Pancakes – A Basic Recipe

Is a great recipe to learn off the top of your head, for any last minute dessert, or for a treat for the kids. This is a simple version that gives thin, sugarless pancakes ready for any toppings from fresh strawberries and icing sugar to maple syrup or jam to lemon and sugar (my favourite).

Pictured: Pancakes

110g plain flour
Pinch salt
2 eggs
200ml milk mixed with 75 ml water
Butter for greasing pan, at least 25g

Place the dry ingredients in a large bowl, make a well in the centre and add the eggs and milk – mix with either electric beaters or a whisk and slowly incorporate the flour mix into the centre to make a smooth batter like runny cream.

Some like to rest the batter in the fridge for half an hour to settle, I tend to need to use it straight away and it works just fine!

I like to use an actual crepe pan as they are non-stick and the prefect pancake diameter (18cm/7 inch). Any good non-stick pan will do though.

Warm the pan onto a med-high heat, add a small piece of butter and swirl it around the pan to cover, spoon in 2 tbsp or so of batter and swirl that around to the edges as well. Cook 30 seconds first side– have a good pallet knife or egg flipper ready to lift the edges to check it is nicely browned, and to flip them over – the other side will take less time to cook so be at the ready. Repeat for each pancake.

Turn them onto plates ready to serve – we tend to organise the order of receivers and everyone eat them as they come off the pan fresh. Otherwise you can stack them and keep warm in a low oven. You can also cook them in advance, stacked onto a plate and fold them into triangles and microwave a few seconds to warm up, or warm up again in the oven - a lovely trick is to sprinkle each pancake with cocoa and sugar before folding into triangles, and warm up 170°C until a little crips on top, to make chocolate pancakes - see below.

Serve with your favourite toppings and enjoy!

Makes 12- 14 pancakes

Pictured: Chocolate pancakes