The sour cream pancakes to the left are made with all-purpose flour, and our test cook couldn’t resist whipping up another batch, the one on the right, with whole-wheat flour.
Mary Therese Biebel | Times Leader Photo
“It’s really light and fluffy,” Mark said as he tasted his first sour cream pancake from the Times Leader Test Kitchen — one I had made with white flour, as the recipe directed.
“This one tastes nuttier,” he said as he sampled one that I’d made with whole wheat flour. “It’s heartier, but not as fluffy. They’re both good.”
So, why was I making sour cream pancakes on Wednesday morning?
Well, if my mom had bought cottage cheese on a recent shopping expedition, as she’d intended, I probably wouldn’t even know that sour cream pancakes are a thing.
But when she inadvertently brought home a 24-ounce container of sour cream, she told me she’d never use that much. “Why don’t you take it and make something?” she suggested.
For a moment I paused and wondered: Who does use 24 ounces of sour cream? Someone serving loads of baked potatoes at a banquet? Someone stocking a make-your-own taco bar? Someone baking three (or perhaps even six) coffee cakes?
When I searched online for a recipe that would use a hefty amount of this tangy ingredient, I was intrigued by “Edna Mae’s Sour Cream Pancakes” at thepioneerwoman.com.
The recipe for one batch calls for one cup of sour cream mixed with two large eggs, a few other ingredients and only seven tablespoons of flour. The recipe author says all that sour cream combined with just a little flour makes for a fluffy pancake — and it’s true.
For my first batch I used seven tablespoons of white flour, and for my second batch I used whole wheat flour — because, as regular readers know, I’m a fan — and while some of my tasters detected a difference, I actually couldn’t. Any difference in color between the pancakes seemed to be from how long they stayed in the skillet.
So, what did others think?
In the newsroom, reporter and taste tester Margaret Roarty said she liked both varieties, but noted, “I didn’t notice much tanginess from the sour cream. Maybe a little in the one with the regular flour. I know whole wheat flour can be drier, and I think the sour cream helped offset any dryness, but they taste very similar.”
Our executive editor Jake Higgins isn’t a fan of sour cream and was pleasantly surprised that he didn’t detect much sour cream flavor in the pancakes either. He also mentioned he was glad I’d brought them in because he’d skipped a Dunkin visit that morning.
“There’s a distinction between a ‘regular’ pancake and what we have here,” page designer Lyndsay Bartos said hours later, when I reheated a pancake for her. “This seems savory, like something you’d get at a picnic.”
“You mean like a crepe that could be filled with strawberries or even ham and cheese?” I asked.
She agreed with that idea, and also pointed out that while she did enjoy her (white flour) sour cream pancake, she actually finds “regular” pancakes to be fluffier.
“Oh, you’re wrong, Lyndsay,” former Times Leader staffer Sam Zavada said in a joking manner as he visited the newsroom. “They are fluffy, Mary Therese.”
“Sure, make a liar out of me, Sam,” Lyndsay said.
“People have different tastes, and different perceptions,” I said. “It’s OK.”
And we all laughed.
Now for the recipe:
Edna Mae’s Sour Cream Pancakes
2 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
7 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup sour cream
Butter, for frying and serving
Warm syrup, for serving
In a small bowl, whisk together the eggs and vanilla. Set aside.
In a separate small bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt.
In a medium bowl, stir together the sour cream with the dry ingredients until just barely combined (don’t overmix). Whisk in the egg mixture until just combined.
Heat a griddle over medium-low heat and melt some butter in the pan. Drop batter by 1/4-cup servings onto the griddle. Cook on the first side until bubbles start to form on the surface and the edges are starting to brown. Flip to the other side and cook for another minute. (Pancakes will be a little on the soft side.)
Serve with softened butter and syrup.
