Look at them: sitting there on the plate, no syrup, no butter, no nothing. Boring, right?

Well, that’s just the way Hayleigh likes her pancakes.

If you have been reading this blog for a while, you will already know that Josh has a much stronger preference for crepes. And if he has to have pancakes, he has to have them doctored in some way: chocolate chips, blueberries, or topped–thanks to the influence of Louis Jordan–with molasses.

Not Hayleigh, though. Pancakes are to be eaten warm, plain, and of course, with your hands.

1 egg
1 cup milk
1/3 cup vegetable oil
3 tablespoons vanilla yogurt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1-1/3 cups unbleached white whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda

Beat the egg in a mixing bowl. Add the sugar, yogurt, and vanilla extract, and mix. Now add the milk and oil. Combine until smooth.

In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. You could sift your ingredients if you so desire, but I’m always too lazy at that hour of the morning. As long as I’ve mixed the dry together before adding to the wet, I say that’s good enough.

Add your dry ingredients to your wet and combine. Set aside for at least fifteen minutes.

Get a frying pan or griddle good and hot. When a drop of water dances on the surface (but you knew that already, right?) you are ready to start cooking.

I do pancakes one of two ways–either using a small cast iron griddle that was once owned by Josh’s great-grandmother, or using an enormous, 16″ frying pan. The cast iron griddle gives a really nice finish, but sometimes cooking four pancakes at a time has its distinct advantages.

Finish with syrup, butter, powdered sugar…or nothing at all.