[Blueberry Pancake Search] Blueberry Buttermilk

And so the 2012 pancake search begins! As some of you may know, my absolute favorite breakfast of all time is Food Craft's / Home Kitchen's blueberry pancake platter. You can read more about my obsession here. Instead of just calling them up to ask for the recipe (which I very well may end up doing), I have challenged myself to discover the best-pancakes-ever recipe this year.

After some in-depth research on my favorite food blogs and Pinterest, I have found a good group of recipes to get me started. (Find my ongoing list of blueberry pancake recipes on the "2012 Food Goals" tab.) The first of these recipes being blueberry buttermilk pancakes from Smitten Kitchen. In her post on making the perfect pancakes, she explains pancakes essentials and best pancake-practices---definitely worth reading if you are on a similar journey as me!

With her wise words in mind and pancake passion in my heart, I set out last Thursday during my lunch break to make my first blueberry pancakes of 2012.

Because I was making them solely for myself (the woes of single-living), I halved the recipes---very easily done. The only change I made to Deb's recipe was I used white whole wheat flour; Food Craft's pancakes seems to have some subtle texture in them...plus it just felt right, trying to make my lunch of pancakes "somewhat" healthier :) The ingredients came together super-quickly, and I took extra care to not over-mix them.

Also, I read that letting the batter set for a few minutes lets the baking soda/powder activates, so I didn't start preheating my baby cast-iron skillet (stocking stuffer, and more evidence that I live by myself!) until the batter was combined. It was light and fluffy by the time it was time to scoop and drop. See the specks of wheat? YUM.

I used a regular pan for half of the batter, but the skillet produced prettier pancakes and cooked slightly faster. And, really, the baby skillet was just more fun to use!

The end result were pancakes that had a slightly-custardy texture (I don't like the word custard, but its an accurate descriptor in this case). There was still a fluffiness, but they pancakes were on the dense side.

...Nevertheless, they were DELICIOUS. After the first two maple-covered bites, I considered accepting that my search was over after only one recipe.

But that wouldn't be any fun! After finishing my plate, I realized that the custardy texture wasn't quite on-point with my #1 cakes; however, I'd happily eat these any / every day, if presented to me! They are without a doubt better than a majority of pancakes found at chain restaurants.  

I froze the remaining 6 pancakes and had two more yesterday morning. I'm happy to report that they freeze REALLY well and taste great sandwiched together with a peanut-butter-maple-syrup-flaxseed mixture :)

Blueberry Buttermilk Pancakes

Found on Smitten Kitchen, Adapted from Martha Stewart

Servings: ~8 (16 4-inch pancakes)

2 cups white whole wheat flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons sugar

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

3 cups buttermilk

4 tablespoons butter

1 cup blueberries

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