Village Pancakes

Here is how we used to make pancakes while living in the village. We brought in the dry ingredients, and bought the eggs and oil on site. We had a 2-burner LPG stove, a little kettle for hot water, and this all-important Nalgene brand screw-top bottle. Note that it has 2-0z marks on the right side.

Ingredients

6 t powdered milk
2 cups flour
4 t baking powder
1 - 2 T sugar
2 oz (1/4 cup) oil
2 eggs

Method
Heat water in the kettle until warm but not boiling. Pour warm water into the Nalgene bottle up the 12 0z mark (1 1/2 cups). Add the 6 t powdered milk, close the lid, and shake vigorously to mix the milk. Open the lid and allow the milk to cool slightly while you measure the flour, baking powder, and sugar into a bowl.

Optionally, substitute cornmeal for 1/2 cup of the flour. You may also add 2 T wheat germ, if you have it. Mix the dry ingredients thoroughly and make a well in the center.

Slowly pour 2 oz (1/4 cup) of oil into the bottle. It should settle on top of the milk. Now crack the eggs, one at a time, into the bottle. (If there is a chance the eggs might be bad, crack each one into a glass before pouring it into the bottle.) Close the lid and shake vigorously until the milk, oil, and eggs are well blended. If you used warm milk, the mixture will foam up to a greater extent than shown here.


Pour the egg mixture into the well in the dry mixture. Stir until just moistened; batter should be lumpy. Drop by 1/4 cupfuls onto a hot skillet. Turn each pancake when very bubbly. They will rise quite a bit; wait about 30 seconds after each one rises to take it off the skillet. Makes about twelve.