Ingredients / Shopping List
130g plain flour40g sugar1 tsp baking powder½ tsp bicarbonate of sodaPinch salt2 cups butter milk100g blueberries1 tsp rapeseed oil
Prep to Cook: Mixing bowl, whisk, basin, solid base frying pan or griddle pan, spatula. Cook on the hob.
Prep:
Sift together the flour, raising agents and salt.
Whisk in the milk to make a smooth batter.
Leave to stand for 5 minutes until it is thick.
Heat the griddle or flat frying pan and use a few drops of oil.
Put a spoonful of batter on the pan and fry one side.
Drop 5 or 6 blueberries into each pancake.
When the mixture has solidified and is not runny.
Turn and fry the other side.
Cook until golden. Serve hot.
American pancakes are similar to griddle scones or drop scones. The batter uses chemical raising agents.
Cooks Know How: This recipe makes a batter. The batter uses chemical raising agents to help make the end product light and fluffy. Sift the raising chemicals with the flour to distribute them evenly. Bicarbonate of soda is an alkali and therefore needs to be neutralised to prevent a soapy after taste. Buttermilk is acid and does the job of neutralising very well making good fluffy pancakes.
Baking powder is formulated to give carbon dioxide during cooking again giving the pancakes a light texture. The simple batter mix makes thick pancakes due to the action of the raising agents and the buttermilk. Cook them gently and look for the starch in the flour beginning to gelatinise and change in appearance as it sets. The sugar helps the flavour of the pancake and aids browning of the surface (caramelisation). For extra thick pancakes you can add and egg. Put the yolk in the batter, whisk the egg white and fold this into the batter. Cook as before. This addition of egg enriches the batter.