Banana-Java Pancakes and Peach-Sour Cream Pancakes

I am not a big pancake person. They always seem like a good idea, but by the time they get to the table they are generally thin and uninspiring. These two pancake recipes are my two favorites I've ever had at home and are the opposite. They are both so thick yet light, rich yet I can eat a lot of them. And both full of fruit. The first is peach-sour cream pancakes from The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook. We made these a lot when we were rich in juicy fresh peaches last summer. They were the second recipe I ever tried from that book (the first being this phenomenal galette) and I was completely hooked. 

I initially thought it was the sour cream in the Smitten ones that made them so good and different from other pancakes (a lot of sour cream I might add, as the Smitten Kitchen has a thing for creams, butter, etc). I definitely think that helps. But the other pancakes I like a lot-- banana-java-- come from the out-of-print The Best of Pancake and Waffle Recipes via my father-in-law and those have no sour cream in them, they do have in common a fair amount of baking powder/soda. Or maybe the mashed banana gives them the same oomph that the sour cream does in the other ones. Either way, I happily alternate between these two pancake recipes. We were craving the peach ones around Christmas time, and we found they were also yummy, while maybe not quite as pleasing to the eye, scattered with blueberries from the freezer instead of being adorned with peach slices.

Happily polishing off the extra sliced peaches

And a few pictures of the tasty banana-java ones:

Peach-Sour Cream Pancakes

from The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook, Deb Perelman

(makes 8 4-in. pancakes-- just barely enough for the 3 of us)

1 egg

1 C sour cream

1/4 t vanilla

2 T sugar

1/4 t salt

1/4 t ground cinnamon

pinch of ground nutmeg

3/4 C flour

1 t baking powder

1/2 t baking soda

butter for pan

1 peach, halved, pitted, and thinly sliced (about 1/8-in.-thick slices)

Preheat oven to 250. Whisk egg, sour cream, vanilla, and sugar together in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, flour, baking powder, and baking soda. Fold dry ingredients into wet, mixing until just combined and still a little lumpy. 

Heat skillet or saute pan to medium-low. Melt a pat of butter in the pan and ladle in 1/4 cup batter at a time, leaving 2 inches between pancakes. Arrange 2 peach slices over the batter. Don't worry if they are bigger than the batter puddle, as the pancake will spread as it cooks. When the pancakes are dry around the edges and you can see bubbles forming on top-- about 3 - 4 minutes-- flip it in one quick movement. If any peaches try to slide out from underneath, nudge them back under. 

Cook for another 5 minutes, until pancakes are golden brown on the underside and peach slices are nicely caramelized. Transfer pancakes to a plate or tray in warm oven as they cook. Serve with syrup.

Banana-Java Pancakes 

from The Best of Pancake and Waffle Recipes, Beatrice Ojakangas

(makes 12 4-in. pancakes)

1/2 C water

1 t instant coffee or instant espresso powder

1/2 C mashed ripe banana

1 T oil

1 egg

1 C buttermilk pancake mix (I use instead: 1/4 t salt, 1 T sugar, 1 C flour, 2 t baking powder, and 1/4 t baking soda) 

In a large bowl, combine water, coffee, banana, oil, and egg. Add dry ingredients/pancake mix. Stir just until large lumps disappear. 

Preheat griddle. Grease lightly. Cook pancakes using 1/4 cup batter at a time for each until golden on each side. Keep warm in 250-degree oven while remaining ones cook. Serve with syrup.

New Favorite Pizza Dough

We all have our favorite pizza dough and an Alice Waters one from The Art of Simple Food II has been mine for the last year. This Animal Vegetable Miracle one used to be my go-to. While that dough is really sturdy and easy to handle and its 30-minute rise time is a perk, I have been loving the flavor of this recipe that involves letting it sit in the fridge overnight (or out at room temp for a couple hours). The dough is yeasty-smelling and wet and you have to move quickly, but the thin, crispy deliciousness of the final product is worth it. 

I have been preheating my pizza stone and transferring the dough onto it hot. Once when I did this, with the rolled-out pizza already topped, the toppings skid across the counter as I slid the pizza from board to stone. So sometimes I transfer just the dough itself to the hot stone and top it quickly on the stone, but the hot stone that's been in the oven for a half an hour makes a difference thin- and crispy-wise. 

The other thing that I've found to up the deliciousness of a homemade pizza is to brush a tablespoon of oil mixed with a minced garlic clove over the rolled-out dough before adding the toppings (an idea I got from this asparagus pizza recipe). So good. 

Pizza Dough

from The Art of Simple Food II

Note: It is a wet and sticky dough so use a lot of flour for the counter and for handling it. Start this dough the night before to sit in the fridge, then take out of the fridge 2 hours before baking, OR to just let it rest at room temperature start it about 2 hours 45 minutes before you want to eat.  

2 t yeast

3/4 C lukewarm water

1/2 C bread flour (I've used all-purpose flour in place of all the flours)

1/4 C rye flour

2 2/3 C bread flour 

2 t salt

3/4 C cold water

1/4 C olive oil

In large bowl or stand mixer bowl, stir together yeast and lukewarm water. Add and mix well the 1/2 C bread flour and the rye flour (or 3/4 C all-purpose in place of these). Allow this mixture to sit until quite bubbly, about 30 minutes. 

Stir together in another bowl the 2 2/3 C bread (or all-purpose) flour and salt. Stir this into the yeast and flour mixture with the cold water and olive oil. 

Mix thoroughly, either by hand or with dough hook in the mixer, for about 5 minutes. The dough is the right texture when it pulls away from the sides of the bowl of the mixer, but still adheres to the bottom. 

Turn dough out onto a well-floured board. Cut into 2 pieces and form each into a ball. Place on a parchment-lined and floured sheet pan. Sprinkle the balls with flour and cover with plastic wrap. Let rest overnight in the refrigerator or at room temperature for 2 hours. Dough will keep in fridge for up to 3 days. (After this resting time, dough freezes well in balls wrapped in the floured parchment placed in a freezer bag.) 

Take the dough out of fridge 2 hours before baking (skip this if it has rested at room temperature instead).  

Preheat oven to 500. Place pizza stone on lower rack and let it heat for 30 minutes. With well-floured hands and surface, roll out each round of dough. Place shaped dough on a floured cutting board or back of a sheet pan. Put toppings on the dough and slide it onto the pizza stone. Bake 5 - 8 minutes until puffed and browned.