Grandma Ada Bea's Pancakes

This is the recipe your great grandmother wheedled out of a short order cook somewhere in the great American South, circa 1955. The key is to gather all your ingredients before you start putting it together. The buttermilk interacts with the baking powder and soda to make fluffy bubbles. Protect the bubbles! Don't beat them to death.

1 cup flour
1 rounded teaspoon baking powder -- that means heap it up a bit.
1/2 teaspoon soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon butter, melted
1 tablespoon pancake syrup (I use about 3 -- can't hurt.)
1 cup buttermilk
1 well beaten egg

The basic instructions are "combine all at once. Beat just as little as possible."

Here's how I do it. I've highlighted the items you may need to buy

I sift the dry ingredients together -- just to get rid of any lumps. The original recipe didn't require that. (Do you have a sieve? You can get one at the grocery store. Question #2: Do you have a whisk?) Anyway, I put the sieve over the bowl I'm going to mix in and just measure the dry ingredients into it -- anything that doesn't just fall through, you can stir through with a spoon.

* Put the syrup (a little less than a quarter cup) into a little bowl with the two tablespoons butter and mike it for about 40 seconds. (Don't let it boil over.)

* Measure the buttermilk into a microwave safe bowl big enough to hold all the dry ingredients, too and break the egg in on it, beat the egg in. Pour the syrup and butter mixture into that bowl.

* Pour the dry ingredients into the bowl.

* Use a spoon or a whisk (whisk works best) and beat the ingredients together -- about five to ten strokes. Just combine. You can throw in a cup of fresh (rinsed and shaken dry) blueberries, if you like. Do not overmix. Really. Protect the bubbles.

* Use the griddle on your George to bake them I think. Just leave the lid open. Or use a non-stick fry pan. Control the heat if you do it on the stove. Practice.

NOTES: Two things. If you used dry buttermilk you just add enough to make a cup to the dry ingredients and then add a cup of water to the wet ingredients. That way you always have it on hand. Buttermilk keeps quite a while -- week, week and a half or so, but the dry stuff is great.

This recipe can be doubled. Just use twice as much of everything. Also, you can put the dry ingredients together in a plastic bag and keep it in your cupboard and then just warm up the butter & syrup and throw in the buttermilk and egg. That makes it really quick.

Remember: Only Mom can make the bears.