Buttermilk Cornmeal Pancakes

It's Friday which means it's time for a weekend breakfast recipe!

I'd like you to meet my breakfast from last weekend, Buttermilk Cornmeal Pancakes. These pancakes, which come from Cheryl and Griffith Day's "Back in the Day Bakery Cookbook" intrigued me because of the cornmeal in the title. I'm not normally a pancake person because of a texture issue--I find them too spongy, too mushy when you add the syrup--but cornmeal seemed to suggest these might be crisper than normal pancakes. And guess what? They totally were. Craig called them the best pancakes he'd ever had for that very reason.

One thing I'll never understand: why do people buy pancake batter mix in a box when it takes seconds to make your own pancake batter from scratch? In fact, it'll take me longer to type this post than it did to make pancakes. You whisk together dry ingredients:

You pour in wet ingredients (buttermilk, eggs, melted butter) and whisk:

And there you have it: pancake batter.

To cook the pancakes, I heated two non-stick skillets with butter until the foam subsided, then I used an ice cream scoop to add the pancake batter: three blobs per pan.

Flipping was the hardest part. When there were bubbles on the surface of the pancakes and they were brown underneath, it was time to do the deed. I did pretty well.

One step I take when making pancakes is, after I flip them, I press them with the spatula so any stray batter oozes out and cooks in the skillet. Otherwise, the pancake exterior may cook faster than the interior and you may wind up with the pancake equivalent of molten chocolate cake which is not what anybody wants.

Another thing to know: the 2nd side cooks way faster than the first side, so once you flip them, you're pretty much there. Serve 'em up with bacon and good maple syrup and you'll have a breakfast of champions.

Plus: the recipe makes a lot of batter, so if you make this on a Saturday you can refrigerate the leftovers and make it again on Sunday. Two days of buttermilk cornmeal pancakes? You're going to have a really good weekend.

Recipe: Buttermilk Cornmeal Pancakes

Summary: From Cheryl and Griffith Day's "Back in the Day Bakery Cookbook."

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 cup yellow cornmeal
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 2 1/2 cups buttermilk
• 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
• Butter for serving
• Good maple syrup

Instructions

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cornmeal, baking soda, salt and sugar.
2. In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, buttermilk, and 6 tablespoons of the melted butter (if the butter's still warm from melting, make sure to whisk constantly while adding it or the eggs may coagulate). Whisk the wet mixture into the dry mixture until just combined (don't overmix).
3. Heat a griddle or a heavy skillet (I used two) over medium-high heat. Grease the hot griddle or pans with the remaining 2 tablespoons melted butter.
4. Pour 1/4 cup of the batter onto the griddle or in the pans for each pancake, making 3 to 4 pancakes at a time. Bubbles will start to form on top and around the edges. After 2 to 3 minutes, lift each pancake up to investigate: if it's golden brown and the edges are crisp, it's time to flip. Flip the pancake over and cook until the underside is golden brown, 2 to 3 minutes more. Serve right away with butter or syrup, or keep warm in the oven. (The recipe says it makes 8 pancakes but I think it makes 12.)

Preparation time: 5 minute(s)

Cooking time: 5 minute(s)

Number of servings (yield): 12

My rating 5 stars:  ★★★★★ 1 review(s)