First, let me say that Scotch's recipe is very similar to my own, except that I don't use buttermilk. Some DC members made and compared my recipe (Goodweed's World's Best Pancakes) and CharlieD's recipe and voted that both are exceptional, but at opposite ends of the culinary chart. His are rich, fill-your belly with hearty goodness pancakes that have a heavy, almost biscuit texture, while mine are light as a cloud, very tender, and exceptionally moist. They are equal, but different animals. And I know this is late, but I give you my recipe just the same. It's well known around here and so I share it again.
Goodweed's World Famous Pancakes
There was a time when my Dad would take me to my grandparents’ house. Now you have to understand. I was skinny and generally small of stature, so they were always trying to feed me. Of course, since I had boundless energy and used all of it, I had an enormous appetite. I would often receive for breakfast a bowl of Sugar Smacks, or a bowl of oatmeal, followed by 2 poached eggs, from the egg-poaching pan of course and served atop a piece of toast, and finally, either pancakes or waffles.
When the final course was pancakes, my Grandpa would serve them up as he sang; “Pancakes are delicious, pancakes are so fine, I oughta know, cause I like ‘em so, that I eat ‘em all the time.” He always had a big grin on his face as here served them up.
Of course, the pancakes I got in those fondly remembered days came from a ready made mix, usually Aunt Jemima brand. But to a skinny kid, they were gourmet treats.
In honor of my Dad, and my Grandparents, I chose for my signature dish, pancakes. Of course mine are far different. But I still sing that little ditty that my Grandpa used to sing when I dish them up. “Pancakes are delicious, pancakes are so fine...” I even made everyone at out church sing it before I would serve them my pancakes at one of our annual pancake breakfasts. That was fun.
So here’s the recipe that I perfected (with help from my eldest daughter), and serve every year by request to better than a hundred folks.
Ingredients: Dry Ingrediants:
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 tbs. Sugar
½ tsp. Salt
3 tsp. Double Acting Baking Powder (You must use Double Acting Baking Powder to get the best texture)
Wet Ingrediants:
3/4 plus 1/8 cup milk
1 large Egg
3 tbs. Cooking oil
Preheat the griddle over medium heat. Place the dry ingredients into a large bowl and stir together with a wire whisk or mixing spoon. Add the remaining ingredients and again stir until mixed. Do not stir until all the lumps are gone as this will over-mix the batter. There should be small lumps. These will disappear while cooking the pancakes.
Cook over medium heat until the bubbles slowly start to close as they rise and pop. Do not cook until the bubbles stay open as this will dry out the pancake. And most importantly, Don’t squish them down with your cake turner or spatula. When they are ready to flip, turn them over and cook for about 1 minute more. Remove from the pan and serve immediately. If you must cook up enough for a bunch of people, keep them warm by stacking in a large-rectangular cake pan and placing the pan into a 120' oven covered with a clean kitchen towel.
You can add blueberries to the uncooked batter without changing anything else. However, if you add acidic fruits such as strawberries, raspberries, or pineapple, you will need to add ½ tsp. Baking soda to the batter to ballance the acid from the fruit.
The above recipe makes enough pancakes for two people. You can easily enlarge the recipe by simply multiplying the ingredients by the same number. That is, if you double the flour, multiply all other ingredients by two.
For delightfully crispy edges, melt butter or bacon grease onto the pan just before pouring on the batter. There should be just enough fat to seee it sizzling around the edges. Often, I just wipe the griddle with fat, leaving the surface shiny, pour on the batter, and then place a tbs or so of butter to the pan, rubnbing it around the pancakes so as to crispy the edges.
Seeeeeya; Goodweed of the North