Buttermilk Pancakes

How do you like your pancakes? Pancakes are one of those foods that are drenched in nostalgia. When you are eight years old sitting at the table in your pjs with sticky Aunt Jemima fingers, basking in the glow of no school Saturdays, chowing down on pancakes during a cartoon break, you don’t really care if mom used buttermilk or Bisquick. You just know that it’s Saturday and the Smurfs are going to be on soon, and then you are going to go outside and work on that backyard fort with your friends from down the street and that is basically a perfect day.

Frankly, I still think that’s a perfect day.

I grew up on these simple pancakes, but lately I’ve been converted to the power of buttermilk. I won’t bore you with my limited understanding of how the acid of the buttermilk interacts with the baking powder and baking soda to make the cakes fluffier and how its tanginess adds a layer of flavor…just trust the generations of pancake flippers before us who figured this out well before we ever reached for a skillet.

I still love the pancakes I grew up on, but now as a grown-up who is a little more consciencious of her carb consumption, if I’m eating pancakes, I want the very definition of pancake – light, fluffy, almost powdery melt-in-your-mouth pancakes.


These…are the definition of pancakes. In fact, dare I say it, they may be the best pancakes I've ever made. Or maybe I'm just having a really good day.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I must get back to my fort construction.

Buttermilk Pancakes
From Fine Cooking mag

3 Tbls. butter, melted
2 cups all-purpose flour (feel free to substitute up to half with whole wheat flour)
1/4 cup sugar
2 and 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
Pinch of kosher salt
2 cups buttermilk
2 large eggs
Vegetable oil for the griddle
Pure maple syrup for serving, along with additional butter

In a large bowl, whisk together dry ingredients. In a medium bowl, whisk together buttermilk and eggs. Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients. Whisk gently until dry ingredients are almost incorporated; stop before the batter is evenly moistened. Add cooled melted butter and mix just until the batter is eenly moistened (there will be lumps). Let the batter rest while you heat the griddle.

Heat an electric griddle to 375 degrees. Lightly oil the griddle. Working in batches, pour 1/4 cup of the batter onto the hot griddle for each pancake, spacing about 1" apart. Let cook undisturbed until bubbles start popping on the surface and the edges look dry, about 2 minutes. Check the underside to ensure it is nicely browned, then flip and cook other side for 1 minute. Repeat with remaining batter, adjusting heat as needed to prevent burning or undercooking. Serve hot with butter and maple syrup.