My trials and tribulations with the simple pancake

Everybody has their own successes and failures in the kitchen. Until recently, I was ashamed to admit my kitchen failure revolved around the simple pancake. I would consistently discover them to be uncooked in the center, yet I was determined to make the perfect pancake and I would not give up until I did.

The premise seemed so simple: pour the batter, wait for it to bubble, flip and enjoy. How could a person possibly continue to mess this up? I tried several different recipes, hoping that I would find some kind of magical recipe that would result in the perfect pancake. Yet, deep down I knew a recipe was not at fault here.

Last week I discovered a pancake recipe on the King Arthur blog Baking Banter. It was titled Simply Perfect, had wonderful reviews and looked delicious. This would be the end of my pancake failure. I measured all of the ingredients precisely, was careful not to over mix it and then let it rest as directed. Making the batter had never been my issue as it follows along the same lines of any other baked good; it was in the next step that my trouble always seemed to begin.

I started off with low heat compared to medium, greased the pan with butter, did the water test and was ready to pour the first pancake. I used 1/3 cupfuls and watched as the bubbles began to appear on top. I realized my first mistake in the past had been flipping at first sight of a couple bubbles. Problem number one fixed. Problem number two was accomplished by starting off with a lower heat than I had ever used. All stove tops are different so finding the perfect balance of heat is always a matter of trial and error. By using a very low heat, I was able to patiently wait for bubbles to appear without fearing it would burn.

As my college roommate always insisted, a good pancake can only have one flip. So after the bubbles were pretty consistent I flipped it and crossed my fingers because that was the only flip this pancake was going to get. After a few minutes had passed and the edges appeared cooked I took it off the heat and was ready to find out if my days of pancake failure were over.

I think the picture speaks for itself!

To all of the readers out there who are haunted by a failure in the kitchen, keep trying because the taste of success is all worth it.

Pancake Recipe
Slightly Adapted from King Arthur Flour
2 large eggs
1 ¼ cups milk
3 Tbsp. melted butter
1 tsp. vanilla
¾ tsp. salt
2 tsp. Baking powder
2 Tbsp. sugar or malted milk powder

Whisk together the salt, baking powder and sugar, and set aside. Then whisk together eggs, melted butter, vanilla and milk. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and mix just until combined. Lumps are fine in a pancake batter. Let the batter sit for 10- 15 minutes before cooking, it will thicken slightly.

Lightly grease a griddle or frying pan with butter or cooking spray and heat over low to medium heat, the pan is ready when a few drops of water dance across the pan before evaporating.

Drop 1/3 cupfuls of batter onto the pan. The pancake is ready to flip when bubbles begin to form on the top side. Cook until other side is slightly browned. To achieve fluffy pancakes, only flip the pancake once.

Serve with butter and syrup or your favorite pancake topping.