The fourth and final pancake was nearly perfect!
I've been anxious to make the sourdough recipes since the beginning. Today I was ready. I don't have any obligations, and I've read the Sourdough section of the cookbook many times. The starter smells wonderful, Uncle Ralph's anecdotes are funny, and the recipes make me hungry.
I've been fantasizing about the add-ins - something basic, like pecans? Or something savory, like bacon? Sweet, like butterscotch chips! MMMM. I even thought I'd do this in two parts - breakfast pancakes with craisins and later dinner pancakes with smoked salmon! But I decided to make one batch with chopped ham and pear.
But first, I made a half batch of the Maple Syrup: 1 cup white sugar, 1 cup brown sugar, 1/2 t Mapleine maple flavoring, 1 cup water, 1 cup Karo corn syrup. Mix it all together, lightly boil 2 minutes. Done.
Time to make Sourdough Pancakes.
The ingredients are simple:
2 c starter
2 T sugar
4 T oil
1/2 t salt
1 egg
1 scant t soda
Mix everything in a large bowl (remember, no metal). I didn't add the soda yet, because I know it's the last to go in, right before cooking. Get the pan real hot. Then dissolve the soda in a little warm water, and fold it into the sourdough batter. Yippee - It started bubbling and rising like it was supposed to!!! So I put a ladle of batter in the pan. The instructions are to "cook til golden brown, turn, and cook other side. TURN only ONCE."
The edges of the pancake were oddly jagged. When the edges were brown, I turned it. Too soon, and it fell apart. Like with crepes, the first one is for the hounds.
I tried another one and left it in the pan longer. Too long. The pan was, literally, smoking hot. I took the batteries out of the smoke detector, just in case. I turned the pancake - burned. I took the pan off the burner to cool it down, but had to put it down because the cast iron was so heavy. When I picked it back up to try again, I discovered that I had put it on the Cross Family Cookbook and melted the binding. DRAT!
I wanted round, golden brown pancakes. I turned the burner down one notch. I filled the pan to its edges with a layer of batter. I waited and waited and waited, and then I turned it. ALMOST DONE, but not quite. I had to turn it again to cook longer. Beautiful round shape though.
The last one would have been perfect, except I tore a corner off when I was plating it. As uncle Ralph predicted, we had HAPPY EATING.
