Soft N Fluffy Pancakes I Made It

Soft N Fluffy Pancakes

pointsevenout 10 years ago
Recipe by Berry: Soft N Fluffy Pancakes/saved
Standard cake, not so fluffy, but that could be my aged baking soda. Made 8 cakes. Two minutes on each side is well colored and done.
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mommyluvs2cook 10 years ago said:

Well, we are having breakfast for dinner this weekend...so think I'll try these. I'll let you know if your baking soda is just bad lol, I'm a biggie on fluffy pancakes!

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frankieanne 10 years ago said:

Is there actually something called "thick buttermilk?" I never heard of that. I like the picture of the stack, pso.

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pointsevenout 10 years ago said:

All buttermilk is not the same. If your brand is not thick enough let it set out on the counter for a while and the bacteria will start growing in number to thicken the milk.
Which reminds me, I used powdered buttermilk, which may be another reason the cakes didn't inflate to the recipes picture.

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windy1950 10 years ago said:

Points, if you were to let the reconstituted buttermilk powder set out on the counter for a while, would it thicken? Or is there something not present in the powder that is in conventional buttermilk from the dairy case? I ask because powder is what I buy because I don't use enough to justify the purchase of the liquid.

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pointsevenout 10 years ago said:

No, no live culture but still works well in baked goods.
I use powdered buttermilk too but if I were to make liquid buttermilk I would need a live starter culture. One cup of live culture in a gallon of regular or low-fat milk makes great buttermilk still at a fraction of the price.
No problem in this household with liquid buttermilk going bad. I like it too much!

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windy1950 10 years ago said:

My now deceased Mother used to crumble buttermilk cornbread into a glass of sweet milk (they had their own dairy cow), and that was her supper. And she didn't think she'd had supper unless it consisted of those two items. A friend of hers -- who passed a few years before her -- drank buttermilk to calm indigestion.

I'm curious -- where do you obtain live culture to make buttermilk? Is it something akin to sourdough culture?

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keni 10 years ago said:

Windy, you can use a cup of cultured buttermilk to start your own new gallon of buttermilk :) It's best if you can use glass jars and just mix the two together, place it in the jars and let it sit out at room temp and it's ready to use the next day.

Refrigerate it once it's "turned" and you're good to go.

If you don't wanna make a whole gallon, you can use the T to a cup ratio. SOO much better than the old lemon juice trick, especially since it's got live cultures...some types of recipes NEED the cultures to get the job done...and lemon juice and vinegar don't provide that. :)

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windy1950 10 years ago said:

What types of recipes need the cultures of conventional buttermilk? Do they rely on it for leavening power?

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pointsevenout 10 years ago said:

Thought I had a recipe for buttermilk posted but I can't find it.
But here's a dissertation I made on another persons recipe post about the subject.

Streptococcus lactis bacteria is the culture that makes buttermilk. It is found in all buttermilk. It will multiply if given the right environment. In my neck of the woods buttermilk is twice as expensive as the other milk products, so I make my own.
I buy a gallon of whole or 2% milk and a bacterial starter of a half pint of cultured buttermilk.
Pour out 2 cups of regular milk and pour in 1 cup of cultured buttermilk.
Shake and let sit on the top of the fridge or in a cabinet above the fridge for overnight or up to 24 hours.
The culture should have grown in the regular milk and now you have a gallon of buttermilk. Refrigerate. Some separation may occur between the curds and whey. Just shake the jug up and use it.
When you get down to the last cup in the jug, transfer it to a fresh gallon of milk using the antecedent process. Tadaaaa..........more fresh buttermilk.
It's just my way of keeping money in my pocket.

Do a recipe search for buttermilk as an ingredient.

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pointsevenout 10 years ago said:

Use it in cheese making.
It's used as a starter in heavy cream to make creme fraiche.
It's used as a starter to make sour cream.
It's used in baking for a better rise, but that's the acid quality of the buttermilk balanced with a base.

See "http://biology.clc.uc.edu/fankhauser/cheese/buttermilk.htm" for more info on making buttermilk.

In this string's recipe maybe it needs the thickness of buttermilk to help with the overall volume as well as the acid balanced with the baking powder for rise too. Then there's the whipped egg whites to help with the volume as well.
These cakes should be very light and fluffy.
I'm almost down to the bottom of my baking soda and baking powder containers. The media is starting to get clumpy which means it has drawn in moisture from the surrounding air which makes the soda less active. Moisture is what activates the baking soda to release carbon dioxide in the recipe. So the humidity in the air activates the baking soda right there in the container and over time reduces the ability of it to release carbon dioxide in the recipe. That's why it's so important to use fresh soda and powder.
I'm so tight right now that I will continue to use the soda and powder until it's gone and accept the results.

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