Farm Pancakes

Jenny is in perpetual search for easy, weeknight recipes to attempt to feed her family. When they balk, she just eats more.

I think every parent has a list of things, perhaps lacking thematic structure and inexplicable to the rest of the world, that they find they cannot bend on, and a corresponding list of weird things that lead to caving. 

Breaking a prior commitment to accommodate a better offer, no. Tardiness to religious school? Fine. Dangling earrings worn to school? Never. False eyelashes? I’m looking the other way. Evening “reminders” that I am supposed to bring a gallon of juice to some event I have never heard of until just this very second? I’m hitting the roof. Morning requests for weekday pancakes? No problem. 

The pancake thing stems from a certain amount of self-interest -- pancakes for you means some for me too! -- and partly because I’ve pretty much mastered my Joy of Cooking recipe, made better when I have buttermilk on hand. 

But a person does get bored. She wants variety, a new take on the flapjack, even on a Tuesday morning. Enter Farm Pancakes which is one of the more interesting pancake recipes I have seen in a while. 

Before I tell you about the small changes I made here, I need to warn you that your batter is going to look very thin, and your pancakes are really going to be closer to crepes than anything you were ever served up at 3 AM in that diner next to that place where you went Brazilian dancing with some people you just met on the corner who were wearing some festive head dress. Ahem. 

So, I had no white wheat flour on hand, and substituted one cup of white and one of whole wheat instead. I did not have skim milk, only two percent, but my yogurt was low fat (who keeps putting that crap in my shopping cart anyway?). So on the fat front I believe I split the difference. I raised my eyebrows at the cider vinegar but it really rounds this recipe out nicely. I tossed in some ripe bananas, but not until I had already cooked about a third of the batter. 

I prepared the first batch in butter, and they burned. Oil was better, which is why it is nice to follow recipes as written. Ten minutes later: happy children. Except for the one who could not find her volleyball knee pads. NEVER ASK ME TO FIND UNIFORMS THREE MINUTES BEFORE WE LEAVE THE HOUSE! Oh you need to pick up three friends? That’s fine. Do any of them want a pancake?

Farm Pancakes by 1840 Farm

Serves 6 to 8

2 cups white wheat flour
5 tablespoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
2 ounces plain whole milk yogurt
15 ounces skim millk
1 ounce apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
pancake add in (blueberries, bananas, etc.)
butter
maple syrup

See the full recipe (and save it and print it) here.

Photo by James Ransom