Soft, fluffy and just the right amount of sweet, pancakes are golden brown delights that are versatile enough that they can act as breakfast or as a dessert after a meal. As breakfast, they can be topped with honey or maple syrup, fresh fruit or a dollop of butter. As a dessert, they can be topped with more decadent flavors like chocolate or caramel and served alongside additions like ice cream and whipped cream. They are an indulgent dish that can be transformed depending on one’s wishes and can be enjoyed with a coffee or a glass of champagne. This is also one of those classics that everyone should know how to make. So here’s a simple pancake recipe you can follow to make this dynamic dish yourself and have it be one of the feathers in your cap.
Ingredients:
- 195 gm all-purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon fine sea or table salt
- 295 ml milk, dairy or non-dairy
- 1 large egg
- 70 gm unsalted butter, plus more for skillet
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Directions:
- In a bowl, add the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Mix well and set aside.
- In another bowl, add the milk, egg, butter and vanilla extract. Whisk until thoroughly mixed in.
- Now slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ones. Take the flour mixture, one spoon at a time, and add it to the wet ingredients bowl. Mix that much in fully, then add another spoon or two of the dry ingredients. In this way, a little by little, combine all the dry and wet ingredients.
- Place a pan on medium heat. Add some butter and spread it around.
- Scoop a spoonful or two of batter onto the pan. Tilt the pan to get the batter to spread evenly throughout the pan.
- Let it cook for a few minutes. Once the edges start to dry, flip the pancake and let it cook on the other side. You’ll know it's done when the pancakes are lightly browned and fully cooked in the middle. Repeat this process until all the batter is used up.
- Stack the pancakes onto a serving plate. Add any garnishes of your choice, depending on when you’re serving the pancakes.
- Serve warm.
Notes, tips and tricks:
- If you want to pre plan, you can make the batter the day before and store it in the fridge. When you make them the next day, they will be slightly less fluffy, but other than that, they are going to be good.
- Leftover pancakes can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for about a week. They can also be frozen for two months. When reheating the pancakes, pop them in the microwave or cover with foil and bake at 350°F or 177°C for about 10 minutes.
- The recipe calls for unsalted butter and a pinch of salt. If you don't have unsalted butter, you can use salted butter too, but skip the salt pinch. However, it's better to use unsalted butter since the salt really amplifies the other flavors in the dish.
- Make sure the butter is at room temperature. If it's cold, it won't mix in properly with the other ingredients and the batter will be lumpy. If you try to melt cold butter to heat it quickly, it will become liquidy and the resultant batter will be too runny. So it's best to use room temperature butter that has softened naturally, since that will mix in the best. So it's best to pre-plan and let the butter sit out for an hour or so before you start cooking.
- The egg needs to be room temperature since at that temperature the egg will mix in the best with the other ingredients.
- There are several toppings you can add to your pancakes. We’ll give you the options and you can decide whether you would like to use them with breakfast pancakes or dessert pancakes. Topping options include:
- Chopped nuts like almonds, walnuts, pistachios
- Fresh fruit like strawberries, sliced bananas, blueberries
- Sauces like chocolate or caramel
- Butters like almond butter or peanut butter
- Jams or fruit compotes
- Honey or maple syrup
- Dusting of cocoa powder, icing sugar, cinnamon
- Fancy decorations like chocolate chips, sprinkles, stars or other designs, edible glitter