Pancakes — The Dough That Knows My Hands

Three years. Week one, I was a nineteen-year-old on the brewing floor, learning grain handling, with no idea that cooking would become the center of my life. Week 156, I'm a twenty-two-year-old assistant brewer with three original beers, a grandmother's worth of recipes in my hands, a Weber Smokey Mountain on my balcony, eight thousand Instagram followers, and a someday folder that's getting harder to ignore. The year in review: I lost Babcia and found my cooking identity. I mastered her pierogi, her mushroom soup, her bigos, her makowiec, her nale┼¢niki, her ┼╝urek. I cooked a twelve-dish Wigilia that made my father cry. I got promoted. I brewed Helen's Wheat and Forest Floor and Babcia's Kitchen and Bay View Bloom. I bought a smoker and turned my apartment building into an involuntary BBQ restaurant. I experimented. Short rib and horseradish pierogi. Pumpkin pierogi. Horseradish-butter wings. Things Babcia never made, in dough Babcia always made. Mrs. Wojcik said "not traditional, but not wrong," and that phrase has become my manifesto. I visited Danny. I visited Babcia. I carried them both, as I always will, in the quiet rooms of my life that stay dark until I open the door and sit in them for a while. Spring training is happening. The Brewers are back. The trees on KK will have buds soon. The lake will turn from gray to blue. The smoker will come out of hibernation (it never actually went into hibernation — I smoked meat through the polar vortex because I am insane and also Midwestern). I don't know what Year 4 holds. The guest blog post goes up next month. The Instagram is growing. Mrs. Wojcik keeps saying "do something with the pierogi." There's a feeling in my chest — not a plan, not yet, but a direction. A heading. North, toward something I can't see but can almost taste. This week I made Babcia's potato and cheese pierogi. The originals. The ones that started everything. I made them on a Tuesday night in my apartment, alone, with her recipe card on the counter even though I don't need it anymore. My hands know the dough. My hands know the filling. My hands know the fold, the pinch, the boil, the fry. I made them for no one and for everyone. For Babcia and Danny and Mom and Dad and the someday when these pierogi will be more than just a meal in a tiny kitchen in Bay View. They'll be something. I don't know what yet. But they'll be something. I'm still humming.

There’s no pierogi recipe on this site yet—that one still lives on a handwritten card on my counter, and I’m not ready to give it to the internet quite yet. But the closest thing I know to Babcia’s kitchen on a Tuesday night is a hot pan and simple batter: the same patience, the same rhythm, the same feeling that your hands know something your brain doesn’t have to think about anymore. Naleśniki were part of her repertoire too, and pancakes—in any language—are where cooks begin. This one’s for the beginning.

Pancakes

Prep Time: 10 min | Cook Time: 20 min | Total Time: 30 min | Servings: 4 (about 12 pancakes)

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/4 cups buttermilk (or 1 1/4 cups milk + 1 tablespoon white vinegar, rested 5 min)
• 1 large egg
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted, plus more for the pan
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

1. Mix dry ingredients. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt until evenly combined.
2. Mix wet ingredients. In a separate bowl or large measuring cup, whisk together the buttermilk, egg, melted butter, and vanilla extract.
3. Combine. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir gently with a fork or spatula until just combined—lumps are fine. Do not overmix or the pancakes will be tough. Let the batter rest for 5 minutes.
4. Heat the pan. Heat a nonstick skillet or griddle over medium heat. Add a small knob of butter and let it melt and foam. When the foam subsides, the pan is ready.
5. Cook the pancakes. Pour approximately 1/4 cup of batter per pancake onto the pan. Cook until bubbles form across the surface and the edges look set, about 2–3 minutes. Flip and cook the second side until golden, about 1–2 minutes more.
6. Keep warm and serve. Transfer finished pancakes to a plate in a 200°F oven to keep warm while you cook the remaining batter. Serve with butter, maple syrup, or whatever Babcia would have set on the table.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 290 | Protein: 8g | Fat: 8g | Carbs: 44g | Fiber: 1g | Sodium: 410mg