As this spring’s goat kids get closer to being weaned, we now have some extra goat milk at our disposal. I was inspired the other day to actually cook breakfast, instead of resorting to my more predictable breakfast fare.

I don’t make pancakes much any more, probably because we always have an overabundance of eggs.  A hot breakfast around here usually resembles an omelette, scramble, or frittata.

However, I had a few lonely raspberries in the fridge last week that needed to be used up, and before I knew it I was whipping up a batch of pancake batter to serve them with.

Delicious, richly flavored, and airy goat’s milk pancakes. What are you making for breakfast this weekend?

These are homemade, from scratch, of course.  No pancake batter in a box in my pantry!

These particular pancakes have a special melt-in-your-mouth quality about them, perhaps due in part to the fact that fresh goat’s milk is quite rich in fat. The pancakes were also wonderfully light and airy in texture, not heavy, or stodgy.  Their texture wasn’t as much due to the milk, but the egg whites, which are whipped before being folded in the batter.

This weekend if you’re short on ideas for what to make for breakfast, or Sunday brunch, how about some truly homemade pancakes? I promise, you’ll throw away any boxes of pancake mix that are lurking in your kitchen once you try them, and realize what you’ve been missing!

Yield: One Dozen 5-inch Pancakes

Ingredients:

2 Cups Unbleached All Purpose Flour
2 Tsp Baking Powder
1/3 Cup Granulated Sugar
1/2 Tsp Salt
3 Large Eggs, separated
1-3/4 Cups Fresh Goat’s Milk*
1/2 Tsp Pure Vanilla Extract
5 Tbsp Unsalted Butter, melted
2-3 Tbsp Unsalted Butter for the pan

*Substitute with whole cow’s milk if needed

Equipment:

Griddle, or large flat pan
Stand mixer with wire whisk attachment, or electric mixer
Instant-read thermometer to check griddle temp (optional)

Preheat a pan or griddle to 375 F

Prepare the Batter

Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt, into a large bowl. Stir in the sugar, and mix thoroughly.

In a separate bowl whisk the goat’s milk, egg yolks, and vanilla extract together, then whisk in the melted butter.

The milk is whisked with the vanilla, melted butter, and egg yolks. The egg whites will be incorporated later

Note, if you’re using farm-fresh whole goat’s milk, be sure to thoroughly stir the milk before using.

Goat’s milk, when left to stand for a few days, will separate, and the cream will float to the top, so mix well before using!

The fats in goat’s milk will separate if the milk has been sitting for any length of time.

Whisk the wet ingredients into the bowl with the flour mixture, being careful not to over-mix. The batter should still be somewhat lumpy. If you over mix you’ll risk the flour forming gluten, and this will toughen the pancakes.

Beat the egg whites separately in either a stand mixer, or a separate bowl using an electric mixer, until you reach medium peaks. Don’t over-whip the whites or they’ll be more difficult to incorporate into the batter.

Carefully fold the egg whites into the batter mixture. It’s important to gently fold the whites just enough so you have tiny islands of egg white floating in the batter as it’s poured onto the griddle.

You want to see some of the whipped egg white floating the batter (black arrows), so don’t over mix!

This gives the pancakes both structure, and a texture, that could never be obtained from a dry just-add-water pancake mix.

Cook the Pancakes

Once the pan is hot, add enough butter to lightly grease the surface, and then pour 1/3 of a cup of batter, per pancake, on to the pan, and cook until bubbles form on the surface, and the pancake sets.

Ensure the pancakes are set, and the down side is golden brown before flipping

Carefully lift the edge of a pancake to check for color, and then flip, once.

The pancakes will turn a beautiful golden brown

Now for a personal pet peeve of mine.  Do NOT flatten the pancakes down with a spatula after you flip them!  Really, what did pancakes ever do to you?  Repeat after me…”I will not squash my pancakes…I will not squash my pancakes…“.

It’s a bad habit that many a home pancake-chef is guilty of, and I promise that if you do it to these pancakes you’ll completely the negate the purpose of folding in your egg whites! You want to retain that light, delicate, and airy texture from the egg white, not obliterate it.

Goat’s Milk Pancakes

Aren’t they gorgeous?

Serve with your favorite topping, like seasonal fresh fruit, a compote, or butter and warm maple syrup.

Hungry?

Then grab a fork, and enjoy!