Buttermilk Pancakes
Sam and I met while studying for our MBAs at Melbourne Business School. For our intake, the programme was changed from 2-year course to a 12 month full-time programme, without altering the syllabus. I had never worked so hard in my life. Most of the time, I wasn't even aware what day of the week it was, going to school 7 days a week, morning until evening, public holidays included.
For a rare but more-than-deserved break, we would sometimes spend a weekend together with our friends and classmates in Sam's familys' beachhouse in Sorrento, down the Mornington Peninsula. I still have very fond memories of these times. Even though we're now all spread across different parts of the world, we still keep in touch and try to catch up whenever possible. Funnily enough, two other couples from our joint weekend escapes are married now. This makes three in total, accounting for Sam and me, just in our close circle of friends. Being under large amounts of pressure together seems to build some very serious bonds amongst people.
Our friend Andrew, who was born and raised in the US, made beautiful and fluffy American-style pancakes for us one morning. After several attempts to recreate them, I finally found a recipe that came close. I'm sharing it with you below.
Recipe
Makes 16 small pancakes for 3 people
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
2 tbsp sugar
2 cups buttermilk
2 large eggs lightly beaten (if you're after some extra fluffiness, beat the egg whites separately until stiff and gently fold them in at the end)
1 tsp vanilla extract
Mix all the the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Whisk in the buttermilk, eggs and vanilla extract just until combined. Don't overmix, some small lumps are okay. Let the pancake batter rest for about 10 minutes. This gives your soda and baking powder the chance to do their magic.
Meanwhile, heat a large pan or tepanjaki. Ad butter and ladle in equally sized portions of pancake batter. I use silicone pancake forms to get a perfect shape. But this won't affect flavour. As soon as small bubbles appear on the surface, flip the pancakes and continue cooking on the other side until nice and golden 🥞.
We like our pancakes with melted butter, maple sirup and bacon. Fresh berries and yoghurt make a nice and healthier alternative 😇.