Pancakes

Motivation
Pancakes have always been one of those foods that instantly makes me think of lazy weekend mornings.  This is actually the pancake recipe my parents have used as far as I can remember.  I think its superior to Bisquick or other instant pancake batters I've tried.  Over the years I've called them up multiple times to get another copy whenever I've lost it.  For the last few years I've had this written down on an upside-down red Post-It Note in the front of a cookbook.  Hopefully transcribing it here will avoid having to ask them for another copy of the recipe in the near future.

Ingredients
3 tbsp Butter, melted
3/4 cup Milk
1 Egg
1 cup Flour, sifted
2 tbsp Sugar
2 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
3/4 Kosher Salt

Special Equipment
Flour Sifter

Mise en Place
Start by measuring and melting the butter so it has time to cool down while you're measuring out the rest of the ingredients.  Like-wise, measure out the milk and let it start to warm up while your measuring out everything else.  I try to avoid adding hot butter to cold milk because the fat in the butter instantly solidifies and makes the batter grainy.  I don't know if that really hurts the end product, but I try to avoid it out of habit.

I also usually start the griddle or pan heating up while I mix the rest of the ingredients together because it doesn't take very long to make the batter.  I set the stove to medium/medium-low heat.

Method
Place all the dry ingredients into a flour sifter and sift into a bowl.  I usually crack the egg into the measuring cup containing the milk and mix them together with either a small whisk or a fork.   Then I add the milk-egg mixture and butter to the dry ingredients and mix them until a batter comes together.

Pour a small amount of batter onto a hot griddle or pan.  I usually use a 1/4 cup measure cup to spoon the batter from the bowl onto the pan.  Let cook until bubbles start to form in the batter the edges start to look a little dry.  I usually use a spatula to peak under the edge of pancake to see how brown it is on the bottom side.  Flip pancakes and continue to cook on other side until golden brown.  Reduce heat if pancakes are cooking so fast that you're accidentally letting them brown too much.

If I'm doing pancakes add-ins like pecans, blueberries, or chocolate chips I don't add them to the batter bowl because they always seem to end up on the bottom. Instead, after I pour the batter onto the hot pan I press in the add-ins on the top side.  This allows me to control the concentration of the add-ins and ensures that every pancake gets a nice and homogeneous amount.