yesterday morning i woke up in a bit of a funk. i was determined not to waste my day moping around in a cloud of self-pity, and so decided to whip up a batch of pancakes to cheer myself up! they definitely did the trick, because let’s face it, how could you possibly stay miserable when faced with a stack of these thick, fluffy, syrup-coated beauties? i’ve tried lots (and i mean
lots) of recipes for american-style pancakes but never seemed to be able to find one that ticked every box. i went from jamie, to nigella, to american food blogs, to egg-free varieties, but still couldn’t find what i was looking for. eventually i returned to jamie’s easy peasy ’1:1:1′ recipe, and after a tweak or two (goodbye grated apple and hello baking powder) i’m pretty certain that me and this recipe are at the beginning of a long and happy friendship :)
ingredients-
one cup (a regular mug is fine) self raising flour
one cup milk (i used a mixture of skimmed and semi skimmed)
one large egg
half a teaspoon of baking powder
a pinch of salt
these quantities will make enough pancakes to serve 2-3 people, depending on appetite.
1. crack the egg into a large bowl, and whisk it a little to break it up. then add in the milk, flour, baking powder and salt, and whisk together thoroughly until the batter is thick and smooth.
2. heat up a large nonstick pan (not too hot, or the butter will burn!) , and add in a knob of butter. as soon as the butter’s melted, spoon in three dollops of batter.
3. cook the pancakes on a medium heat, until bubbles start to form on their tops. if you’d like to add any extras (blueberries, chocolate chips etc.) sprinkle them onto the uncooked side of the pancake at this point.
4. flip the pancakes over, and cook briefly on the second side until they’re golden and set. take them out of the pan, and keep them warm whilst you cook up the rest of the batter. i like to give the pan a wipe between each batch, so the residual butter doesn’t burn and give the pancakes a funny taste!
5. when all the batter’s used up, just stack your pancakes high and serve with syrup/bacon/fruit/yoghurt/honey :)
n.b. to achieve super thick pancakes: spoon in some batter and wait for it to spread out to the size you want. then wait a second or two for it to firm a little, then add a little more batter onto the top of the pancake. this helps the pancakes to build and get taller and thicker, instead of just spreading out. you need to be extra vigilant though, since the undersides might turn golden before the heat’s reached the top and they’re ready for flipping. if this is the case, just lower the heat a little and wait for the heat to rise through the pancake and those telltale bubbles to form :)
and that’s it! don’t forget to let me know if you try out this recipe, i’d love to know how you get on! :)
♥
