N° 43: My Go-To Pancakes

whole grain, adaptable

Good morning,

I hope I’ve caught you before breakfast, as I’m sharing my go-to pancake recipe with you below*. I just finished eating a few myself. It’s a variation of the “Fluffy Banana Buttermilk Pancakes” in my book, which get a subtle sweetness from mashed overripe banana and milk powder. Here, I make them with a mixture of whole-grain flours and also have a couple of options for the acidified milk element. Plus, an ingenious trick for quick-”ripening” a banana that I learned from Stella Parks (of BraveTart fame).

Have a nice Sunday. Talk to soon. Oh, if you happen to be in Connecticut today, I’ll be at Byrd’s Books in Bethel at 4pm for an event. You’re supposed to bake something from my book and bring it, but even if you don’t, we’ll still let you in. :)

Brian

*Formal Assignment P.S. is for paid subscribers. It’s just $6 a month—or even less for an annual subscription.

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FLUFFY WHOLE-GRAIN BANANA PANCAKES
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I can’t be the only person who likes a spontaneous buttermilk pancake breakfast but never has buttermilk waiting in the fridge. My solution has long been DIY “buttermilk”—I just curdle some milk with vinegar, and, voila, I have the acidic liquid I need to give the pancakes a little tang and to react with baking soda to make them perfectly fluffy. Another solution that fulfills the need for acidity and also yields a richer pancake is to replace some of the milk (1/2 to 3/4) with sour cream or yogurt.

If you don’t have a very ripe banana, there’s an ingenious solution that Stella Parks developed: Mash the banana along with the recipe’s eggs and let the mixture rest for 30 minutes before proceeding with the recipe. The amylase enzyme in the yolks converts the banana’s starch into sugars, like magic—or science.

Makes 8 pancakes
Total time: 30 minutes

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