Yeasted Pancakes…or, I don’t live under a rock any more

I have always made pancakes. Everybody in my family loves all the types of pancakes I make, ranging from crepes to pannekoek/pannkaka to fluffy ones. But always, they are made with baking powder and/or soda. I am always on the lookout for good pancake recipes, as our little grandson, Ben, loves them cooked in his special “jungle animal” mini-pancake pan 🙂

Before attending our youngest son Dane’s wedding in Oahu recently, we spent a week in Maui – just the two of us. I am now in love with Hawaii, and I love the different foods and drink I got to try! Our favourite breakfast/lunch place there, the Kihei Caffe, had many delicious offerings. One of their specialties was recommended to us by oldest daughter (and former flight attendant) Camille, who had enjoyed many yummy meals at this establishment while on layovers…”you guys *have* to try their pancakes!” Indeed, said pancakes come with all sorts of “not-so” to “quite” exotic toppings…I had banana and macadamia nut, which was lovely, but the pancake itself was what grabbed my attention. There was this lovely, yeasty aroma to them and the texture was bubbly and different from the pancakes I make at home.

So, once back at home, I wandered the internets looking for recipes to try, and there were so many! How had I missed them?! I make lots of yeast breads and cakes and don’t know how that happened. Anyway. I found this recipe on a great blog called Food Wanderings, and they stated they had adapted it from a Red Star Yeast recipe. I like this recipe as it does not need to stand very long, and the flavour is wonderful. I also like that they are quite impressive looking when done – they hold their round shape and rise nicely.

Adding a handful of blueberries to the batter didn’t hurt!

2 cups flour
2-1/4 tsp. active dry yeast (one-1/4 ounce packet) – I used “instant” yeast for bread machines
2 heaping tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. baking soda
1-1/4 cups milk
1/4 cup water
2 eggs
1/4 cup melted butter
pinch salt
oil for the griddle/pan (I used coconut oil with great success, and it adds a little “je ne sais quoi” to the pancakes!)

In a large bowl, combine one cup of the flour with the yeast and one tablespoon of the sugar, and whisk well. Heat the milk and water together until very warm and add to the flour mixture. Whisk until all ingredients are well incorporated. Cover and let rise for one hour.

In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs well. Add the melted butter to the eggs and whisk until combined.

In another bowl, combine the remaining one cup of flour, 1 tablespoon sugar, baking soda and salt.

Heat your pan/skillet over medium heat until a few drops of water dropped on it bounce before evaporating. You want the griddle hot but not *too* hot, which would result in the pancake overcooking on the surface but remaining raw inside.

Beat down the yeast mixture, and add the egg/butter mixture and whisk until blended. Add the flour/sugar/soda mixture gradually to it, stirring gently just until incorporated.

Scoop about 1/3 cup of batter per pancake, over medium heat. They will remain uniformly round and will brown beautifully. Flip the pancakes once bubbles appear on the surface and the edges look dry-ish. They flip nicely, and are firmer than “regular” pancakes (as I am not the most talented pancake flipper, I really appreciate this).

The recipe also doubles nicely.

Serve to your favourite people, with all the favourite toppings and lots of maple syrup! ♡

The Best Scone Recipe

It seems sometimes that the easiest things to make are sometimes the easiest to mess up. Don’t get me started on tea…today, I will discuss the humble scone. Scones, despite relatively few ingredients and simple instructions, can be often not as *fabulous* as we would like…they always look wonderful, then when you taste them…meh. Many delicious-looking “homemade” scones I have purchased in coffee shops and bakeries have proven to be dry and crumbly, and definitely not to my taste. I prefer to make my own…this simple recipe is one that I have used for years and has never let me down. It is flexible and can be tweaked to suit different serving situations – plain for either jam or cheese, cream for shortcakes or cream teas, and savoury for with soups and stews.

What makes the perfect scone? The secret, in my opinion (besides not making the dough too wet, or overworking said dough) is not to use baking powder, which can leave a “taste”. These little guys bake up perfect and tender every time. I like to bake them on a stone, which I put in the oven before preheating so it is nice and hot when the scones are ready to bake. They are also yummy baked on a lightly greased baking sheet.

2-3 cups unbleached flour*
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
Salt to taste
1/4 cup butter
3/4 cup milk

(ingredients for variations are listed after basic instructions)

*I usually start with about 2-1/2 cups flour and add a bit more if needed, using some of the total allotment of flour for the rolling out part – if it is damp weather, you might find you need to use in a bit more flour in the dough.

Preheat oven to 450 deg F. Lightly grease baking sheet, or preheat bakestone. Mix dry ingredients together, incorporate butter with pastry blender or your hands until crumbly, add milk and mix gently until combined. Dough will be soft and elastic.

Turn dough out onto floured board and knead gently a few times (as in, five or six kneads) until smooth. Do not overwork the dough, or it will start to develop the gluten and the scones will be tough.

Press dough out with hands or rolling pin to about 3/4-1″ thickness. Cut into 2-1/2-3″ rounds, place on baking sheet (or hot stone) and bake for about 10 minutes or until golden.

Raisins or berries are a nice addition (about 3/4 cup, add with liquid and mix very gently if using fresh berries). I like to brush with a bit of milk and sprinkle sugar on top, if they are to be eaten with tea. Don’t stop with berries! Add chocolate chips (white or brown), or candied ginger to the dough, or mix cinnamon into the sugar you sprinkle on top – this basic recipe works well with any kind of addition you like 🙂

To make cream scones, use heavy cream instead of milk, and add 2 eggs also when adding cream to recipe. These are quite rich but very nice, good for “strawberry shortcakes”. If you are craving the traditional “cream tea”: serve with thick cream (comes in a jar in the dairy section…if you can find clotted cream, go for it – be authentic!) and sliced ripe, fresh strawberries or high quality strawberry jam, and of course a perfect pot of tea… 🙂

Savoury scones: You can add 1 cup grated sharp cheese if you are making to serve with soup, etc. A few chives or chopped herbs are a nice addition also.

If you prefer, you can bake as one big circle and cut into wedges (score before baking) – adjust baking time accordingly.

Whichever type you make, don’t forget to eat them fresh (they don’t keep all that well)!

Fluffy Quinoa Pancakes

This is something that I had not tried to do until now, and when I researched pancake recipes using quinoa I found a lot of them called for quinoa flour. Chantal told me that the addition of quinoa made light pancakes, and seeing as I had a bowl full of plain cooked quinoa in my fridge, so was happy to find a recipe which I was able to adapt to suit our preferences. The results were delicious! Light, fluffy and very satisfying. We ate them with a light drizzle of maple syrup and some chopped banana. Very yummy.I doubled this recipe and it made 14 4-inch pancakes.

For 7-8 pancakes:

1 cup cooked quinoa (plain, cooked in water)

3/4 cup flour (I used Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-free Flour, but plain flour would be fine)

2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

2 eggs

1/4 cup milk

2 tbsp. maple syrup or honey (you could use sugar)

Mix quinoa with dry ingredients. Whisk wet ingredients together and stir into quinoa mixture until combined.

Heat a small amount of oil (I used coconut oil) in a skillet over medium heat. Drop 1/4 cup batter per pancake into hot skillet and cook until bubbles appear on the top, a couple of minutes. Keep an eye on the heat as these burn fairly easily. Flip and cook a couple of minutes on the other side, and enjoy with maple syrup, fresh fruit, applesauce, or whatever your favourite topping is 🙂