Perfect pancakes

About six months ago, I began my journey to discover the perfect pancake recipe. This morning, I may have done it. Although I wouldn't mind proving myself wrong somewhere down the road if I can find a way to make it even better.

My journey started with a trip to the Original Pancake House (OPH) and a recipe I found on the food network. How come the OPH can make pancakes so much lighter and fluffier than anything I'd ever made myself? My first problem, I concluded, was that I had never made pancakes from scratch. Boxed recipes are easy and usually taste well enough, but I could never expect them to be as tasty as a homemade recipe. Which led me to the food network. A quick search for homemade pancake recipes, a trip to the grocery store for buttermilk, and I was on my way to some of the best pancakes I had ever made. But something was still missing. They weren't up to the par of the OPH fluffy deliciousness that my tastebuds remembered.

So the challenge began. Modifying one ingredient at a time, I sought to perfect my recipe. Needless to say, we've eaten more pancakes in the last six months than in the last few years (but I haven't heard my husband complain). So here it is. Try it out for yourself and tell me if you can make it better.

Perfect Homemade Pancakes

recipe yields 8-10 pancakes

• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1 1/2 Tbsp brown sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 3/4 tsp baking soda
• dash of salt
• 1 whole egg and 1 egg white (beaten until frothy--this is VERY important for fluffiness)
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1 1/2 cups buttermilk
• 4 Tbsp melted butter

A special thanks to my husband for his consumption of my trials along the way. :)