So, they weren't the heaviest pancakes I ever ate. But they were darn close!
Day Two of the new addition to my morning routine, and here's the menu I picked out for breakfast this morning:
Apple Juice
Griddlecakes and Corn Sirup
Milk, Coffee
I have to be fair about the Griddlecakes recipe. I didn't follow the directions precisely. Didn't sift the dry ingredients. I used non-fat cooking spray to grease the pan. And I wonder if the 1% milk I used made any difference in the outcome. Would whole milk have made the pancakes any lighter? I definitely made my pancakes bigger than the author of the cookbook apparently made hers! The recipe promises 20 pancakes, I ended up with 12. Needless to say, there are lots of cold, heavy pancakes wrapped up in my fridge waiting for the breakfast table tomorrow morning...
Corn Sirup on my Griddlecakes? This made me super squeamish. Corn syrup rarely sees the light of day in my kitchen, so to set it out on my table felt very odd. I tried to talk myself through it. Most of the "maple" syrup we find in supermarkets is just corn syrup with maple flavoring, right? Just think of it as clear maple syrup. Not so easy! Anyway, the corn syrup sweetened the pancakes a little, but I was definitely missing the maple taste.
So why was this 1945 cookbook suggesting that I use "Corn Sirup" anyway? I thought maple syrup was promoted during the war as a great domestic substitute for sugar. Was it promoted so heavily that they ended up with a maple syrup shortage???
Adaptations
The menu originally included "Slab Bacon." Being a vegetarian, I passed on this course. I didn't make any coffee at home this morning - just enjoyed a cup at my desk once I got to work.
5 comments:
was there a raising agent in your batter? i'm not really sure what the difference between a griddlecake and a pancake is? perhaps the smaller size would allow the mixture to bubble more before flipping, more like a pikelet than a pancake.
Well, the recipe includes baking powder. I seem to recall now that I'm thinking about it that my mom uses baking powder and baking soda in her pancakes. I looked around online to see what secret to chewy pancakes seems to be and most people agree that it's overmixing. I think I'll try a whisk next time. Maybe I can mix them a little more quickly. (Unfortunately, it'll be a while 'til I try the recipe again as I have lots of leftovers!)
The size issue certainly might be part of the problem, too.
I have no idea what the difference between griddlecakes and pancakes might be! My cookbook doesn't have a separate recipe for "pancakes" so I guess I'd assume that this author at least considered them the same thing.
Thanks for the suggestions! What's for breakfast at your place?
just btw, not sure if you know there is a difference between baking soda and baking powder...baking soda won't rise on its own... i only just discovered this today...
at my house for breakfast it was smoked salmon and cream cheese on toast, apple juice and coffee
It is too bad ur a vegetarian in this case, because home-made pancakes fried in the bacon fat (u would fry that first) is heavenly. It crips the edges. Again, my parents were really old, so we never bought syrup (unless it was reall vermont maple syrup) most often it was corn syrup heated in a pan with maple extract. To this day I have to have HOT syrup or I won't enjoy my pancakes!
Hot syrup is always best --- plus it warms up your pancakes if they've been off the griddle for more than a minute or so.
My mom always greased her griddle with margarine or vegetable oil and the pancakes had wonderful crispy edges that melted in your mouth. My mistake was in trying to get by with non-fat cooking spray.
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