Recipe: Sunday Morning American-Style Pancakes

mmmm…..

So, it is a Sunday morning (well….I’ve just got up, so I’ll call it morning – I daren’t actually check the time in case it is the afternoon already!!) and I have just had a really really busy week, full to the brim with rehearsals for the show I am working on at the moment, bits and bobs of teaching, more rehearsals for a new project I am working on with a friend from drama school, plus walking to and from rehearsals, various writing work I needed to do etc etc. All in all, every minute of this week has been jam packed!
Today is my day off, and I have made sure that I have planned nothing. I am not going to see anyone (no offence!), I am not going to any rehearsals, I have no deadlines tomorrow, today is for me.


I woke up this morning craving proper american pancakes; no idea why. Normally, if I want breakfast food, I will head to “The Breakfast Club” – seriously, if you live in London, find your nearest one and get there, immediately! This morning however, the idea of getting dressed and ready for the day, putting on make up (even just basic!) and leaving the house to the cold just did not appeal, so I googled how to make american pancakes at home.

I will say this now; I am not a cook. I can cook, but I do not claim to be some kitchen goddess (though I do make a really good thai green curry!)
I have never made these before, and I had no idea how they were going to turn out, or in fact any clue as to how to make them!
That said, they turned out quite well, so here we go!

What you need

– 1 Large Egg
– 135g Self-Raising Flour
– 2 tbsp Caster Sugar
– 150ml milk (plus extra in case your egg is too small and the batter turns out a bit thick! – This happened to me!)
– 2 tbsp melted butter (plus extra to grease the pan)

– 2 bowls (or just a clever set of scales that can weigh stuff as you put it all in together – it was early, I just used two bowls for the sake of my sunday morning brain!)
– either a jug or a ladle for pouring the batter into the pan
– something to flip the pancakes with
– non-stick frying pan

How to do it

First step, put the flour and sugar together in a bowl.

Flour and Sugar bed….looks comfy…what do you think Mr Egg?

Next, take your second bowl and pour in the milk. Crack in your egg and whisk together, then add the melted butter.

Pour the milky ingredients into the flour and sugar bowl and mix with a fork. The lumps will disappear within a couple of minutes of mixing.
NB. at this point my batter was like a soggy bread dough, and far, far too thick for pancake batter (My egg wasn’t large enough apparently!) so I added about 100ml more milk until it mixed into a thick pourable pancake batter.

Looks appetising…!

Put a knob of butter into the frying pan on a LOW heat and wait until it has melted. Add some batter – enough for one small pancake. It seems very thick, but that’s how it is meant to be. When you start seeing little bubbles appear in the top of the pancake, flip it over. Cook until both sides are golden brown and the pancake batter is cooked through.

I’ve yet to master how to get them into a perfect circle…and this one is HUGE!

Repeat until all batter is used.

When stacking, it is really yummy to layer something scrummy between each pancake. For me, I used a bit of nutella, just spread on a thin layer like you would on toast, not only is it really tasty, but it keeps the stack standing (this also works with syrup)! Once your pancakes are stacked, put a dollop of nutella, cream, maple syrup or whatever else you fancy on top, and cover with fresh fruit or bacon etc etc.

What better way to start a lazy Sunday? I have to admit, I’m pretty proud of these!

I found this batter made enough for 2 or three people at least, and that was with my pancakes getting bigger and bigger each time….I’m sure there is a technique to making them come out all the same shape and size, but I have yet to master that! Incidentally, I also got much better towards the end of the batch…

The last, and the first….I definitely got better! (bigger too!)

I have been told – and if I am wrong I can only apologise, I am a newbie after all  – that you can keep the rest in the fridge or freezer if you have leftovers and just pop them in the toaster when you want to eat them. Needless to say I will be trying that as a pre-rehearsal breakfast this week sometime!

A couple of tips that I learnt along the way:

1. Less is more with the batter – my pancakes got bigger and thicker as I went along….less is more!

2. Keep on a LOW heat. I got impatient and turned it up and one of my pancakes looked like he had fallen asleep in a sunbed… to cook the batter all the way through it needs to be on a LOW heat and just takes a tiny bit longer.

3. Cut up your fruit before you cook the pancakes. Though still really tasty, If I’d cut up my fruit before, I think the pancakes would have been really good a bit hotter straight out of the pan!

Yum!

Now, I am completely full of yummy pancake-ness and ready to get on with my day of rest before the new week arrives with more rehearsals, teaching, writing etc etc!

Food Porn….

If you try this recipe out, please take a photo and tweet me @rosieladkin! I’d love to see other people’s ideas for these!