American and Canadian pancakes are usually served at breakfast, in a stack of two or three, and are topped with an array of tasty toppings. They are sometimes served with other items such as bacon, toast, eggs or sausages. This easy American pancake recipe from BBC Good Food makes light and fluffy pancakes that serve well for any occasion. For blueberry flavoured pancakes, try adding a large handful of fresh blueberries to the batter before cooking.
135g plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons caster sugar
130ml milk
1 large egg, lightly beaten
2 tablespoons melted butter (allowed to cool slightly) or olive oil, plus extra for cooking
Method
Sift the flour, baking powder, salt and caster sugar into a large bowl.
In a separate bowl or jug, lightly whisk together the milk and egg, then whisk in the melted butter.
Next, pour the milk mixture into the flour mixture.
Make sure to use a fork for this step, beating until you have a nice, smooth batter.
Any lumps will soon disappear with a little mixing. Let the batter stand for a few minutes.
Heat a non-stick frying pan over a medium heat and add a knob of butter.
When it is melted, add a lade or batter (or two if your frying pan is big enough to cook two pancakes at the same time).
It will seem very thick, but this is how it should be
Wait until the top of the pancake begins to bubble, then turn it over and cook until both sides are golden brown and the pancake has risen to about 1cm thick.
Repeat until all of the batter is used up.
You can keep the pancakes warm in a low oven, but they taste best fresh out of the pan.
Serve with lashings of maple syrup, and extra butter, if it suits your taste.
Tip
For extra fluffy pancakes, substitute self raising flour for plain flour and still use the baking powder.
Serve the pancakes with fresh strawberries and good vanilla ice cream.
If you want to serve with bacon and maple syrup, use half buckwheat flour and half plain flour for the batter.
You can also add one teaspoon of ground cinnamon to the buckwheat batter and serve with thick double cream and fruit.