Flipping over some pancake recipes

One of the earliest forms of baking was a quick bread called hearth cakes or pancakes as we call them today. The Betty Crocker Cookbook tells that there are hearty buckwheat flapjacks, pancakes so light and delicate they melt in your mouth, some with oatmeal or cornmeal added and fruity ones with blueberries or some kind of fruit added.

The Dutch settlers brought pancakes to America, and later the Germans in Pennsylvania served pancakes for breakfast, supper and noon-day meals.

A heavy griddle is best for the even browning of pancakes -- actually soapstone is best. To test for the right temperature sprinkle the griddle with drops of water. If bubbles "skitter around," the heat is just right, and the pancakes will brown immediately.

Pour pancake batter from a pitcher in pools just a little apart for perfect round cakes. If it is necessary, grease griddle very lightly.

Make pancakes thick or thin. It is easy to adjust the batter. Make thinner ones by adding a little liquid and thicker ones by adding a little flour.

Be sure to turn pancakes as soon as they are puffed and full of bubbles but before the bubbles break the surface. This is important for light cakes. Turn and brown on the other side.

To keep pancakes hot for desserts to serve a crowd for breakfast, place them between folds of towels in a warm oven.

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Here is an old-fashioned recipe using sour milk. It doesn't mean that you use spoiled milk. You can make that by adding a few drops of lemon juice or vinegar to a cup of sweet milk. This is the Betty Crocker Cookbook favorite recipe for the hotcakes, and you are supposed to add the ingredients as listed. Don't vary a bit.

Favorite Pancakes

1 egg

1 1/4 cups sour milk or buttermilk

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 1/4 cups flour

1 teaspoon sugar

2 tablespoons soft shortening

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

Heat a griddle slowly while mixing the batter. Beat an egg well in a medium bowl. Mix together in another bowl the sour milk or buttermilk and the soda and add to the egg. Combine flour and sugar and beat it in. Add the shortening, baking powder and 4 inches in diameter, although I never can get that many as mine are all too big.

Note: You can make sweet pancakes by using regular milk, omit soda and add an extra 1/2 teaspoon baking power. For extra lightness, fold in stiffly beaten egg white.

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When we were little, my dad had my mother make buckwheat pancakes on Sunday. She didn't make this type of recipe with yeast though. Mom made them with Aunt Jemima Pancake Mix.

Old-Fashioned Buckwheat Pancakes

1 cake compressed yeast, nowadays it could be an envelope of dried yeast

1/2 cup lukewarm water

2 cups tepid water

1 cup flour

2 cups buckwheat flour

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1 tablespoon molasses

1/4 cup butter, melted

1 teaspoon soda dissolved in 1/2 cup hot water

Dissolve the yeast in 1/2 cup lukewarm water. When it starts getting bubbly, add the tepid water and stir in the regular flour, buckwheat flour and salt. Beat molasses, butter and soda that has been dissolved in 1/2 cup hot water together in a small bowl and add to dough. Let stand at room temperature for 30 minutes. Bake on a griddle that will skitter water drops when shaken onto the heated griddle. Instructions note that it makes 36 4-inch pancakes, but I can't guarantee that amount.

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Good Housekeeping magazine has a recipe that could almost be a dessert. Fresh strawberries and low-sugar preserves are used to make the pancakes, with cream cheese as one of the ingredients. This is 455 calories per serving.

Strawberry Cheesecake Flapjacks

1/4 cup low-sugar strawberry preserves

8 ounces strawberries, hulled and halved

2 cups all purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 1/2 cups lowfat buttermilk

2 large eggs

1 tablespoon white sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest

6 ounces cream cheese, softened

3 tablespoons butter

Confectioners' sugar for garnish

In a medium bowl, microwave preserves on high for 1 minute or until melted. Stir in strawberries and set aside. In a large bowl, whisk flour, baking powder and salt. In another large mixer bowl, beat buttermilk, eggs, sugar, vanilla and lemon zest until combined. With a tablespoon, add cream cheese and beat until well distributed but still lightly lumpy. Add buttermilk mixture to bowl with dry ingredients. Stir gently until just combined. Small lumps are okay. On a 12-inch nonstick skillet, melt 1 tablespoon butter on medium heat. When pan is hot and foam from butter subsides, add batter by heaping quarter cup. Cook 2 to 3 minutes on each side or until bottom is golden brown. Transfer pancakes to a baking sheet in 225 oven to keep warm. Cook remaining batter in batches, adding more butter as needed. Serve pancakes topped with strawberry mixture and add a dusting of confectioners' sugar to the stack.

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The Taste of Home magazine has a recipe for cornmeal pancakes. If you like cornbread or cornmeal muffins, you will like these. There are many variations that can be made.

Cornmeal Pancakes

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 cup cornmeal

2 tablespoon sugar

4 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

2 large eggs

1 1/3 cups 2 percent milk

1/2 cup canola oil

Combine the flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder and salt. In another bowl, whisk the eggs, milk and oil; stir into dry ingredients just until moistened. Pour batter by 1/4 cupful onto a lightly greased hot griddle. Turn when bubbles on top begin to pop. Cook until second side is golden brown. Serve warm with pancake syrup. Real maple syrup would be excellent for these. It makes six servings of two pancakes each.

Note: Variations are cranberry-orange pancakes made by adding 3/4 cup chopped fresh cranberries and 1 teaspoon orange zest; blueberry lemon pancakes can be made by stirring in 3/4 cup fresh blueberries and 1 teaspoon lemon zest; and bacon pancakes can be made by stirring four to six crisp bacon slices that have been crumbled into small pieces.

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Oatmeal is one of the good guys in the nutrition field. It makes the flapjacks more nutritious. They are said to be a bit rich so go lightly on the syrup. It is from Betty Crocker's Cookbook.

Oatmeal Pancakes

1 1/2 cups rolled oats

2 cups buttermilk

1/2 cup flour

1 teaspoon sugar

1 teaspoon soda

1 teaspoon salt

2 eggs, beaten

Mix oats and buttermilk together. Beat in flour, sugar, soda, salt and beaten eggs. Mix well. Bake on a griddle until both sides are golden brown. This batter is thin and makes a thin pancake. Makes 12 4-inch hot cakes.

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French pancakes are a favorite of mine. They have also been called jelly roll pancakes, as they can be spread with jelly, rolled up and dusted with confectioners' sugar.

French Pancakes

1 cup milk

2 tablespoons butter

2 eggs beaten

1/2 cup flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

Heat the milk and butter. When slightly cooled, add beaten eggs, flour, baking powder and salt. Beat until smooth. Bake in a greased 4- or 5-inch skillet. Pour in enough batter to coat bottom of the skillet. Tilt skillet to cover evenly. Cook 1 minutes. Loosen with spatula and flip onto a heated griddle. Turn several times until a delicate brown. They can be filled with a cream cheese and strawberry jelly mixture and served with a dollop of whipped cream on top.

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The topping for the pancake is always important. Here is a recipe from Betty Crocker Cookbook that is said to be made by George Washington's mother for his hot cakes. Beat together 1 cup honey and 1/2 cup maple syrup and heat over hot water or on low on the stove. Blend with 1 teaspoon cinnamon and stir well.

(McCoy can be contacted at emccoy@heraldstaronline.com.)