Sunday, Aug. 05, 2007, 8:40 p.m., Recipe: English Pancakes (thin pancakes)

Adapted from The Diary Book of Family Cookery (1986)
Serves 2.(makes 8 pancakes)

125g (4oz/1 C) flour
generous pinch of salt
1 egg
300ml milk
butter for frying

Extras: brown sugar, and lemon juice, and lemon zest; or dob of jam/preserve; or cheddar cheese.

1. Sift flour and salt into a bowl, make a well in the centre, and add the egg. Beat with a wooden spoon, adding the milk gradually.
2. To make pancakes: Heat a little butter in a smallish frying pan until fairly hot, running the melted butter around to coat the sides of the pan.
3. Ladle or pour in a little batter, rotating the pan at the same time, until enough batter is added to give a thin coating.
4. Cook until the pancake begins to curl around the edges, revealing a golden-brown colour underneath.
5. Give the pan a gentle shake; if the pancake shifts in the pan, it is ready to flip!
6. Flipping: Use a palette knife or spatula to ease under the centre and flip over. Or, give the pan a steady shake upwards to flip the pancake over.
7. Fry the other side until golden brown, then turn onto a warm plate and cover. Continue cooking pancakes until al lthe batter is used., adding a small amount of butter to the pan each time.
8. Serve immediately, sprinkled with sugar and lemon juice. Or fill with a sweet or savour filling.

I am pleased and proud to report that this attempt at making pancakes was a complete success.

My inspiration was Moominmamma, Finn Family Momintroll by Tove Jansson (English translation 1950).

"Moominmamma at once bustled forward with panckes and jam, and gave him [the Hobgoblin] a big plateful.
"While the Hobgoblin was eating they edged a little nearer. Somebody who eats pancakes and jam can't be so awfully dangerous. You can talk to him."

Mike was very pleased with his delicious breakfast, and a little envious at my success *smug* I attribute my success to love, Moominmamma, and the right combination of heat, frypan size, and swirling technique.

Today was also the first time that I tried to flip a pancake, and succeeded on the first and subsequent tries! I was so excited I burst into the room and gave SO a fright. He then calmed down and congratulated me.

The batter took much longer than I expected. It was about an hour before most of the lumps were smoothed out, and I'm told the batter ought to be done in 10mins.

The pancakes were rather thinner than I was expecting; more crepe-like. And so delicious with the brown sugar and fresh lemon & juice & zest.

I would like to experiment with buttermilk. Yum.

12Aug07 Update: So on Friday night I pre-made the batter with buttermilk. I have two things to note.

1. Cultured buttermilk - skim milk with some bacteria in it - is slightly fermented and lumpy. This is a surprise to me. I was expecting silky buttery yellowish milk.

2. The buttermilk had two effects on the otherwise standard English pancake batter: i) batter was thickenned; ii) holes appeared in the pancake.

I have three things to note.
3. It still took about 50 mins to make the batter smooth at the preparation stage.

18Nov07 Update: I woke up craving pancakes this morning. So I threw some together, with the assistance of knowledge gained from previous attempts.

1. Only self-raising flour available, so I used half the quantity in an effort to thin the batter.

2. I should have added 1/4 more milk to increase the batter volume.

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(c) Sockii