Best Pancakes Ever

INGREDIENTS

  • 3/4 cup milk
  • 2 tablespoons white vinegar (see note)
  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • 2 tablespoons white sugar (I used 3)
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 egg
  • 2 tablespoons melted butter
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla

PREPARATION

STEP 1

Combine the milk and vinegar in a small bowl for 10 minutes to “sour”. This is an important step and it is called “soured milk” which is much different that sour milk. I guarantee you will NOT taste the vinegar in the final product. Set aside.

Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a bowl.

In a smaller bowl, whisk the soured milk, egg, vanilla and melted butter together. Pour into the dry ingredients and whisk until most of the lumps are gone, but DO NOT OVER BEAT!

The batter will be thick, don’t add any more liquid. LET THE BATTER SIT UNDISTURBED FOR TEN MINUTES!! After 10 minutes, you will see bubbles in the batter, very important DO NOT STIR AGAIN.

Gently dip out (don’t pour out) 1/2 cup of batter and place it on a buttered grill or frying pan. Cook until bubbles appear on the surface of the pancake and then flip with a spatula and brown the other side.

NOTE: This recipe only feeds about 3 or 4 people, but doubles or even triples nicely.

Don’t skip the soured milk part of this recipe, you will not taste the vinegar in the pancakes. The vinegar super-activates the baking soda.

You can substitute BUTTERMILK for the milk+vinegar in this recipe, but I have had the best luck (fluffiest pancakes) using the milk and vinegar.

A few people have written to me and said that their pancakes weren’t quite as fluffy or tall as mine. I suspect they are stirring the batter just before cooking the pancakes which deflates the bubbles in the batter. Stirring or pouring the batter essentially deflates the air bubbles in the batter. Personally, I use a half cup measuring cup and GENTLY dip out batter and put it on the griddle and I always get super fluffy pancakes.