From Pancakes to Waffles

Some years ago my friend made these amazing pancakes for me while visiting her in Virginia. I think this was one of my many nudges into the foodie world. My Mom had always made boxed pancakes and I was just so amazed that making a pancake batter was so amazingly simple. The recipe came from Bon Apetit. After that I was an avid Bon Apetit reader.

Over the years I have tweaked it a little. Basically this is the PANCAKE recipe:

1 1/3 cups flour
1 1/4 cups milk or buttermilk (if you add buttermilk you need to add a bit more)
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg

Stir dry, together with a whisk. Add the milk, vanilla and egg, whisking to combine. Your batters consistency is key to the success of your pancakes. It needs to be thin enough to bake evenly. Just a tad thicker than buttermilk.


Since this discovery we have pancakes a lot or rather I should say we feed our kids pancakes a lot. This Sunday, I felt we all needed a change. I decided to put my waffle iron to good use. I consulted Bittman's book, How to Cook Everything, for a waffle recipe. Whew, were we ever impressed. It was a nice change from the usual and the kids really enjoyed it as well.

AMAZINGLY TASTY and QUICK WAFFLES
Adapted from How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman

2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/4 cups buttermilk
2 eggs, yolks and whites separated
4 tablespoons butter melted
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, sugar, and baking powder.
In another bowl, whisk the milk and the egg yolks together. Add the melted butter and vanilla. Stir the milk mixture into the dry ingredients until just combined; do not over mix.

Whip the two egg whites until stiff peaks form. Fold the whites into the batter. Cook the waffles according to your waffle iron’s directions.