Blueberry Pancakes

Saveur (October 2008)

For two years, whenever we have made pancakes, we've used a recipe for "Basic Pancakes" from the September 2006 Everyday Food. In fact, while our other back issues of Everyday Food are exiled to the office, we keep this issue of the magazine on the shelves of our kitchen just for this recipe, returning to it time and again.  It's simple, effective and produces very good pancakes.

The October breakfast issue of Saveur includes a recipe with a new twist on pancakes, with a recipe for Blueberry Pancakes that includes seltzer water and yogurt.

Do these new ingredients pay off?

In Saveur's recipe, yogurt is combined with baking soda and left to sit for 10 minutes.  While the mixture sits, it rises substantially. This mixture is then folded into the other dry ingredients, along with eggs and seltzer or club soda. 

The recipe claims that the seltzer makes for a lighter texture.  And you know what?  Though the resulting pancakes were dense and cake-like -- perhaps the "cakiest" pancakes we can remember making -- the overall texture was indeed light.  If the seltzer deserves the credit here, so be it!

As for the inclusion of the yogurt, we weren't able to taste the tang.  It's likely, however, that this flavor was overpowered by the sweet blueberries.

Our blueberries, incidentally, were left over from this summer.  During a blueberry buying binge, we purchased too many to eat.  So that they wouldn't go to waste, we froze them on cookie sheets and then transferred them to Ziploc bags.  The frozen berries taste wonderful and extremely fresh, as if we had just brought them home. 

We can't say definitively that we won't return to our old standby pancake recipe, but Martha's definitely got some competition when it comes to pancakes in our household.  

Blueberry Pancakes

Saveur (October 2008)
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(This photo: Saveur)

MAKES 12 PANCAKES

The addition of seltzer water to the batter lends these pancakes a light texture, and yogurt gives them a mild tang and a smooth consistency.

2 cups flour
1 1⁄4 tsp. sugar
1⁄2 tsp. fine salt
1 cup yogurt
2 tsp. baking soda
1⁄2 cup seltzer water or club soda
2 eggs, lightly beaten
6 tbsp. unsalted butter, plus more to taste
3 cups fresh blueberries
Confectioners' sugar
Maple syrup

1. Place a sieve over a large bowl and sift together the flour, sugar, and salt. In a large bowl, stir together the yogurt and baking soda; let sit for 10 minutes. Add the yogurt mixture, seltzer, and eggs to the flour mixture and whisk until just combined. Let batter rest for 10 minutes.

2. Heat 1 tbsp. butter in a 12" nonstick skillet over medium heat. Working in 6 batches, spoon 2 portions of batter (about 1⁄4 cup each) into skillet, gently spreading out each portion of batter with the bottom of a spoon or a measuring cup to make disks about 4 1⁄2" in diameter. Cook pancakes until bubbles begin to form around edges, about 2 minutes. Top each pancake with 1⁄4 cup blueberries, press down on them gently with a spoon, flip each pancake with a spatula, and cook until golden brown, about 2 minutes more. (Alternatively, for "silver dollar" pancakes, spoon 1 heaping tbsp. batter into the skillet for each pancake and top with 1 tbsp. blueberries.) Transfer pancakes to a paper towel–lined baking sheet and cover with a towel to keep warm. Wipe out skillet and repeat process with remaining butter, batter, and blueberries to make 12 pancakes in all. Dust with confectioners' sugar and serve with butter and maple syrup.