There’s something special about good pancakes and something not-so-special about not-so-good pancakes. I was raised on Bisquick and that can be good, I guess. But I was also raised on corn syrup instead of maple, and that’s, well, not-so-good. So when I saw Alton Brown’s Good Eat’s episode on flap jacks, I decided to give it a try, and I think the result is good, diner-style pancakes…

If you jump to the Food Network site (link above) you can watch his whole episode on flap jacks. But one thing you won’t find there is a quick recipe. That’s because AB first talks about measuring cups, then gives us a recipe for a quick bread mix, then discusses buttermilk, then uses the quick bread mixture as an ingredient in his pancake recipe. So to do it his way you have to first mix a batch of mix (he does 6 cups), and then use 2 cups of that in the actual recipe – and store the other 4 cups of mix for later use. Don’t get me wrong, I love Good Eats and live for new episodes. And I loved learning about what’s going on inside of buttermilk. But I have to say while the two-step process might work for grandma who makes a lot of quick bread, or for a diner where they’re plopping out big batches of these things all morning long, it doesn’t work for me. I just want to make a single batch at a time, and not that often. I don’t have the storage space to keep a container of quick bread mix around. So I experimented and made a single recipe for a single batch, although I still use Alton’s methods of mixing everything together. For his technique and why I recommend watching the episode the next time you have 20 minutes to kill at work. For convenance, here’s my slight modification of his recipe:

Recipe and Process

Alton Brown Flap Jacks – Made Easier

First steps:

• Pre-heat an electric griddle to 350. Don’t combine the wet with the dry until it is preheated.
• Melt 4 tbls butter in the microwave. About 20-30 seconds should do it. Don’t do more than 30 seconds at a time without a stirring break. Set aside to cool a bit.

The Dry… combine:

• 2 cups (minus one tablespoon) all purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 2 to 3 tsp sugar

and whisk thoroughly

The Wet:

First separate 2 eggs into 2 containers:

• add 2 cups buttermilk and the egg whites – mix well
• add the 4 tbls melted butter and the egg yolks – mix well

Then combine the two wet parts together and whisk thoroughly.

Pour the wet mixture over the dry and whisk together for about 10 seconds.  Do not over mix.  Then scoop onto the hot griddle.

Cook one side until the edges bubble a little – about 2 to 3 minutes. Lift and edge to check for golden brown. Add optional fruit or chocolate chips to the top before flipping. Cook on the flip side about one more minute.

Modification Explanation

This isn’t rocket surgery, but the first time I made these I just followed his directions for the dry mix using 2 cups of flour. Mixed in the other dry ingredients and the only used 2 cups of final dry mixture. But then I had about 2 tablespoons of the extra dry stuff, which I had no use for and had to toss out.  I also noticed that by mixing up the dry ingredients they expanded a bit (by volume) similar to if they were sifted – by adding in air. Also, we know that 2 cups of packed flour is different than 2 cups of sifted flour- maybe by as much as 10%. Alton suggested ’shaking up’ his flour container before measuring out the cups. That would probably result in a ’split the difference’ amount by weight between taking some from a rested bag or sifting it.

Of course this minor detail is important because the thickness or consistency of the final batter could be somewhat different based on the ratio of dry to wet ingredients. AB’s recipe is already about 1 cup buttermilk short of Martha Stewart’s and tilting the ratio any more towards the dry, I think, makes the batter too thick. So my idea was to end up with closer to 2 cups of dry ingredients to go with the 2 cups of buttermilk. The solution?.. to remove a tablespoon or two of the flour. Sound food science or not?  Try them and and you be the judge.

I’m curious to know if anyone else tries this version how they come out. For me the batter is a bit thick and doesn’t seem to bubble much on the first side, but when you flip them they rise up and get thicker. Taste is good – except for the time I forgot the salt – yuk!