You can always mix up pancake batter from scratch—curranthound accomplishes this in a grand total of three minutes—but for those who can’t find the baking powder or forgot to buy eggs, packaged mixes definitely can produce delicious pancakes. Carbon’s Golden Malted Pancake & Waffle Flour is a Chowhound favorite. The malt flavor is particularly delectable. There’s also a pumpkin flavor that comes out in the winter months. Check Cost Plus World Market and Williams-Sonoma.
Kodiak Cakes Frontier Flapjack & Waffle Mix makes special pancakes, too. It has a nutty flavor and wholesome ingredients, says jcr1, like whole wheat and oat flour and honey. Stonewall Kitchen pancake and waffle mixes are delicious, too, with a touch of malt flavor.
Surprisingly, Bisquick has many partisans. Just use the “ultimate” recipe on the side of the box, which involves adding baking powder and a little sugar. Use buttermilk instead of milk and lemon, and it makes “awesome fluffy pancakes,” says chocchipcookie.
Krusteaz Original Pancake Mix makes a great pancake and is widely available. A tip: Substitute fruit juice for water in the mix, says captbob. And Snoqualmie Falls Pancake & Waffle Mix makes a thin, delicate cake that is very flavorful and not doughy or dry, says archangelcat.
Board Link: PLEASE! A decent pancake mix??
Okay, this is what I do. I buy any pancake mix that’s on sale and doctor it up with whole grains. No recipe — you can add wheat bran, wheat germ, oatmeal, cornmeal (fine grain), buckwheat pancake mix, nuts . . . whaever you have on hand or suits your fancy. The resulting dry ingredients are about 50/50 (mix to grain). At this point, I add some sweetner, a pinch of salt, and small amount of baking soda and spice of choice – usually cinnamon. Then, I add buttermilk or yogurt, eggs, canola or nut oil, and enough water to make the right consistancy. The trick is to make it the night before or allow the mixed batter to stand awhile to allow the grains to soften and the flavors to marry. More water may be added if the batter becomes too thick. Sound complicated? Not! I actually stock all of these pantry items and just add them one by one to a single large bowl. Trust me, quantities are only important insofar as your taste buds are concerned. Never had a bad batch (except for that first “sacrificial” one), and I don’t think I’ve made them the same way twice. The pancake mix box has the approximate ratio of dry to wet ingredients, so it can be used as a guideline. If I add blueberries, I never add them directly to the batter but sprinkle them over the cakes on the griddle (before they are flipped) so they don’t become “mushy” or turn the batter a lovely shade of black and blue. To make it even easier, the dry ingredients of choice can be prepared in a large batch and stored in a sealed cannister or jar for whenever that “pancake urge” must be quickly appeased. Happy eating.
Pancakes tend to be either a national “bland” brands or regional/local flavorful brands. Look for Grateful Ed’s “Roasted”
Buckwheat Pancake mix (www.gratefuleds.com) healthy and tasty. Try pancakes with applebutter this time of year.