Simple Fluffy Pancakes

Heat a nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Turn your oven to warm and put a piece of foil or a baking dish in there—this will be to keep your pancakes warm as you cook the rest.

In a large cereal bowl or small mixing bowl, use a fork to stir together your dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar. The sugar isn’t necessary, so you can leave it out if you wish. Also, you can add a teaspoon of cinnamon here, to make awesome cinnamon pancakes.

Now add your wet ingredients: egg, vanilla, and 1/2 cup of liquid.

You can use anything you want for the liquid! Orange juice makes a very bright pancake, milk makes a richer pancake. A mix of 1/4 cup water and 1/4 cup buttermilk makes the fluffiest pancake you can imagine, and plain old water works wonderfully as well. I use just water most of the time. Experiment with other liquids! Try apple cider or coffee or even chocolate milk! (Then let me know how they turn out, because I haven’t tried them myself. They’re probably great, though!)

Stir your ingredients well with the fork, removing all lumps. If you used a thicker liquid (like a dairy), you may need to add a tablespoon or so of water to get your batter to the right consistency.

When the skillet is fully up to temperature, pour on about a quarter of the batter, making a pancake about the size of your hand. Yes, I make them one at a time. That’s why you have your oven warm! However, if you have a large enough skillet there’s no reason not to do them all at once. I could make 2 at once if I was better at pouring them without having them run into each other, but I’m not, so I make one at a time.

Here’s a tip: run the edge of the turner you will be using along a stick of butter. This will allow it to slide more easily under the pancake. I like to do this for each pancake flip.

When you see bubbles make it to the surface of your pancake, and the edges look firm instead of wet, flip it over, and finish cooking it. You’ll see it rise a little, and then watch the edges to see when they look fully cooked. The pancake is done about 30 seconds after the edges look fully cooked.

It usually takes me 1-2 minutes on the first side, and less than one minute on the second side. It is important that the skillet is nonstick, as we don’t add any fat to the pan for cooking. Fat could be added, but if you use butter the high heat will burn it, and oil will leave a flavor on the cake itself.

When it is done, transfer it to the oven to stay warm, and cook up the rest!

This will make 4 pancakes, which I think is right for 2 people. Especially if you use buttermilk! Really, they fluff up amazingly.