Buttermilk Pancakes

I had some left-over buttermilk sitting in my fridge which will expire on Christmas so I had to use it all up by today.

Pancake is a good option as it takes only a couple of minutes to whip it up and some more minutes for pan frying them. Furthermore it is an easy task which produces yummy goodies.

So I made these for afternoon tea as we will be having a late Christmas dinner tonight. Anyway....


What is buttermilk?
Buttermilk is the slightly sour, residual liquid which remains after butter is churned. In the olden days, people would churn and churn and churn the milk. The result of churning milk was butter and liquid. This liquid byproduct was buttermilk. The flavor of buttermilk is reminiscent of yogurt. It is slightly thicker in texture than regular milk but not as heavy as cream.
Nowadays, buttermilk is made by adding a lactic acid bacteria culture to skim or non-fat milk. The milk is then fermented to make modern buttermilk.

Did you know that buttermilk contains no butter and has less fats than regular milk?
Buttermilk has considerably less fat than you would think because buttermilk is milk with the butter removed. The buttermilk we have here is 90% water, 5% lactose sugar, a little live bacteria culture and just a hint of butter fat - just enough butter fat to give it that rich, tangy flavor that makes it so great to bake with.

Buttermilk is often the secret ingredient behind fluffy pancakes and lightly textured cakes and muffins. This is because when buttermilk is combined with either self-raising flour or baking soda it creates aeration resulting in great tasting, light and fluffy baking.

Credits:
mrbreakfast.com
homecooking.about.com
dairyfarmers.com.au


These are the delicious light and fluffy pancakes that I made using Dairy Farm 98% Fat Free Buttermilk.


Ingredients: (Makes 16 8-cm pancakes)
240g self-raising flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
50g castor sugar
375ml buttermilk
2 eggs lightly beaten
4 tbsp corn oil
1 tsp orange zest (optional)
1/2 tsp vanilla essence

Method:
1. Sieve flour and baking soda into a large mixing bowl and add in all the rest of the ingredients.
2. Beat with a wooden spoon or handwhisk till batter is smooth.
3. Pre-heat a non-stick and oiled flat frying pan over medium-low heat.
4. Pour in desired amount of batter. Cook pancakes till bubbles appear on it. Turn the pancakes over and cook till golden.
5. Serve with fresh lemon juice or maple syrup and butter.