Whether you prefer your pancakes topped with crispy bacon or fresh fruit, fluffy pancakes remain a firm breakfast favourite. With countless recipes available, I personally lean towards the thicker, American-style variety. It's a recipe I've perfected over the years, and it's utterly foolproof while making plenty to feed everyone.
Achieving a perfectly round pancake can prove tricky, but I've stumbled upon one clever trick to help you produce results worthy of a top restaurant. It involves a single tool that's always on hand in my baking cupboard.
Ingredients
- 275g plain flour
- Two teaspoons of baking powder
- Half a teaspoon of salt
- Four tablespoons of caster sugar
- 270ml of any milk
- Two eggs
- Butter, to grease the pan
Method
Begin by whisking together all your dry ingredients — plain flour, baking powder, salt and caster sugar. Whisking the dry ingredients separately ensures everything is properly combined.
Next, add the milk and eggs, whisking once more until no traces of flour remain and the batter is completely smooth.
At this point, I take a large piping bag and pour in the mixture, then melt a small knob of butter in a frying pan over a medium heat.
Once the butter has melted, I snip a small piece from the tip of the piping bag and carefully pipe the batter into the frying pan.
Should you not have a piping bag to hand, a sandwich bag works just as well. I do this in the centre of the frying pan, leaving the bag untouched until the pancake reaches the size I want.
The batter spreads into a perfect circle, and it's essential to let the pancake cook undisturbed.
As soon as bubbles form on the surface, turn the pancake over and cook it for about 15 to 20 seconds on the other side.
The results are flawlessly circular pancakes every time, which I dish up alongside berries and maple syrup.
This recipe produced over 10 pancakes for me, so I pop them in the freezer once they've cooled down, ensuring I've always got a ready supply to hand.
