I love pancakes.
Growing up, my dad used to make a delicious pancake breakfast every Saturday morning, so pancakes have always been an integral part of my diet. Even after I left home and went to college, I tried to continue this tradition as much as possible. Being in China, however, pancakes are hard to come by, and after a few months without pancakes, the cravings began to kick in. I have been on the prowl for pancake mix for a while now and haven't been successful in my efforts. I wasn't going to let that stop me, though. I was determined to get some pancakes. I looked up recipes for homemade pancakes online, and the ingredients seemed easily obtainable: milk, eggs, butter, flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt. I was so excited to finally get some pancakes! After school on Friday, I rushed to the grocery store with hopes of buying all the ingredients to make my Saturday morning pancake breakfast. I bought everything on the list, but I couldn't find baking powder anywhere. Still not ready to put my pancake dreams aside, I decided to buy baking soda instead. Same thing right?
By the time I returned to my apartment that evening, the anticipation was killing me. I couldn't even wait till Saturday morning to get started. A Friday night pancake dinner it is! Aside from substituting baking soda for baking powder, I followed the recipe exactly. The batter was ready.
Pancake number 1 was a little thin, so I figured I needed to add a little more flour. No problem. The taste was good, except it had a slight bitter aftertaste. I didn't do anything to manipulate the taste immediately, I simply added some more flour to fix the texture.
Pancake number 2 was less thin than the first one. Okay we're making some progress here! The bitter aftertaste was still there,though, and it was getting worse. My instincts told me that when something is bitter add sugar, so I added a heaping of sugar to the mix. There's no way it could be bitter now, I thought.
Pancake number 3 looked the same as the second, but the taste was so unbearable. The sugar had made the bitterness more intense. So intense, in fact, that I had to spit it out immediately after I tasted it and I thought my taste buds were going to be stunned for life.
That batch of pancake mix went straight into the trash. My taste buds and I were so disappointed.
After my pancake blunder, I decided to do some research (better late than never). Realizing that baking soda and baking powder are NOT interchangeable, I decided that I would wake up early Saturday morning and try to find the proper ingredient at a different grocery store. I don't give up so easily! When I got to the store, I still had no luck in finding baking powder, but I had a brilliant idea to buy yeast instead.
Feeling experimental, and knowing nothing could be as disgusting as pancake number 3 from the night before, I decided to make my pancake breakfast once and for all. I mixed all the ingredients as the recipe said, but instead of using baking powder OR baking soda I used yeast. The pancakes actually turned out pretty good. They're certainly not as good as my dad's, but they will hold me over until I get back home.
- FBG