Pancakes

Oh magic electric skillet, is there anything you can't do?

Pancakes are a great opportunity to get some healthy grains down your kids' gullets. Most normal pancake recipes call for white flour; I substitute whole grain oat flour 1:1. Of all the whole grain flours I have tried, it's the most palatable substitute for white flour. Granted, one kid did comment "these taste like oatmeal" before devouring his pile. Otherwise, no one has really noticed.

I find oat flour works best with a buttermilk-based batter. I also would like to dispel some myths that are propagated via some recipes, and to draw attention to a flub of my own of which Abbey had to break me, finally. Firstly, when you make a buttermilk pancake batter, it's not good to wait until the last possible minute to combine the wet and dry ingredients until the last minute. The alkaline baking soda combines with the acid buttermilk to form pockets of air, giving it a light, fluffy texture.

But it is possible to overwork, and the worst thing of all is to mix ingredients lightly, then discover pockets of unblended dry ingredients, then try to smooth it out with whisk or fork- that takes all of your hard earned air bubbles right out. Thanks for helping me discover this, Abbey, and I'm not going to make this mistake again!

So, the pancakes were actually pretty easy to make in this plain steel skillet. A little butter helps them brown and keep from sticking. While Abbey made the pancakes, I took the breakfast sausage links to the gas grill. I fired it up, sprayed the top half of a standard broiler pan (one comes with every oven, practically) with olive oil and let it get up to temp, then let the sausages rest in the slits. every minute or so I turned them five-ish degrees. Abbey doesn't like breakfast sausage much, and she said this was the best she's ever eaten. Even with the applicances back in place I may have to make sausage on the grill a weekend ritual.

What do you do with leftover pancakes? This is my current idea- break into similar pieces and layer in a desert dish with warm strawberry jam and whipped cream!