Hello, my name is Alison Roman. I am a waffle person and today I'm making
pancakes. Here's the reason I'm a waffle person -- because
they're objectively more fun (it's like a more fun shape), also they have texture, there's
crunchiness, there's nooks and crannies for the maple syrup and butter to get into, and
a pancake, classically is more one-note, it's soft, it doesn't really have much texture. Why would you pancake if you could waffle? Or even french toast. It's always to me been at the bottom of the
breakfast sweet foods category until I made this recipe. Crunchiness is of the utmost importance to
me and pancakes are no exception. Even when they're doused in maple syrup, they
should still have texture, and these ones do. Let's get into it. You may notice that I haven't included anything
like chocolate chips, or blueberries, or bananas, or nuts. Before you get into mix-in territory, I feel
like you should try the thing on its own because to me, it's perfect, and that's what makes
a perfect pancake. It doesn't need fruit. It doesn't need chocolate. It doesn't need sprinkles. It just is perfect on its own. And it's like crispy-edged, buttery, eggy,
sort of like maple syrup-soaked pancake-ness. Pancake batter, two part system. It's our dry ingredients and it's our wet
ingredients. And our dry ingredients are going to be two
cups of flour (just using regular all-purpose), sugar (regular granulated), 1.5 teaspoons
of both baking powder and baking soda, I like to use both leavenings here. The baking soda will be activated by the buttermilk
that we add and the baking powder will be activated by the heat that we cook them over
and I think that in a case like pancakes where you really want that sudden burst of lift,
it kind of is important to have as much help as possible. And I try them with just baking powder and
they just don't have enough lift. Same thing with the baking soda. And by the time I added enough baking soda
for them to have the lift I wanted, you could kind of taste that baking soda flavor, so
I use both. And kosher salt. And this makes quite a few pancakes but I
kind of feel like if you're going to make pancakes, you should just go for it. Alright, in this bowl I'm going to whisk the
buttermilk and eggs. So it's two eggs and 2.5 cups of buttermilk. It's helpful if you whisk the eggs first in
this bowl. Always shake your buttermilk. Sometimes the fat can sink to the bottom. Dry ingredients, bowl A, wet ingredients,
bowl B. And as our final trick, I'm going to melt some butter. And because I don't want to dirty more than
one skillet or pan, I'm just going to melt the butter in the skillet we're going to cook
our pancakes in. You can cook pancakes on a griddle, you can
cook them in a non-stick skillet, you can cook them in a cast iron skillet. We're going to use this little cutie cast-iron
because yes we are going to make one pancake at a time because guess what, it's just me
here. There is a room full of people here actually. I'm sure you gathered that already. Hello, um, you might notice that we're not
in my kitchen, we're in my living room. This is the first time that I've done this. This is probably the 20th take. Who's our advertiser today? Policygenius. Policygenius is a marketplace that allows
you to compare insurance quotes to find the best price and deal for you. If you're interested, you can go to policygenius.com/alison,
that's me, and get your free personalized quote. And because I'm not an actor, I just play
one on Home Movies, I don't, I am going to read the legally bound materials that make
it very clear what's going on here, which is an advertisement. Policygenius makes it easy to compare quotes
from over a dozen top insurers all in one place. You can save 50% or more in life insurance
by comparing quotes with Policygenius and you can save $1,300 or more per year on life
insurance by using Policygenius to compare policies. If you're like insurance, that feels overwhelming,
where do I even start? Policygenius is going to help you get there. They're going to make it easy. They're going to make it simple. They'll spell it out for you. It's going to be great. We gotta take care of the people that we love. I'm going to melt three tablespoons of butter
in that skillet. I sort of understand from an eyeball perspective
on how much that is. Pancake batter is not that fussy but you do
want to make sure that you don't overmix it. And in order to do that, it helps to combine
your eggs and your buttermilk ahead of time just so you're mixing in one thing rather
than your eggs and then your buttermilk and you know, this is one ingredient sort of to
mix in. That butter is melted. So I kind of just start in the center like
that and then slowly incorporate. Then the edges. It should be a little lumpy. Don't let the lumps fool you into thinking
that your pancakes will somehow be lumpy. It's barely mixed together at this point,
and that's when we're going to add our butter. Perfect. So it does look thick like a cake batter. It holds a bit of a ribbon, and that's pancake
batter. You're like okay I got that part, what about
making pancakes? I feel like making the pancakes is the most
complicated slash annoying slash difficult slash tricky part of the whole thing. That's why things like what you cook it in
are so important. That's why I like cast iron or griddles because
they retain a very even heat and they keep that heat pretty consistent and there aren't
that many hotspots. I'm sort of like an eat one pancake at a time
as they come off the stove kind of like latkes. Pancakes are really best eaten like the second
they are made, so that's the cold hard truth and I'm sorry that you had to hear it from
me here. I'm going to be cooking these over medium
to medium-high heat by the way. And I say medium to medium-high because there
might be some heat that you need to adjust. And any sort of of fat like coconut oil or
ghee (which is clarified butter), the butter will burn before you get a chance to actually
cook your pancakes. Here we go with the first pancake by the way. I'm going to kill the heat because we need
to talk about the first pancake for a second. The first pancake never turns out well. For some reason. It's just like, the pan is getting used to
you, you're getting used to the pan. It's maybe a little burned, it's definitely
misshapen, it's definitely too big, perhaps too small, undercooked on one side, you're
just dialing it in. It's a process. It's the first stage right. And so metaphorically speaking, I feel like
I first started thinking of the first pancake when I had gone through a breakup and was
starting to date again and was sort of complaining that every date I went on that was a first
date was bad. And it was like oh it's the first pancake. Like, they're never going to be that good. Is the batter good enough to go on a second
date? Is it good enough to continue with the batter? Like sometimes you just gotta get the first
date out of the way. Like it's never going to be the date. It's never going to be like your best date. It's the first pancake. So we're going to make the first pancake. I'm using a quarter cup measuring cup just
to portion and this will tell us how big our pancakes are. This is a good sign. It should be you know bubbling around the
edges, it should start to set almost immediately. You don't want to cook it too hot because
what will happen is it will burn before the pancake has a chance to cook through. But if you take too long then it will kind
of just like slowly spread out and become more like a crepe than a pancake. Oop we're getting there. So you can see how the bubbles are starting
to form on the top of it as well? That's like a really good indicator that the
heat is working and that's the pancake rising. I'm a Libra rising. Imma flip this pancake. And you know what, it's not looking too bad. Sometimes they surprise you, these first pancakes. Woop. Okay so here's what were looking for which
is exactly what we got. That outer ring? That's going to be really crispy and very,
very delicious. And as we flipped it, you sort of get those
little puffy pocket parts that become really crispy and lacy at the edges, that's also
what we want. And you don't need to add fat when you flip
it but you will kind of need to as you make the pancakes, kind of like flip them occasionally. If you had a larger skillet and you wanted
to make two or three at a time, you could definitely do that. Just be careful of hotspots because I find
what ends up happening is that the center gets much hotter than the outside of the skillet
even when using a cast iron. So when you make a pancake, it's like done
on half of the side and not on the other. So, I think our heat was a little hot. But we're gonna try it. We're going to test it anyways. Mmm. It's really good though. The whole concept of the first pancake is
really a chef's treat. Chef's treat is first pancake. First pancake is a chef's treat. It's like, the first pancake is never for
you, it's always for me, you know what I mean? Or you. It's never for you, it's always for me. It's never for me, it's always for you. I think there's enough butter in the batter
itself and you're cooking it in enough fat that it doesn't really need any on top but
that's just me. It's a really good pancake. Here's what we learned from our first pancake. We learned the first pancake can be as delicious
as the other pancakes. As evidence by that fact that I'm continuing
to eat it. We learned that maybe my skillet was too hot. I need to turn it down. I learned that I think I nailed the size. Because we're going one at a time, I can maybe
make them slightly bigger. It's so crunchy. The crunchiness comes from the fact that I'm
using a cast iron skillet. The fact that I'm cooking it in fat and I'm
not using a non-stick spray and a non-stick skillet. You don't need a ton of fat to cook it in. You're just like -- it's like half a teaspoon. How to tell when your pancake is done and
ready to flip? You will notice it start to get really tall
and look like it has a strong foundation beneath it but you'll also notice a lot of bubbles
start to form both around the sides and on top of the pancake. And that's the indication that the leavening
is working right. It's rising, it's releasing gas, thats where
the bubbles come from. Alright this is almost ready to flip too. So if you wanna come in closer. See how the edges, you can like pick it up. And you can peek at it. But you basically want it to be mostly cooked
through on the first side. I'm flipping. Ooop. Considerably better than that first pancake
though, I'm gonna say. You can just tell. It's like not as dark around the edges. I let it go for longer on the one side. I think the thing with pancakes and what I
learned when I was testing this recipe again and again and again and again and again, is
that pancakes actually take a lot of patience and they cook a lot slower than you think. My instinct for most things is to like hot
and fast and get it done and I want it now and pancakes don't work that way, pancakes
you gotta like give them time, they gotta like come into their own, they gotta get used
to the skillet, the skillet's gotta get used to them, you have to like let it fully bake
in the skillet. It's scary. You're like, why isn't it happening faster? Well it'll happen, just give it a second. It's happening. Oop, look at that puffiness. Give it to me. You may notice that I'm not using a silicone
spatula, I'm using a fish spatula. I use this for almost everything. I use this for like most flippies. Umm whether or not I'm like searing fish in
a skillet or like passing vegetables on a sheet pan or flipping pancakes, this is the
tool that I'm using. I find it indispensable. I reach for it as often as a wooden spoon
or my tongs. I love my fish spatula. The thing about pancakes is like if you're
eating pancakes for breakfast, you don't need a stack of pancakes, like that is an insane
story we have told ourselves. In an ad for pancakes, it always is like six
pancakes as a serving. I can eat one pancake and be like, I'm all
set. I don't -- nothing about this makes me want
a stack of them on top of each other. Like, it's crazy. It's a cake made in a pan. Also the fact that we eat this for breakfast? Anyway. What about Mickey Mouse pancakes? Would you ever make that for, like, Dennis's
kids? Dennis you have a child? You have two children? Oh my god. Wow, I did not know this. Umm well I would make Dennis's kids Mickey
Mouse pancakes I guess. I feel like if you're an adult and you're
asking me for that, again, we gotta talk. What's the deal? What's going on with you? Why do you need a mouse-shaped pancake? They don't care for shapes. They just want pancakes? Yeah your kids are adults. We get it. They want. They want the little ones. Oh they want silver dollar? Yeah. Let's see if I can make Dennis's children
some small pancakes. These are getting cute. You know what's crazy about pancakes, even
when you put it in and it's like mmm it's not a circle, they somehow find their way
into a circle. Life. Life. Pancakes have a lot to teach us about patience,
about life, about trust. These are cute. Okay, I like a tiny pancake. I'm not going to make these this size for
me, a 35 year old woman but for Dennis's kids I'll do anything. In conclusion, don't be discouraged by the
first pancake and just know that like each skillet and each stove and each batter and
each day are different and if you have to make a few pancakes to like nail it and get
into your groove then do that. I feel like, allowing yourself the space and
time to like get the rhythm going then that's what you need to do, dial it in and then go
forth and make all the pancakes in the world. Big, small, whatever you like. These are cute. Oh my gosh cute. They are cute. These are so cute. So cute.
