day 32 = light and fluffy pancakes

sarah:
i have tried and tried, but never been able to make a good pancake. they always come out as little bricks and i could never understand why. i even let the batter sit for 10 mins (to make them light and fluffy), but without fail they became hockey pucks. so this morning, i decided to try making it two ways:

1) with the kitchenaid
2) by hand

then, i experimented with the temp of my griddle. in the end, they came out great! here's what i did:

step 1: gather all the ingredients

3/4 cup milk

2 tablespoons white vinegar

1 cup all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons white sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 egg

2 tablespoons butter, melted

cooking spray

step 2: in a bowl, first put vinegar and then milk and let the mixture sit for 5 mins to "sour"

(if you have a recipe that calls for buttermilk, use 1 tbsp vinegar per 1 cup milk and do the same)

step 3: combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large mixing bowl. whisk egg and butter into "soured" milk in a separate bowl. (see first picture). pour the flour mixture into the wet ingredients and whisk only until lumps are gone (see second picture). let sit for 10 minutes for the batter to settle.

there is a large difference between mixing by hand and by machine

(see third picture - bowl on left is by hand).

step 4: heat a large skillet or griddle over medium heat and coat with cooking spray. pour 1/4 cupfuls of batter onto the skillet and cook until bubbles appear on the surface. flip with a spatula, and cook until browned on the other side.

the first few pancakes never come out right. they still taste good, but aren't very attractive.

this is also where you see the two different batters make very different pancakes (see the first picture). 

the ones on the left where hand mixed, the ones on the right were machine mixed.

if you find your pancakes are browning too fast, turn the heat down a little so they come out looking like pancakes we can all recognize (see second picture). 

 step 5: eat!

in the end, i highly recommend mixing by hand. those pancakes were light and fluffy and very good. you also really need to pay attention to the heat of your pan and keep lowering as necessary. i had some leftover bananas from day 30 so, along with some maple syrup, they made a nice addition to the meal.

charley:

all i can say is hand-mixing makes things better.  these were light and fluffy and after eating 5 of them i can say it didn't make me feel like i had a brick in my stomach.  very tasty!

enjoy!