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Pancake dreams: Batters (plural) that let you hit the snooze button By Jenn Garbee
JewishWorldReview.com |
The sound of sizzling butter, the telltale tiny bubbles dotting the batter's surface, a warm plate at the ready soon to be filled with a piping hot stack of pancakes. These are the makings of my ideal leisurely weekend breakfast.
In reality, the only thing piled high on my kitchen table weekends is slightly burnt toast smeared with last week's breadcrumb-crusted butter. When faced with the choice between waking up early to whip up pancake batter or hitting the snooze button for a coveted extra hour of sleep, I'll begrudgingly settle for cold toast.
Recently, however, a friend told me she made a pancake batter that can sit in the fridge overnight. And the flavor improves after a few days, she boasted, so the pancakes are even better on Sunday morning. Back-to-back mornings of fork-tender pancakes ready before the coffee finishes percolating? It's too good to be true, I quipped, all the while taking mental notes as she rattled off the recipe.
In my mind, the idea of overnight pancake batter had one insurmountable problem. The key to making a tender pancake is mixing the wet and dry ingredients just prior to cooking. Let the batter sit on the counter for too long and you'll end up with dense, heavy pancakes best suited for an afternoon of fetch with Fifi.
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This whole overnight batter idea necessitated immediate action. I bought pounds of sweet cream butter and maple syrup by the jug to prepare for what would surely be countless weekends spent in front of the hot griddle perfecting the recipe. But the recipe didn't need a bit of tweaking. The batter took minutes to prepare (the night prior, no less). The pancakes were delicious, a cross between a fluffy modern day pancake and a more rustic classic griddlecake. I called my friend between syrup-soaked bites to extol the virtues of her recipe (and atone for doubting her prowess behind the griddle).
Now that I didn't need to get up early to make great pancakes, I found myself using the extra time to experiment with classic mix-ins like toasted nuts and fresh berries. Add mix-ins just before cooking, not the previous night, to prevent them from becoming soggy or watering down the batter. Once I got the hang of it, I began to think of the batter as an anything-goes blank canvas to be splattered with my favorite fruits and nuts -- even chocolate candies (it's the weekend, after all) -- a la Jackson Pollock.
That's exactly how Frederic Castan, executive chef of the St. Regis Resort Monarch Beach south of Los Angeles, approaches his pancake station every weekend. It's a towering doublewide buffet table stacked with glass bowls six deep (at varying heights, all the better to see the peanut butter cups amidst the prunes).
The usual suspects, including dozens of toasted nuts and fresh and dried fruits, are here. But you'll also find a treasure trove of exotic fruits such as gooseberries and golden kiwi, homemade sauces and jams, and a dizzying array of chopped candy bars and treats, including chocolate chip cookie dough and crumbled brownies. The spirited can add a shot of liquor to the batter, such as tequila, with a fresh honeycomb chaser. Add a pinch of lime zest and Grand Marnier syrup, and you've got an edible breakfast margarita. For dessert, there's lemon chiffon cake, pumpkin pie and s'mores, all in flapjack form.
Somehow I doubt that Castan and his staff are hitting the snooze button on the weekends.
ALL-WEEKEND BUTTERMILK PANCAKES
Makes 10 to 12 large (6-inch) pancakes
Note: Pancake batter will keep for 3 days, refrigerated. Little black dots may form on the batter's surface on days 2 and 3 -- they're a harmless result of oxygenation. Just stir to combine. Add mix-ins such as nuts, fresh or dried fruit, or chocolate chips to the batter just before cooking.
Adapted from Chef Frederic Castan.
Makes 8 to 10 large (6-inch) pancakes
To cook the pancakes, heat a griddle or nonstick skilled over medium heat. Lightly butter the griddle and let melt. Pour 1/3 cup of batter into the skillet, lightly spreading the batter into a circle, and sprinkle with a few marshmallows and chocolate chips and cook until bubbles appear on the surface, about 2 minutes. Flip and cook until the bottom is lightly golden and pancakes are springy to the touch. Keep warm in a low oven and repeat with remaining batter, buttering the griddle each time. To serve, top each serving of pancakes with a few marshmallows and chocolate chips and drizzle with chocolate syrup.
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© 2012,Jenn Garbee. Distributed by Tribune Media Services Inc.
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