American pancakes

Hello again, everyone!

After a few weeks without bringing anything new to the table, today I am going to give you a recipe for some incredible original American pancakes.

In a previous entry for Banana pancakes, I gave you a little introduction so that you got an idea as to when they would normally eat them in North American (the United States and Canada). So if you want to find out a little more, do not hesitate to check it out :).

This time, I'm giving you the original recipe.

The first time that I tried American pancakes was when I was sixteen years old, if I remember correctly, but they were industrial pancakes, not homemade, where all the ingredients come mixed together in a powder and the only thing you have to do is add the milk and eggs.

Well, my experience with these pancakes was not exactly positive.

I thought they were a little dry and even after adding lots of butter and maple syrup they were still quite bland... I don't know, I didn't like them much.

But, even so, I didn't refuse to eat them because they weren't revolting.

And, back then, I thought that making pancakes was something very complicated and would require lots of ingredients and a good technique when cooking them. But, in truth, I couldn't have been more wrong. It's very easy.

To make pancakes you need the same ingredients you would use to make crêpes (on my blog is also the recipe for crêpes in case you do not know how to make them), but the only difference is the quantities of the ingredients and that you have to add baking powder so that they rise.

So, after looking up some recipes online and realising the similarities with crêpes, I threw myself into making pancakes myself, totally homemade, and the truth is that they came out perfectly. Delicious, as always.

And I wouldn't lie to you, aye. The first time that I made pancakes was the best because after that first time, the other times I have made pancakes they haven't been as good. Until a few days ago when a friend of mine told me that they were the best pancakes yet.

To tell the truth, you could say that I have already become quite the expert.

Sometimes, I make pancakes every weekend and even some days during the week if I get up early. And, furthermore, I say expert because I have an American friend who is used to eating pancakes almost every day when she is at home, and she told me that my recipe is the original;).

Moreover, I also had the opportunity to try the pancakes in American territory, as two years ago, more or less, I went to Florida and I had to try them. It was in iHop (a place that surely everyone who has been to the United States will know), which is a place that specialises in pancakes and that is open 24/7.

A great thing because I went there at two o'clock in the morning on a Sunday and it saved my life because I was dying from hunger.

https://www.visitstaugustine.com/restaurant/ihop-i-95

http://www.appleig.com/its-confirmed-ihop-is-coming-to-town/

At some later point I will write a blog post about my experience in Florida and there I will be able to tell you about all the perfect places to eat good American good (not just McDonald's, aye).

As I said before, they are very easy to make and only need a few ingredients that you will surely already have in the cupboard.

Now, the recipe that I am going to give you and the advice to make them come out well are things I have learned with practice. It is true that the first pancakes I made were perfect, but let's call that beginners luck, because after that first time, well, they were not quite as good.

Of course, they also weren't disastrous, but they weren't magnificent either. But, in the end, with time all errors will be corrected.

For the measurements you can use a scale to calculate them or the typical small boxes that already come on top of the grams scale that have become so fashionable.

I say typical because here in Spain, cupcakes and pancakes have become quite popular, and we also care about the utensils we use to be able to measure out the ingredients well. So, if you don't have those boxes, do not worry, you will surely be able to easily find them in the supermarkets.

I bought my own ones in Carrefour in France, so I assume that they would also have them in Spain or England.

And if not, you could always buy them online, because the prices can be quite low and the quality still very acceptable.

Now, let's begin with the recipe.

Ingredients:

• 1 egg.
• 120g (1 cup) of flour.
• 30g sugar (you could also use brown sugar).
• 15g of baking powder.
• A pinch of salt
• 30ml (about 2 tablespoons) of sunflower oil or extra virgin olive oil.
• 200ml (between ¾ cup and 1 cup) milk (it doesn't have to be cows milk, you could also use soy or oat milk).

Method:

Begin by putting the dry ingredients into a big bowl and mixing them together well.

For the flour, I have just discovered that there is also whole-wheat flour, and a few weeks ago I had a go making both crêpes and pancakes with whole-wheat flour and the truth is that I was quite surprised at the result, in a good way.

So, if instead of using normal, white flour, if you wanted, you could use whole-wheat, as I told you just now there are no problems with using it and it's not at all strange.

A little piece of advice for the baking powder: if you want, you could add less than 15g because if not then there can be a strange taste due to the bicarbonate, or it can make the pancakes too savoury and they will end up tasting a little fake and industrial.

I used to think that the more baking powder the better because that way the pancakes would rise more and be more spongy, but then I noticed the metallic flavour that it gave to it, and so the next time I tried to use much less and I liked it the result a lot more.

It is true that they were not as spongy as before, but the flavour was much better, which is the most important thing, after all.

For the sugar, I have to be honest with you and say that I added more than what the recipe says, but only because I really like sweet things and although, technically, pancakes are supposed to be a savoury dish, I prefer them to have a sweeter taste than savoury.

So, I normally add about four tablespoons of sugar and I don't think this makes them sickeningly sweet but instead more flavoursome.

But it depends on your tastes, so for those who aren't a big fan of sweet things, do not add more than what the recipe says. But for those of you who like sugar as much as I do, you know that nothing will happen if you add more sugar to the mix; the mixture will remain just as consistent and you don't have to increase the quantities of the other ingredients.

After mixing the dry ingredients together, add the sunflower oil and milk and stir.

In regards to the oil, you can choose between sunflower oil or extra virgin olive oil. The only difference will be in the flavour.

As you may already know, extra virgin olive oil has quite a strong flavour to it, so the pancakes would taste a little of this oil.

Which is why, for me personally, I prefer to cook desserts with sunflower oil because it doesn't give anything a strange flavour.

But it is down to what you prefer, the result will be just as good if you use either of the oils.

And in regards to the milk, well it's the same as with crêpes. You could also use soy, oat, rice or almond milk for those who are intolerant to lactose or for those that do not like cows milk.

Obbviously, the final flavour will be a little different depending on the milk that you use, but you don't have to worry because it won't be anything strange and, when cooking the pancakes in the frying pan, nothing will stick or anything like that.

I last used milk that was lactose-free and the result was quite good.

Well, once, after having mixed the ingredients, you can add the egg and stir it well so that it mixes together well and joins with the rest of the mixture.

I advise you to follow this order of mixing the ingredients together because, in the case of not using an electric blender and you use a manual one, first the dry ingredients are mixed together, and then afterwards add the egg to avoid lumps in the flour and so that the mix blends well and without lumps.

But this is more a tip for those who use the manual whisk, because, as you will see in the photos, I put the ingredients in altogether at once because, afterwards, I would blend everything together with the automatic blender because with an automatic blender there are never any lumps, since there is not enough milk in crêpes to form lumps if it moves very fast.

Anyway after mixing everything together very well, and once you have a consistent mixture, neither too liquidy nor too thick, put the frying pan onto the hob and leave it to heat up a little.

At the same time, also let the mix rest for a little while so that the baking powder can work its magic and make sure than the pancakes will be spongy.

For the consistency of the mixture, you have to make it a little firmer than you would a mixture for crêpes, given that when you pour the mixture into the frying pan you want to only pour it into little circles and not to spread it around the whole frying pan as you would for crêpes.

If you see that the mixture is very liquidy, you would only need to add a little flour to give it more consistency, or cornflour to better combine the ingredients.

Once the pan is hot, lower the heat a little and proceed to pour a little of the mixture into the frying pan.

When you pour the mixture in, move the frying pan around so that the mixture spreads out a little. Leave it as it as and allow the mix to spread out by itself.

Remember than pancakes have to be spongy and the same size as a small/ medium plate, so it is not worth moving the frying pan around to spread the mixture.

When you pour the mixture in, leave it for 30 seconds in the pan before then proceeding to flip it.

And then do the same on the other side. Leave it for 30 seconds in the frying pan and then take the pancake out of the pan to put onto a plate.

If you see that bubbles begin to form in the mix, this just means that you need a little more baking powder. So just put in less than half a teaspoon and mix it in.

Then let the mix rest again so that the baking powder can take effect. Then, afterwards, proceed again to pour the mixture into the frying pan.

One you have finished the mix, serve the pancakes with a little piece of butter on top and a lot of Maple syrup, or any other kind of syrup, depending on what you prefer.

Another piece of advice is, when you have finished cooking a pancake, put it on a plate and then immediately put the piece of butter on top so that it melts whilst it is warm.

You could add a lot of syrup, such as Maple syrup, strawberry syrup, caramel syrup or chocolate syrup. Whatever you prefer.

Afterwards, you could also add a spoonful of Greek yoghurt with chocolate chips or fruit, or spread cheese over the pancakes. Whatever you prefer.

Be creative, that's the best thing about cooking!

And that is everything for today :).

As you have seen, pancakes are something very easy to make and do not require much time at all. And furthermore, with time you will get better and faster, because, after everything, practice makes perfect.

Now, enjoy!

Photo gallery