| How to Make Awesome Pancakes for Fat Tuesday Feb 12th 2013, 08:00 Pancakes are a type of flat sweet bread enjoyed by cultures around the world. Pancake recipes vary but all have the same basic ingredients of flour, eggs and milk. Some countries, like the United States and Canada, serve pancakes for breakfast while others, such as the European regions, serve pancakes as desserts or even side dishes. They are eaten plain, with butter, sprinkled with powdered sugar or filled with pastry, fruit or cheese. Whatever the tradition, pancakes are a truly universal and enjoyable treat. On Fat Tuesdays (aka Shrove Tuesday) pancakes are eaten because they primarily contain sugar, fat, and flour which are restricted during the fasting of Lent. Edit Ingredients The following ingredients will make about 8 10-inch (25cm) pancakes (more or fewer, depending on the size). You may change the amounts of ingredients according to the amount of which you wish to serve. - 2 cups (9oz/255g) plain or all-purpose flour (See tips below)
- 2 eggs
- 1 1/2 cups (350ml) of milk
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 2 tablespoons butter/vegetable oil
- 5 tablespoons sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract
- Crack eggs into a bowl and beat until fluffy. Add in the dry ingredients, (omit baking soda if using self-raising flour), and milk. Do not stir mixture at this point.
- Melt the butter in a microwave-safe bowl. Make sure that it's completely melted; about a minute is sufficient.
- Add the butter and the milk to the mix. Stir gently, leaving some small clumps of dry ingredients in the batter. Do not blend until completely smooth. If your batter is smooth, your pancakes will be tough and flat as opposed to fluffy.
- Heat the frying pan to a medium low flame. If you have an initial "pancake" setting on your stove, use that. Be sure to use non-stick spray, or a pat of butter so the pancakes won't stick.
- Sprinkle a few flecks of water onto your pan. If it 'dances', or jumps from the pan with a sizzle, the pan is ready for the batter.
- Pour about 3 tablespoons to 1/4 cup batter from the tip of a large spoon or from a pitcher onto the hot griddle(Or your greased frying pan). The amount you pour will decide the final size of your pancakes. It is best to begin with less batter, and then slowly pour more batter onto the pan to increase the pancake size.
- Cook for about two minutes or until the pancake is golden. You should see bubbles form and then pop around the edges. When the bubbles at the edge of the batter pop and a hole is left that does not immediately close up, flip the cake gently.
- Cook the other side until golden and remove. Want a deeper color? Repeat the steps for another thirty seconds per side until the pancake is done enough for your tastes.
- Enjoy! Try adding butter, peanut butter, syrup, jelly, chocolate chips or fruit to your pancakes for a different, more exciting flavor. The varieties are endless. These are the most delectable pancakes you will ever taste.
- Add a little vanilla essence (extract) to the batter for an even sweeter pancake.
- Try putting cinnamon sugar on the pancake while it is in the pan. After it is finished cooking, roll it up, and serve it as a "mock crepe" for a delicious treat.
- Try low carb pancakes - virtually no carbs: if you use high protein powders and egg or egg whites -- you'll like these delicious, "sugar free" pancakes.
- Try adding ingredients to your batter instead of topping your pancakes with them. Need a few ideas? Try chocolate chips (milk or dark), fruit (strawberries, bananas, blueberries), or different spices (cinnamon).
- Try putting fruit in the batter, it is delicious.
- Instead of using butter or non-stick cooking spray on the pan, try melted bacon fat, which works great if you are making bacon at the same time as you make the pancakes.
- Lemon juice and fine sugar make a very traditional and delicious topping.
- If you choose to use self rising flour omit the salt and baking powder from the recipe. Self rising flour contains both those ingredients.
- Stir in two tablespoons of lemon juice and two additional tablespoons of sugar into the pancake batter before cooking it.
- As there are many cultures in which pancakes are made, there are many different recipes. Some things to experiment with are for example:
- Using beer or sparkling water along with the milk will give it a slightly different taste in the case of beer and make it rise better if you're not using baking powder.
- The ratio between the fluids (milk, sparkling water, beer) and the solids (wheat) determines whether the pancake will be thin (more like a French crepe) or thick (more like an American style pancake) so experiment until you find the recipe that you like most.
- By whisking the egg-white (as seen in the movie) and adding it later you are in fact making [1] Austrian-style Kaiserschmarrn dough, that is usually torn apart after/during baking into a scrambled eggs like dish.
- If you don't want the pancakes to stick to the pan you can also put in sunflower oil, the oil has a higher burning temperature (smoke point) than butter so it is better suited for use in hot pans.
- For a very fluffy pancake use vanilla or fruit yogurt mixed with water for your liquid portion. Try sour cream too!
- If you want your pancakes just right, make sure you leave them cooking in the pan for enough time!
- Make sure not to put on high temperature, or it will taste raw.
- You can remove sugar and add a sweetener or even add coffee to add taste.
Edit Warnings - Do not press down on pancakes while cooking, this prevents them from getting fluffy.
- Do not stack them on top of each other as that will cause them to drape from the steam and make them soggy.
Edit Things You'll Need - Bowls for mixing
- Whisk
- Frying pan
- Spatula
- Tablespoon
- Measuring cup
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