Ben Boo's Boistrous, Bready and Beery Birthday Yeast Pancakes

This weekend the world witnessed the completion of my roommate Mike's 23rd lap around the sun...and by that I mean it was his birthday.  Being cheap as I've mentioned before, I wasn't about to buy some tacky card or put together a cheesy photo album that he'd look at once; our relationship has a far greater degree of authenticity than that.  I instead opted for a culinary display of appreciation, one in the form of a delicious breakfast.  I love pancakes, but I often make them for my roommates on Sunday mornings anyway, so to honor the rarity and gravity of the occasion I consulted Mr. Bittman for a knock-your-socks-off approach to the lumberjack's favorite morning time concoction.

You will find, in your scriptures, that pages 745 and 746 reveal the commandments one must follow to make "overnight waffle" batter, recommended by Bittman as a nice alternative to the mundane unleavened pancake batter usually used.  I dug deep for the forethought and planning skills required to prepare something involving yeast A WHOLE DAY before it was to be cooked; the results were excellent.

The ingredients required for such a feast include:

• 1/2 tsp instant yeast
• 2 cups all purpose flour (I used whole wheat flour and ended up adding in another half cup to thicken things...more on that later)
• 1 tablespoon sugar (do be generous)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups milk (gotta be whole milk, otherwise what are you even doing with that dairy?)
• 1 stick butter, unsalted
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 eggs
• special spice blend: chili powder, cinnamon, ginger, allspice

My Yeasty buddies after a hard night of labor; I'm so proud!

 The night before I wanted to enjoy these bad boys, I started off by melting the stick of butter (I love that this recipe calls for a whole stick by the way) and while that was going I combined all dry ingredients in a large bowl.  Judiciously following instructions, I then added in the milk, butter and vanilla.  I even tried to add the eggs too early and learned the joys of trying to coax 2 eggs off the top of a batter mixture without breaking the yoke...it was a serious pain and I wouldn't recommend it.  Having all ingredients necessary ready for their slumber party, I threw on the saran wrap cover and put the bowl on top of a heat vent so the yeast wouldn't get too chilly- those creatures are always so cold blooded you know.
 
The next morning I awoke and skeptically checked on the progress of our mysterious batter.  I am inherently distrusting of yeast...our relationship has been tarnished by past experiences.  Anyway, in a beautiful symbolic display of forgiveness and unity the little microbial buddies decided to take the first step in amending our relationship and proved to me that, given the right amount of patience and appreciation, they can go above and beyond their call of duty. What I'm getting at here is that the batter smelled AWESOME and had a flavor unlike any I've encountered in pancakes before.  It was bubbly and noticeably affected, I was surprised and noticeably giddy.

Having approved of the batter's progress, I separated the egg yokes from their white ectoplasmic host fluid, beat them (kindly) and mixed them into the batter.  The whites were spared no abuse and were also thoroughly whipped and *gently* stirred in.  I heated my favorite pan, greased it with butter and poured in 3 1/4 cup fulls of batter.  First run was conspicuously thin so I added a 1/4 cup of flour and even a dash of bran to get that fiber going.

All in all the recipe made about 12 or 14 pancakes, depending on whether or not you count the taste testers (my birthday boy can't be eating shoddy product!).  They featured a rich, bready taste unlike any pancakes I've had before and were FAR superior to my previous attempts.  Given how easy this was to put together I'd definitely do it again.  Oh and Mike thought they were awesome, which is all that really counts.

Final product...please pardon the Aunt Jemima "maple flavored" syrup