American style Pancakes Cooking made easy

Cooking made easy – American style pancakes

Pancakes. Every one loves pancakes and most people buy a ready-made mix. Why not try making your own? They taste far better and are really easy to make. And, you know exactly what went into them. No preservatives, no artificial flavors. Much better. This recipe takes about 15 minutes preparation, mostly waiting for the buttermilk to be ready. That’s right, this is a twofer, you will make your own buttermilk too. Buttermilk is not widely available in Europe, so I had to work out how to make my own, and it tastes much better than the store bought. Try it and see.

American pancakes – makes 4 large pancakes or 12 small or 20 dollar pancakes.

You will need:

Equipment:

• A jug
• A bowl
• A fork
• A spatula
• A skillet or heavy frying pan

Ingredients:

For the butter milk:

• ½ cup plain yoghurt
• ¾ cup milk
• 1 table spoon lemon juice

For the pancakes:

• 1 ¼ cup of buttermilk
• 1 egg
• 1 ½ cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ¼ cup sugar
• 1/4 cup of oil
• A pinch of salt

To make the buttermilk, put the yoghurt and milk into a jug add the lemon juice and mix. Leave to stand for 15 minutes. This allows the milk to curdle slightly and the yoghurt gives a light fluffy texture to the pancakes that you don’t quite get using milk only. If you don’t have yoghurt just use more milk instead, but I have found that the mixture of the two works better.

To make the pancake mix. First add the dry ingredients to a bowl and mix. Next break the egg into the dry ingredients and mix with a fork. Next add the buttermilk and oil and stir. The mixture will be a little lumpy but that’s OK it adds to the texture of the pancakes.

Next, take the skillet, add two tablespoons of oil and heat on a medium heat. When the oil is hot, add some mixture to the pan. If you want large pancakes, add a lot, if you want small pancakes add less.

Cook over the medium heat until the top of the mixture hardens, turn and cook the other side. The cooking takes very little time, perhaps four minutes. When the pancakes are brown they are ready. Serve with butter and maple syrup. I served these with bacon and eggs, but they go well with sausages or whatever you prefer for breakfast. For a change, if you like, you can add fruit to the mix, blueberries are good. Easy.

Bon Apetit !