This just reminds me of recipes that are like "how to make homemade soft pretzel. step 1, buy pretzel dough". I get that some boxed mixes are just pre measured ingredients, so why not learn the ratios and make them yourself?
this post was submitted on 14 Sep 2025
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"we can't have pancakes because I didn't buy any mix" "What? Mix? You know you can just make that stuff on your own. Right?"
We have reached a point where, despite celebrity chefs existing, some people have zero idea that you can make stuff without a can of this, a block of cream cheese, a box of that and a bottle of this. They don't know the first thing about cooking. To them pretzels are something you buy from someone else and sometimes you have to bake them yourself.
Ha, my kids thought this until just a couple years ago, as they approached college age. I did always use a mix for convenience, so they were hella surprised when I made it “from scratch “
For me, it’s not just the convenience of having the dry ingredients already proportioned to save me a little time, but that I don’t consistently have the basic ingredients. It’s easier to buy a box of pancake mix, than flour plus baking soda plus whatever else is in there
For me the missing ingredient is always milk. But we have heavy cream for coffee so I can dilute that down. I'm starting to keep a pint bottle of ultra pasteurized milk in the fridge for occasions when I need milk. As long as those are sealed they keep for a very long time.
I get the shelf-stable boxes of milk from the baking aisle. They're smaller and last longer, and so much more convenient than buying fresh if you don't use it all the time. I've always got milk on hand without worrying about it going bad.
We don't have those. I wish we did.
I was making a galette for the first time and while I was going over the epic saga that is making your own puff pastry I said, "fuck it, I'll just buy some from the freezer section at the store". It came out great and I saved 3 hours of my life.
Phyllo dough and puff pastry are things I will totally cheat on. And if I'm turning leftovers and my frequent surplus of eggs into quiche I will cheat with a frozen pie crust. Even Alton Brown says that last one is allowed.
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I've shared my grandmothers recipe before, worth sharing again. Caution: Makes a metric fuckton of pancakes. Make for multiple people. You cannot eat this many pancakes.
1 Qt. Buttermilk
2 TBS Baking Soda
1 TBS Salt
4 Cups Flour
2 TBS Baking Powder
1 Pkg Dry Yeast
1/4 C. Oil
6 Eggs
1 cup of milk the next morning.
Put 1 quart buttermilk in large bowl and add 2 TBS Baking SODA and 1 TBS Salt.
Mix 4 cups of flour with 2 TBS Baking POWDER, stir this mixture into the buttermilk.
Don't mix up the SODA with the POWDER. You might not think it will make a difference, it does.
Add one package of dry yeast, 1/4 cup oil. Mix.
Whip 6 eggs till foamy, fold in mixture. Do not use electric mixer, use mixer tine by hand.
Pour batter into large pitcher or bowl. Cover with foil. Refrigerate overnight.
The next morning put a cup of milk in the pitcher to thin the batter.
Heat pan until hot. Add 3 TBS or so of oil, when water droplets sizzle in the pan it's ready.
Cook pancakes in 2s or 3s. When the tops are covered in steam-holes then it's ready to flip. 2 to 3 minutes or so. Can be as fast as 1 minute. Do not turn your back or they will burn.
Lasts 10 days to 2 weeks in fridge. Yeast will turn black over time, this is normal. Stir batter before use.
This is crazy, this is why I use a mix. Instead of having to buy all these ingredients, especially buttermilk that goes bad quickly. I can just buy a box and keep it on my shelf for months
A contributing factor of mixes is that many of us just don’t bake much anymore, don’t have regular use for the basic ingredients. Sure the basic ingrate cheaper but I don’t have any other uses for them
The benefit of a mix is "I want pancakes now." Grammas recipe needs 1 day of planning.
TY, i was about to post my recipe. Beat me to it.
I'll add though, we usually just pop everything in the blender, give it a quick pulse and we're good. We don't let ours raise overnight. We're not that fancy and we like our batter runny. Thin, silver-dollar pancakes.
If we're doing an event, we find it helpful to keep an old hersheys chocolate syrup bottle, clean it very thoroughly, and use that as a batter dispenser.
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"I didn't have pretzel dough so instead I used pizza dough, and instead of salt I used mozzarella cheese. Delicious recipe!"
...
Now I want pretzza.
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On the flip side you get goofy things like this where you are supposed to use a specific amount of something that so far as I know you would have to buy as a pre-made mix. Either that or start a separate recipe to make you own cake mix.
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What happened to grandmothers cooking and baking from normal ingredients, using handwritten recipes collected on papers randomly stuck into an old cook book?
Grandma grew up in the 80s eating microwave dinners. She never learned to cook.
That explains the recipe, yes.
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