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Pancake Recipe:
1 cup (130 grams) all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons (28 grams) granulated white sugar
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 cup (240 ml) milk
2 tablespoons (28 grams) unsalted butter, melted
Plus extra melted butter for greasing the pan.
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Pancake Recipe: In a large bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. In a separate bowl whisk together the egg, milk, and melted butter. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and then pour in the egg mixture, all at once, and stir (with a rubber spatula or wooden spoon) just until combined. The batter should have some small lumps. (Do not over mix the batter or the pancakes will be tough.)
Heat a frying pan or griddle over medium high heat until a few sprinkles of water dropped on the pan or griddle splatter. Adjust the temperature as needed. Can also use an electric griddle with the temperature set at 350 degrees F (180 degrees C). Using a piece of paper towel or a pastry brush, lightly brush the pan with melted butter or oil (or spray with a non stick vegetable spray.)
Using a small ladle or scoop, pour about 1/4 cup (60 ml) of pancake batter onto the hot pan, spacing the pancakes a few inches apart. When the bottoms of the pancakes are brown and bubbles start to appear on the top surfaces of the pancakes (2-3 minutes), turn over. Cook until lightly browned (about 1-2 minutes).
Repeat with remaining batter, brushing the pan with melted butter or oil between batches.
Serve immediately with butter and maple syrup.
Makes about 8 - 4 inch (10 cm) pancakes. Serves 3-4 people.
For Blueberry Pancakes: Sprinkle fresh or frozen blueberries (prefer wild blueberries) on the tops of the pancakes just as bubbles start to appear on the top surface of the frying batter. Preparation time 15 minutes.
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My idea of the perfect weekend breakfast is a stack of Pancakes with butter and maple syrup dripping down its sides. I love how Pancakes use the most basic of ingredients. Just flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, an egg, a little butter, and milk. Like a muffin batter, just two bowls are needed. One for the dry ingredients, and one for the wet ingredients. Then the two are simply stirred together and the pancake batter is ready to be ladled onto a hot skillet.
Pancakes can be made in any size and shape, ranging from the size of a silver dollar to a round as large as your pan. You will know it is time to turn your pancake when the top surface begins to form small craters. Continue to cook the pancake until both sides have turned golden brown and it is cooked all the way through. Some say you should only flip a pancake once, but that is an old wives' tales. If you are not serving the pancakes immediately, place them in a warm oven (175 degrees F (80 degrees C)) directly on the wire rack. I do not like to stack the pancakes until serving as this will make them soggy, which will never do. While butter and maple syrup are the proverbial favorite, pancakes are also good with jam, fresh berries and whipped cream, or with just a dusting of icing sugar.
What is interesting about a pancake batter is that by changing the proportions of dry to wet ingredients you can change the thickness of the batter. Pancakes are known around the world by different names. If we make a thin pancake batter they are known in different countries as French crepes, blintz, Chinese pancakes (Bao bing) and a Hungarian palacsinta. A thicker batter makes an American pancake (also known as griddle cakes or flapjacks (meaning "to flip")), an Australian pikelet, a Scotch pancake or a drop scone. Both types of batters produce a pancake that is light and fluffy with a soft crust and spongy texture.
Although pancakes are mainly served for breakfast they take center stage on Pancake Day, or Shrove Tuesday (Mardi Gras), when they are served for supper. The ingredients used to make pancakes (flour, sugar, butter, milk and eggs) are forbidden during Lent so this is considered a 'feast' before a 'fast'. It is interesting to note that the word 'Shrove' comes from the word 'shrive' which is the Tuesday before Lent and the day on which parishioners shrive, or confess, their sins.