PANCAKES.
If you follow me on Instagram (@heatherbrownuk) then you might have noticed that I am a tiny bit keen on pancakes. (cough *massive understatement* cough).
I thought I would share the love and here are my fail-safe recipes for both American Pancakes (sometimes called 'drop scones') and the more french style of Crepes. Both are easy to make and both are delicious!
Crepes...
Ingredients...
3oz plain flour
1 egg
milk
Method...
Weigh the flour into a bowl. Add the egg and a glug of milk. Whisk the ingredients together until there are no lumps. Add enough milk until the pancake mixture is as runny as you would like.
Heat a frying pan with enough oil to cover the base until the pan is hot and smoking. Ladel in enough of the mixture to cover the pan. Tilt the pan so the the mixture runs right to the edges.
Watch the pancake and it will slowly change colour as it cooks. Gently free the pancake from the pan with a spatula and either flip the pancake or use the spatula to turn the pancake and briefly cook the other side. Keep cooking the pancakes until the mixture is gone.
Makes about 4 crepes.
American Pancakes...
Ingredients...
185g self raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
2 tbsp caster sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
2 eggs
250ml milk
Method...
Add together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and sugar. Beat into the milk the eggs and then pour this into the dry ingredients and mix together, making sure there are not any lumps.
Leave this mixture for 20 minutes. This is a frustrating part of the process because you just want to cook the pancakes and shovel them into your face but it really does make a better pancake. The resting time allows the raising agents to get to work and when you do come to cook the pancakes, they become lovely and fluffy.
Once the 20 minutes are over, heat a frying pan with enough oil to cover the bottom and add the mixture to the pan in spoonfuls so that you create pancake shaped blobs. Turn the pancakes halfway so that it is golden brown on both sides.
Mixture makes about 10 pancakes.
Tips...
Apparently the first pancake in your batch is always a disaster (but usually still edible).
To keep the cooked pancakes warm while you cook the whole batch, pile them up on top of each other to make a glorious pancake stack. You can also keep them in an oven on a low heat.
The pan will get hotter as you carry on cooking so keep an eye on the later pancakes that they don't burn before the middle is cooked and turn the heat down accordingly.
I prefer my pancakes crispy on the edges so I like to be fairly generous with the oil in the pan but the oil is really just there so that the pancakes don't stick to the pan - spray oil would work too. If you swig too much oil in by mistake just tip the excess out or wipe a kitchen towel around the pan to mop up the excess.
If you are frying bacon with your pancakes, you can try frying the bacon in the pan and then frying the pancakes in the bacon fat - yum!
