Neil's Pancakes - recipe

Or as I would rather call these pancakes..the best fing pancakes I've ever had.  Does that give you an idea of how wonderful these are?

This is yet another wonderful recipe from the Clinton St. Baking company cookbook. I really need to start cooking from other cookbooks and online to give you guys variety.  At least this recipe isn't a dessert.

I love pancakes and tend to make them on the weekend, then freeze all the ones I don't eat so I can have a quick breakfast either during the week or future weekends.  This recipe makes a ton of pancakes.  The recipe also has a lot of steps and there's a lot more to it than just making pancakes from a box (which I never do) or the easy recipe I normally use to make them from scratch.  However because it makes so many it's not something you would be making every weekend. Plus, as you've noticed by now, I love recipes that require a bit more than just throwing the ingredients in a bowl and mixing.

Sorry..no photo of these. I really need to start taking photo's don't I?

Neil's Pancakes

Ingredients
4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder, plus 1 teaspoon
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
6 large eggs, separated
3 cups whole milk (I didn't use whole milk as I don't keep it in the house)
3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Measure and sift all the dry ingredients into a large (preferably stainless steel) mixing bowl: flour, baking powder, sugar, salt.

In another bowl, whisk together the yolks, milk, melted butter, and vanilla until combined.  Whisk the wet mixture into the dry mixture. The result should be slightly lumpy, yet combined to form a batter.

Whip the egg whites in a medium bowl until they reach medium peaks (soft in the middle). You can either whip them by hand with a whisk or put them in the bowl of an electric mixer to whip.  Be careful, you don't want to overwhip the egg whites.

Gently mix half of the whipped whites into the batter with a large rubber spatula.  Then gently fold the remaining half into the batter.  Remember: this batter should be slightly lumpy and have large parts of egg whites not fully incorporated; it should look like whitecaps in the ocean with foam on top. (The batter will last a few hours in the fridge without deflating too much.)

Heat a griddle - either an electric griddle, a stovetop griddle, or a big flat pan to 350 to 375 d. F.  Grease the hot griddle with some butter.  Drop 1/4 cup (approximately 4 tablespoons) of pancake batter on the griddle and cook to set.    When you see bubbles start to form on top, lift the pancake halfway to see if it's golden brown and crispy on the edges. If ready, flip the pancake.