The Pancake Post

The Pancake Post
Home Cooking



When I started writing this blog, I thought about putting up an entry on pancake and subsequently dismissed it as 'too boring'/'too easy'.

Today, nearly 3 months later, I've decided that I've got enough photos/recipes/variations to write up a decent post on pancakes after all.



Pancakes ARE easy. They are one of the first things you learn to cook as a kid. Way before I got into cooking, or even food for that matter, I would still get up on some weekend mornings and wildly combine some milk and self-raising flour to make pancakes for my parents. Without any recipe or guidelines, it is still reasonably easy to create pancakes that are, well, edible at the very least.

In fact, it wasn't until this year (or late last year), when I took pancake batters more seriously, that I realized what a difference an actual recipe can make. I followed the recipe on Exclusively Food and found that this was MUCH better than any I've tasted before. Indeed, the pancakes that resulted were fluffier and lighter... all round BETTER than the numerous pancakes I've tried in cafes.

Many restaurant-style pancakes rely on exuberant amounts of topping, ice-cream, whipped cream and sugar to make them appealing. I can't deny that I like that style of pancake, waffle or crepe... but it's refreshing to try your own pancakes that taste excellent on their own.

I've actually muddled with the recipe a fair bit, experimenting with different add-ins and toppings but I find that overall, they are best eaten plain and simple. A bit of maple syrup and butter make very decent accompaniments.


Basic Pancake Mix
Makes 6-10 depending on size

Ingredients:

• 1.5 cups full cream milk
• 2 tsp lemon juice
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 1.5 cup self-raising flour
• 1/4 tsp bicarbonate soda
• 1 lrg egg
• 30g butter, melted

Procedure:

1) Combine milk, sugar and lemon juice in a medium-sized bowl. Set aside. The mixture may begin to curdle in this time.2) Sift together the flour and bicarbonate soda in a large bowl.
3) Add the egg and butter the milk mixture. Combine well.
4) Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. Combine well but do not over-mix as this creates tough pancakes. If your batter is still a bit lumpy, it doesn't matter. Let batter stand for at least 2min whilst you're heating up the frying pan.5) Heat up a non-stick frying pan over medium heat and add a bit of butter.
6) Spoon a good amount of batter into the frying pan and use the back of the spoon to spread into an even circle. You can put several mounds of batter in the pan (depending on size of frying pan) but be careful not to over-crowd as you'll have no room to flip.7) Once the surface of the batter begins bubbling (1-2min), you can flip the pancake over. Cook the other side for 1-2min as well until golden brown.
8) When one batch of pancakes are done, you may need to re-butter the pan for the next batch. It may also be necessary to turn down the heat if the pan has gotten too hot over time (to prevent pancakes from burning on the outside without cooking through).9) Serve pancakes immediately with a bit of syrup and butter.

Modifications

1) Here, I added some chocolate pieces to the batter and served the resultant pancakes with ice-cream (Homer Hudson - cookies and cream to be exact!)



2) Here, I replaced full-cream milk with a mix of natural yogurt and skim milk (Nigella's substitute for buttermilk) and used dollops of cream cheese instead of butter.

You can just see a bit of cream cheese oozing on the inside... note how airy and fluffy the pancake is!

I served these pancakes with a home-made banana caramel (simply mix some mashed banana with brown sugar and heat in a small non-stick saucepan until the mix starts bubbling and thickening).

Bubbling away now...

Voila - with some fresh banana slices on top

Make yourself pancakes for breakfast tomorrow!