Banana Pancakes: The First Try

I love banana pancakes so I was totally stoked when I saw this recipe at Cat Juan's blog.

The recipe was simple to follow and we had some bananas browning in the ref, thus it was the perfect time to whip up some golden brown pancakes. But to make a long story short, my pancakes were a perfect fail.

Lessons learned from my first attempt at making pancakes:

1. Baking powder is not the same as baking soda- half a second after I dumped the baking soda in, I realized that the recipe called for baking powder! Some quick googling revealed that putting baking soda in a recipe that calls for baking powder will yield a non-fluffy AND bitter dish. Uh-oh.

Anyhoo, a quick remedy to the bitter taste is to add 2 tsp of white vinegar to the milk. And true enough, although not pretty to look at, my pancakes were relatively yummy and not bitter tasting. 

2. The pan must be smoking hot before pouring in the batter, otherwise, the batter cooks unevenly. I think the best way is to either crank up the temp for a few minutes and then bring it down to low heat before pouring the batter in for that golden brow glow. This way, the pan is already steaming hot when the batter is poured in.

3. Must find a way to evenly add batter so that I'll get round pancakes, not the amoeba-ish things I created. Maybe pour it with a ladle?

For what it's worth, I now know the difference between baking powder and baking soda, and I came up with the coveted golden brown color after several tries.

 

Hopefully I'll be able to come up with fluffy pancakes with my next try.