Rose Bakery's Classic Pancakes (with a little twist)

The featured cookbook for March and April over at the 101 Cookbooks Library is Breakfast, Lunch, Tea: The Many Little Meals of Rose Bakery.  I was going to sit this one out... until I found a list of the recipes in the book.  Hazelnut Brownies, Ricotta Pancakes, Maple Syrup Scones, Brownie Cheesecake, Raw Muesli, Cheddar Cornmeal Scones, Quinoa and Pepper Salad, Coconut Custard Slices, Honey Granola, Courgette and Millet Risotto, Oat and Coconut Cookies... Within minutes I had ordered it from Amazon.

I was determined to make Sunday morning's breakfast from this book, but being the poor planner that I am, didn't choose a recipe until I woke up and was already hungry for breakfast.  I sprung for the Classic Pancakes, because who doesn't have the ingredients for pancakes, and I decided I would use some thinly-sliced honey-spiced peaches from last summer's peach canning frenzy to sweeten them up.

Right from the start, I decided to make some changes.  First, I used half whole wheat pastry flour.  I can't justify to myself using only all-purpose flour in any recipe when it is so easy to substitute better-for-you whole grains.  Then, as I made the batter, I discovered that I had been moving too slowly, and my melted butter had turned back into tiny little solids after I added the cold milk - I should have mixed it right away, but I was too busy making my coffee.  Oops!  I tried to get them to re-melt but eventually just decided to finish the batter as-is and hope it worked out.  I'm not sure if it worked out the way the recipe intended, but our pancakes came out fine!  The batter was super airy, like the Hazelnut Muffins and Millet Muffins - I think it may have had something to do with the butter, but maybe not.  As a result, though, the pancakes were super thick and did not spread very well.  (This worked out for us later when we went to put the last two pancakes in a rectangular container, and they actually fit pretty well because they hadn't spread to the sides of the round pan!)

While the first side of the pancakes were cooking, I thinly sliced the honey-spiced peaches and laid the slices neatly on the uncooked top side of the pancake.  When I flipped them over, they caramelized a little bit.  It added the perfect amount of sweetness for me.  Although this pancake recipe was good, it was not amazing - and the amount of butter makes it more of a special-occasion recipe.  I probably will not make it again, but only because there are so many other pancake recipes out there to try.