new pancakes, Mexican Lasagna, stash report, AJ

You know how I think I have the best pancake recipe?  And how many people who have tried it agree?  Well, how do you find the best recipe?  You keep checking out new ones that you find.  Thus, I put together a new recipe Tuesday night for breakfast Wednesday morning (2/28).  I had NO intention of changing my recipe, but I got one from a blog that has given me other fabulous baking recipes, and so we decided to try it.  

It is an overnight pancake recipe that uses yeast.  What really attracted me to it is the author indicates that she almost exclusively does it with 100% whole wheat flour, but it is still as light and fluffy as using white flour…and I would love to have that in my repertoire.  Now, here’s the dilemma I have been going through since first seeing the recipe.  You should know by now that I weigh ingredients (rather than use measuring cups) for all of my baking recipes.  And, I exclusively use King Arthur Flour products.  So in KAF land, white flour weights 4-1/4 ounces per cup and wheat flour is 4 ounces per cup.  I had a discussion with KAF awhile ago and said ‘if I’m using someone else’s recipe, and they say use 2 cups or 10 ounces, should I used the 10 ounces they are talking about, or should I convert to 8-1/2, which is what it would be in KAF land’.  They told me I should use the 10 ounces that the author suggests.  OK…so I have that in my head.  Now we come to this new recipe.  This recipe is almost exactly like my current recipe.  It uses 2 tablespoons less liquid and calls for 2 cups or 10 ounces of white or wheat flour!!!  So, she thinks white flour and wheat flour weigh the same…..and she’s using more flour than I do, with less liquid.  So I wrestle with this for a bit, trying to figure out what I should do.  I believe if I follow her recipe and weights, my pancakes will come out heavy and dry.  So, I go back and forth and back and forth, and finally I decide to go with 9-1/4 ounces of flour.  I had a mixture of white and whole wheat in my batter because I was down to very little whole wheat flour and had to make up the difference with white.  Michael and I had the pancakes this morning, and they definitely seemed thicker/higher to me.  The taste was good, but Michael thought he detected a bitter after taste.  Some people have that reaction to whole wheat flour, but there is a way to counteract it….do my bread students out there remember this from the whole wheat class?  Orange juice can mitigate the tannins in the wheat flour, which cause some people to perceive that bitterness.  But how can I get orange juice into the recipe when the only liquids are buttermilk, eggs and oil…and each one is needed in those quantities to make the recipe work?  I’ve decided for the next batch I will go up to 10 ounces of whole wheat flour, which I hope will allow me to add 2 tablespoons of orange juice to my batter….stay tuned!  And you thought making pancakes was a simple thing  :~).  Yes…these are things people grapple with when they are really into baking and the things I think about while I’m lying in bed at night trying to fall asleep!  We’re going to have to have a bake-off test between the old and new recipes….anyone out there want to volunteer to be on the tasting panel?  Leave me a comment and I’ll start a list  :~).  

Anyway, the pancakes were a great thing to wake up to, then Michael took off for errands (PetSmart, Best Buy, movies to pick up tix, Lowe’s) while I SKYPE’d with Janice until 10:30.   The microwave guy came right as we were ending (have I mentioned that we bought a new microwave at the end of last April, and several weeks ago about 1/2 of the buttons stopped working!??!)  All of the controls in this microwave are on the door (a poor design according to the guy) because you’re always slamming the door…hence slamming the controls!  He’s ordering a new door for us and will call when it’s time to install it.  Right now we have to microwave everything using only the 3 or 4 or 5 buttons.  After that I had nice chat with Pat and helped Michael unload the car.  So, what with one thing and another I never got to loading up Paula’s quilt until almost 1 PM.  

Getting it basted and setting up the program took me until 4:30, when Michael ran out to get our weekly fish sandwiches from ARBY’s.  He left for the movies (BLANK PANTHER) just after 5 PM and I spent a good part of the evening putting together a Mexican Lasagna for quilting.

I made enchilada sauce

Michael grilled chicken for me a couple of days ago

I got that chopped up

chopped up an onion and added in corn

and some black beans

layered it all up with tortillas and cheese

Stash Report – As you might guess from this being a Foust sale month, and from seeing the bolts I bought several weeks ago, I am solidly in the RED!  With all of my FOUST bolts I had to write down 97 yards of fabric.  Then we hit Carolina Cotton and I bought 3 more yards for a spring/summer quilt for our bed.  I also recently picked up 6 yards of blue fleece at a killer Joann’s sale.  So, I have added 106 yards to my stash  :~(.  What I have to put against that for February is all of the fabric I’ve cut for my retreat next week (which I need to get sewn up)….26-1/4 yards.  So, for February I am at 79-3/4 in the red (meaning that I bought almost 80 yards of fabric more than I have used).  Year-to-date I have bought a total of 112 yards and used 59-1/2, so I’m only 52-1/2 yard in the red….I’ve got to sew like the wind!!!

***MMR***

Michael’s movie review – (Black Panther) – Yet another super hero movie from Marvel Studio, with an almost all black cast, well acted and a more complicated plot that most, it entertains throughout its 2 hours and 15 minutes.  There is cousin against cousin, tribe against tribe, and a villain trying to rule the world.  Great special effects raise it to 3 fat quarters out of 5.

Bonus pictures!!!  

June has started her FPF

and BG has finished hers!

and then there's AJ for a 'taste' of cuteness: