, heat griddle or large skillet over strong medium-high heat. Brush griddle generously with oil. When water splashed on surface confidently sizzles, pour batter, about ¼ cup at a time, onto griddle, making sure not to overcrowd. When pancake bottoms are brown and top surface starts to bubble, 2 to 3 minutes, flip cakes and cook until remaining side has browned, 1 to 2 minutes longer. Re-oil the skillet and repeat for the next batch of pancakes.
Notes
- This makes 8 smallish pancakes, about 4 inches across. Batter may be doubled or tripled.
- If making a large batch, have the oven on at 250 degrees, and a have a sheet tray in oven. Place cooked pancakes in oven to keep warm before serving.
- Pancakes freeze well. Lay them flat on a plastic wrapped sheet tray and store with plastic between them in a Ziploc bag when frozen.
- If you want blueberry pancakes, add 1/4 cup blueberries to the batter.