Everyone has a signature dish.  I don’t care if you’re the chef at five star restaurant or a TV dinner aficionado, I know there’s one dish that you make better than anything else. I love to cook and bake so I like to think that I have several signature dishes, but if I had to choose my most requested it would definitely be my buttermilk pancakes.

My favorite thing about my pancakes is that I’m the only person that makes them.  My mom doesn’t even know the recipe.  I hold the power!  The recipe was handed down from Sadie #1 (my great grandmother), to my maternal grandmother, and then to me.  When I visited my grandparents as a kid I always requested these pancakes.  I learned the recipe, because we simply made them so often.  And I started making these for my family at home when I was in middle school.  To this day, if I’m at my parent’s house on a Sunday, I’m probably making pancakes for brunch.  Even though my grandmother is still making pancakes, I hate to admit it, but I’ve been told the student has exceeded the master.

I’ve read hundreds of pancake recipes over the years, and nothing compares.  These pancakes are light because of the egg to buttermilk to flour ratio, and they aren’t particularly sweet.  They are the perfect canvas for syrup, butter, berries…  I actually refuse to put any add-ins in the batter, I’m a purest, but toppings are my key to success.

Today is your lucky day:

Sarah Church’s Buttermilk Pancakes

Yield: about 8 pancakes depending on size

2 large eggs

2 cups buttermilk

1 cup AP flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

pinch salt

3 Tbs vegetable oil

butter for skillet

Method

1. Turn on stove to warm up skillet/griddle.

2. Beat the eggs together with the buttermilk.

3. Add flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.  Wisk until batter is only a little lumpy.

4.  Whisk in vegetable oil.

5. Add butter to the skillet and test heat by flicking a little water onto the skillet.  If the water sizzles and skips across the skillet then it is ready.  In this instance, I definitely like it hot.

6. Add batter to the skillet in desired size.  Flip after a couple minutes when there are bubbles on the surface.  If you peak at the underside, it should be golden brown.  After you flip them, the second side should take a minute or less.

7. Remove from skillet and serve.  Don’t forget to re-apply butter to skillet between cooking batches or as needed.

I highly recommend eating these immediately.  I usually put them on the griddle while my family is already sitting at the table.