Pancakes are one of my favorite breakfast foods. I'll even eat them for dinner! I love them! I love them, from scratch. I do no like them out of a box or frozen. I like them made fresh and served hot. They are also really easy to make. I do not understand buying pancake mix. You still have to add ingredients and mix it, just like from scratch. With that said, I still buy pancake mixes, but I do not use them for pancakes!
There is a little history behind my recipe. I like my dad's recipe and my grandmother's recipe equally and did not want to have to choose between the two when choosing to make pancakes, so I fused the easiness of my dad's with the sweetness of my grandmother's and there you have my recipe.
Pancakes
Ingredients
1/2 cup of self rising flour
1/2 cup of buttermilk
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon oil (I use canola)
sugar to taste (I use 1/2 teaspoon)
Directions
- Preheat a skillet to 350 degrees.
- Mix all ingredients together using a fork, whisk or mixer.
- Coat skillet with butter or a light layer of oil.
- Pour pancakes onto your hot skillet making them about 4 inches in diameter.
- Flip once bubbles begin to appear on top.
- They do not take long on the second side. They only need a few minutes.
- Remove from skillet and serve hot with syrup or fresh fruit or even just plain with butter.
Notes
This recipe is enough for one adult to eat and be full. This recipe makes a total of 4-5 pancakes. Since I have a family of three, I triple the recipe. We always have 2-3 leftovers, since my daughter only eats 2. These pancakes are supposed to be thick. If the lumps in the flour will not go away after mixing for a few minutes, add just a little more buttermilk. Do not add too much or they will not cook properly.
Don't have buttermilk in the fridge? You can use the above recipe with regular milk. The only difference is the pancakes will be really flat. To fluff up the pancakes, just separate your egg whites from the yolk. Put the whites in a separate bowl and beat them until they are frothy and form soft peaks. Fold the egg whites into the batter just before cooking.
Lactose Intolerant? You can use lactose free milk in this recipe as well. We did for a few months when my daughter was having problems. We did cut the amount of sugar added since to me the lactose free milk seemed to taste a little sweeter than normal milk/buttermilk. We have not tried other varieties like almond, soy or rice, but I imagine they should work. If anyone tries them and it does or doesn't work, let me know!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Are pancakes worth it from scratch?
For me, taste wise, yes. But how about from a money standpoint.
1/2 cup flour = $.05
1/2 cup buttermilk = $.125
1 egg = $.14
1/2 teaspoon oil = .00456
1/2 teaspoon sugar = $.0026
Total = $.32216 for 4-5 pancakes or about $.08 for each pancake, if you assume 4 pancakes.
Store bought mix = $3.00
I averaged the cost of the different brands at Walmart. I have a 32 oz box of mix with 18 servings in it. One serving is three 4in pancakes.
One box has 18 servings, so a serving costs: $.06. Wow, that is cheaper, you might be saying, but here is the kicker. Unless you buy a mix that only needs water, you may have to add egg or oil to the mix. The box I have says to add 1 egg and 3 Tablespoons of oil for 2 servings of pancakes. So, we must add $.07 for the egg and $.09 for the oil. Since we want the price per pancake, you we would need to divide the numbers by 3, so we would have to add $.05 to the price of the mix.
Total = $.11
One basic store bought pancake = $.11
One basic homemade pancake = $.08
So, you would save $.03 per pancake.
Since in my family, we eat 15 pancakes each time we make them, that is $.45 we would save on the meal as a whole. We make pancakes once a week, so by making homemade, we will save $23.40 a year.
But what if you buy frozen pancakes? (Correct me if I am wrong!) From what I can remember, a 12 count box of name brand frozen pancakes is around $2 per box. So, one pancake would be approx. $.17.
Summery:
One frozen pancake = $.17
One basic store bought pancake = $.11
One basic homemade pancake = $.08
