This Monday night, I was feeling like breakfast. Well, I guess I wasn't feeling like breakfast (would that be squishy?), but I wanted to eat it. Abby had made a delicious make-your-own pizza night on Sunday, so I felt like switching things up for my night. At first I just wanted to go with classic pancakes and fried eggs, but then I realized that without maple syrup (because really, I'm not paying $15 or 20 лева for that), normal pancakes might be a letdown for my roommates. And my old friend, SK, did not let me down. In my recipe search for pancakes (search results included the lemon ricotta ones I made a while ago), I found one for oatmeal pancakes. They sounded healthier and delicious, so I decided to give them a go. I had to do some preparatory work google translating 'oat flour' and then extrapolating, in store, that обесено трици was similar enough to обесено брашно that it wouldn't ruin my recipe (брашно is flour and трици is bran).
I also made a few with bananas because, just like my dad, I love me some banana pancakes. They just make something delicious (pancakes) even better (caramelized heaven). You don't even need syrup if each bite includes that crystallizing sugary goodness! Also, for my Nabokov-Pynchon classmates (or any other Pynchon readers out there), every time I eat anything with bananas, but especially pancakes and breakfast foods, I can't help but think about the banana breakfast in Gravity's Rainbow. Maybe one day I'll get really ambitious (and have a large audience) and attempt a Pynchon/Pirate-esque banana breakfast of my own.
But really, I loved the oatmeal pancakes. They tasted so good and were similar enough to "regular" American pancakes (not the crepe-like палачинки that we have here in Bulgaria) that I didn't feel tricked but also were a bit more hearty and whole grain tasting.
But if you DO need syrup, you can try what I tried. I didn't really know what to expect, but via my browsing on SK, I found a link to a cranberry syrup that she made. I had bought some jarred fruit/jams in Koprivshtitsa in the fall, and I only liked some of them. There is some small berry here that I have never had before, and the flavor is just a bit too strange for me to really get excited about it. I wanted to like that jam, but I just couldn't do it. So I decided to use it in my syrup experiment and wouldn't cry about it if I ended up having to throw it out. It turned out to be not terribly thick but sweet and yummy, and we used it successfully as a syrup substitute for the pancakes.
Oatmeal Pancakes
3/4 cup oat flour (you can make this by pulsing rolled oats into a food processor or spice grinder until finely ground; 1 cup of oats yielded 3/4 cup oat flour for me) [as mentioned, I used oat bran and it worked]
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon Kosher or coarse salt
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly (plus extra for the pan)
1 1/4 cups whole milk
1 cup cooked oatmeal*
1 tablespoon unsulphured (not blackstrap) molasses or 1 tablespoon honey [I used honey]
2 large eggs
Whisk the dry ingredients (oat flour, flour, sugar, baking powder and salt) together in a large bowl. In a smaller bowl, whisk the butter, milk, cooked oatmeal, honey and eggs together until thoroughly combined. Gently fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Using a light hand is important for tender pancakes; the batter should be slightly thick with a holey surface.
Heat a 10-inch cast-iron pan or griddle over medium heat until water sizzles when splashed onto the pan. Lower to medium-low. Rub the pan generously with butter; Boyce says this is the key to crisp, buttery edges. Working quickly, dollop 1/4-cup mounds of batter onto the pan, 2 or 3 at a time. Once bubbles have begun to form on the top side of the pancake, flip the pancake and cook until the bottom is dark golden-brown, about 5 minutes total. If you want banana (or other fruit/nuts), place them in after pouring the mounds down and just press lightly into the pancake. Then when you flip them, they caramelize into an almost decadent treat.
Syrup
1/3 cup sugar
3/4 cup fresh or thawed frozen cranberries, chopped [I used my rinsed mystery berries from the jar]
1/2 cup water
Cook sugar in a dry 1 1/2-quart heavy saucepan over moderate heat, undisturbed, until it begins to melt. Continue to cook, stirring occasionally with a fork or flat whisk, until sugar is melted and turns a deep golden caramel. Tilt pan and carefully add cranberries and water (caramel will harden and vigorously steam). Simmer over moderately low heat, stirring, until caramel is completely dissolved, then pour syrup through a very fine sieve into a heatproof bowl, pressing hard on solids. Let cool.
I also made a few with bananas because, just like my dad, I love me some banana pancakes. They just make something delicious (pancakes) even better (caramelized heaven). You don't even need syrup if each bite includes that crystallizing sugary goodness! Also, for my Nabokov-Pynchon classmates (or any other Pynchon readers out there), every time I eat anything with bananas, but especially pancakes and breakfast foods, I can't help but think about the banana breakfast in Gravity's Rainbow. Maybe one day I'll get really ambitious (and have a large audience) and attempt a Pynchon/Pirate-esque banana breakfast of my own.
But really, I loved the oatmeal pancakes. They tasted so good and were similar enough to "regular" American pancakes (not the crepe-like палачинки that we have here in Bulgaria) that I didn't feel tricked but also were a bit more hearty and whole grain tasting.
But if you DO need syrup, you can try what I tried. I didn't really know what to expect, but via my browsing on SK, I found a link to a cranberry syrup that she made. I had bought some jarred fruit/jams in Koprivshtitsa in the fall, and I only liked some of them. There is some small berry here that I have never had before, and the flavor is just a bit too strange for me to really get excited about it. I wanted to like that jam, but I just couldn't do it. So I decided to use it in my syrup experiment and wouldn't cry about it if I ended up having to throw it out. It turned out to be not terribly thick but sweet and yummy, and we used it successfully as a syrup substitute for the pancakes.
Dry sugar melting:
Melted sugar:
Hardened sugar (after adding water and berries):
Berry syrup:
Oatmeal pancake batter:
Banana pancakes:
Oatmeal Pancakes
3/4 cup oat flour (you can make this by pulsing rolled oats into a food processor or spice grinder until finely ground; 1 cup of oats yielded 3/4 cup oat flour for me) [as mentioned, I used oat bran and it worked]
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon Kosher or coarse salt
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly (plus extra for the pan)
1 1/4 cups whole milk
1 cup cooked oatmeal*
1 tablespoon unsulphured (not blackstrap) molasses or 1 tablespoon honey [I used honey]
2 large eggs
Whisk the dry ingredients (oat flour, flour, sugar, baking powder and salt) together in a large bowl. In a smaller bowl, whisk the butter, milk, cooked oatmeal, honey and eggs together until thoroughly combined. Gently fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Using a light hand is important for tender pancakes; the batter should be slightly thick with a holey surface.
Heat a 10-inch cast-iron pan or griddle over medium heat until water sizzles when splashed onto the pan. Lower to medium-low. Rub the pan generously with butter; Boyce says this is the key to crisp, buttery edges. Working quickly, dollop 1/4-cup mounds of batter onto the pan, 2 or 3 at a time. Once bubbles have begun to form on the top side of the pancake, flip the pancake and cook until the bottom is dark golden-brown, about 5 minutes total. If you want banana (or other fruit/nuts), place them in after pouring the mounds down and just press lightly into the pancake. Then when you flip them, they caramelize into an almost decadent treat.
Syrup
1/3 cup sugar
3/4 cup fresh or thawed frozen cranberries, chopped [I used my rinsed mystery berries from the jar]
1/2 cup water
Cook sugar in a dry 1 1/2-quart heavy saucepan over moderate heat, undisturbed, until it begins to melt. Continue to cook, stirring occasionally with a fork or flat whisk, until sugar is melted and turns a deep golden caramel. Tilt pan and carefully add cranberries and water (caramel will harden and vigorously steam). Simmer over moderately low heat, stirring, until caramel is completely dissolved, then pour syrup through a very fine sieve into a heatproof bowl, pressing hard on solids. Let cool.
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