Buttermilk

What is buttermilk?

Milk (lowfat or skim) is inaculated with a bacterial culture that turns the lactose into lactic acid, then it is heated to kill the bacteria and we are left with buttermilk.

Why buttermilk?

1 cup of buttermilk will nuetralize 1/4 tsp of baking soda. When this occurs, it creates enough carbon dioxide to lift one cup of flower.

And to put this info to work for you, here is a yummy pancake recipe:

Pankcakes The dry stuff! (you can double, triple, quadruple this recipe to fit your needs)

1 Cup All Purpose Flower
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt (Kosher)
1 tsp sugar
Shake to MIX WELL!

The wet stuff: (for each cup of dry mix you use)

2 Tbls melted butter
1 egg separated
1 cup buttermilk

Mix the egg white with the butter milk the and the yolk with the butter first THEN mix them together with a whisk.

If you just mix them together without separating them it won't mix (like water and oil) Why?
The yolk contains lipoproteins so it will mix well with fat and water. The fat in the butter (oil) will 'hook up' with the lipoproteins in the yolk which will make it easier to combine with the butter milk.


Why All Purpose Flour?

Cake and Pastry Flours have low protein and are considered 'soft' flours. Bread Flours are high in protein and are 'hard' flours. Soft flours will result in soft wimpy pancakes. Bread flour will make a hard pancake! All Purpose Flour is considered 'all purpose' because it pretty average (medium) in its protein content. Just right for pancakes! :D

Thank you Alton Brown!