Ingredients: |
Ingredients: 5½ tablespoons melted butter 2⅔ cups warm milk* 3 large/extra large (or 4 medium) eggs, separated 3 cups all-purpose flour 1¾ teaspoons salt 6 tablespoons sugar 3½ teaspoons double-acting baking powder* 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
*Amounts may need adjustments as follows: 2½ to 3 cups milk depending on the amount of gluten in flour Increase baking powder slightly if it's been open for more than 2 months, up to 4½ teaspoons if it's been open for 10 - 12 months.
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Directions: |
Directions:Add egg yolks and melted butter to 2 1/3 cup warm milk (120° - 130°F). Stir with fork until well mixed. Sift together all dry ingredients. Add liquid ingredients and stir together quickly with fork or whisk. Don't worry about small lumps; don't over mix. Add more milk as needed to produce a batter that is thicker than eggnog, but thinner than squeezable ketchup. (If it's the right consistency, 4-inch pancakes will cook to 1/4 or 5/16 inches thick and 6-inch pancakes will be about 3/8 inches thick.) Allow batter to rest for at least 10 minutes, but an hour doesn't hurt. (You can use this time to fry your bacon and whip the egg whites.) Whip egg whites until stiff and fold them into the batter just before cooking. Cook in a skillet or griddle, lightly greased with Crisco, at about 370°. (I spread ½ teaspoon Crisco with a spatula, then blot up two-thirds of it with a paper towel.) Cook first side until surface is sprinkled with little craters from bursting bubbles. Flip once only; cook second side for about 3/5 as long as the first side. Makes about 3 dozen 4-inch to 4½ pancakes. |
Personal
Notes: |
Personal
Notes: First a pancake story. Because I learned to cook at a young age, I often found myself being asked to cook whenever I was with a group of guys. This included graduate-school apartments, houses shared with other guys, and camping trips. On one geological field trip, we camped for eight or nine days while studying limestones in Florida, and I was promised no clean-up chores in exchange for taking charge of cooking. The other 10 guys took turns helping cook and clean up. The main drawback to this arrangement was my having to get up before everybody else in order to start breakfast. The last morning, when we were supposed to leave early for the long drive back to South Carolina, I awoke to the smell of fresh coffee. Thinking that I'd overslept, I bolted from my hammock, only to find myself standing face-to-face with Greg, who was holding out my coffee mug.
"I woke up early," he explained, "and decided that I could cook breakfast by myself and let you sleep a few more minutes." He left for a minute, returned with a plate of pancakes, then stood waiting for my opinion of his effort. I sampled one, which seemed a bit dry and a little off in flavor. I took another bite to be sure.
"You were a bit light on the salt," I told him.
"That was salt?" Greg asked. "I didn't put in any salt; I thought you use sugar."
Years later, I discovered another secret to pancake-making that is just as important as remembering the salt - beating the egg whites. Because of the whipped egg whites, these pancakes are delightfully light and tender.
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