In another thread, someone suggested prison terms for anyone who uses or possesses certain frozen foods. The post elicited this reply:
I like to have Trader Joe’s pancake mix in the cupboard. Just add an egg and some water. (No milk, no oil.) I’m perfectly capable of making pancakes from scratch, and do.
1 egg
3/4 cup milk
2 tbsp. melted butter
1 cup flour
1 tbsp. sugar
3 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
Mix the dry, add the wet. The SO likes TJ’s, and she likes the ones I make from scratch. I’m not a milk drinker (I see it as an ingredient, not a beverage), so for a couple of decades I had to make a point of buying it. So if I wanted pancakes, I’d buy ‘just add water’ (and an egg) mix. I knew I was buying what is basically ‘expensive flour’, but I didn’t have to have milk on-hand. Besides, TJ’s isn’t exactly expensive. But now that I live with a milk drinker, the only inconvenience is cutting the butter off of the cube and melting it. But TJ’s mix is $2 or so. Like their pizza dough ($1.29), it’s cheap enough that I’ll pay for convenience rather than make it from scratch. Incidentally, TJ’s Grade B maple syrup is $13.99 for a 750 mL bottle. A little painful, since I used to buy it a decade ago for $8.99; but cheaper than anyone else I’ve found. And ya gotta have the Grade B!
I make pancakes from scratch usually, but I wanted to give my daughter a treat before school the other day and only had about a 10 minute window. Found some Bisquick in the fridge and had chocolate chip pancakes on the table in a flash. They were great.
Since you presumably have butter on hand to put on the pancakes, you could melt the 2 tablespoons, but you could also use regular cooking oil and skip that melting step.
Nothing wrong with using a mix to get some pancakes up in a hurry. But when I have the time I’ll work from scratch and not stick to basic flour mixes. When the kids were still home I’d make pancakes every Sunday morning. I’d try to get something different every week, buckwheat, corn cakes, matzo meal, rye, sour cream, just keep using different ingredients. But when there’s no time I’d rather have the premix than no pancakes at all.
ETA: And silenus nailed it, the bacon is more important than the cakes, and you need the bacon grease to make the pancakes good.
If only they sold dime bags of baking powder for when I really want pancakes or waffles. I just don’t use it enough to go through a 8th of the can before it’s not viable.
To me, that recipe is missing vanilla extract.
And I only use less then 1 tsp of baking soda for a larger batch then that. I say baking soda because I have it in the house more reliably.
What’s the difference between mixing it myself or buying the stuff someone else put together for me? They use a recipe, I use a recipe. They might even be the same. My flour and baking powder isn’t any better than theirs, I assume. Plus, I might be out of something. This is what I use.
I’m another buttermilk pancakes fan, which means you have to add a bit of baking soda to the mix. I also add vanilla and about a half teaspoon of baking spice. Even better, adding blueberries to the above makes for cakes that taste like blueberry pie.
See, the problem with buttermilk is that you have to have buttermilk. They don’t sell 8 oz. cartons (here), so that’s a lot of waste. I don’t drink milk, though I don’t dislike it at all. Buttermilk is another matter entirely. Can’t stand it.
Buttermilk more or less stays good nigh-on forever, though. Also, you can make up some ersatz buttermilk by adding a bit of vinegar to normal milk–this site says a tsp to a cup. I’ve never done the Pepsi challenge and tried the real thing and this side by side, but dad would make pancakes from time to time w/ this instead of buttermilk and I don’t think I ever noticed a difference.
For cornbread, waffles , biscuits and pancakes, I always keep a quart of buttermilk in the fridge. I’ve don’t think I’ve ever had one go bad. It’s still a great ingredient, even if you don’t want to drink it. I don’t eat sour cream straight with a spoon, either.
Aquadimentia, baking soa and baking powder aren’t interchangeable.
No, I imagine it’s because buttermilk is a little on the acidic side, but I’m not sure. And it does go bad after a month or two.
I buy the full monty: so-called Bulgarian buttermilk instead of that low fat crap. I can usually find it on sale at one of the local stores, and it really does keep for months. I also use self-rising White Lily flour for both pancakes and biscuits.
