Today is pancake day guys! To be honest I celebrate it every week, but today is the official one and I decided to seize the opportunity and share with you my pancake knowledge :)
I would rather not call this a recipe, the idea is to share all I know about pancakes to this day and I really hope to expand this with your help! Before getting to it, some general things, which I think are important:
Cooking, including pancakes, in my opinion is something very personal. Know your preferences and go with them.
With that said, there is a lot of room to improvise. What I will share with you is my own improvisation, but there are thousands of ways to go.
Failure is the way to go! Do not be afraid to fail, be ready to learn from it and move on. You will do better next time, I promise!
Recipes should be considered like general guidelines and are not to be followed exact.
Ok, lets jump into it!
Pancakes
Main ingredients:
120 gr of all-purpose flour
260 gr whole milk
2 large eggs
salt
vanilla
I have two different ways of making pancakes - a more simple one and a slower one. Both produce amazing pancakes, so it depends on the mood I am in(ok, I meant my girlfriend).
The simple one
Put the milk to warm up a little on the stove.
Combine the flour, salt and vanilla in a bowl and mix well.
Put the eggs in another bowl and combine with the milk, whisking well. Be careful if the milk is too hot, you should do it slowly.
Make a well in the flour and stir in the milk and eggs mixture with a whisk. This step is important - always go from wet to dry, not the other way around.
(Optional) At this point the mixture is ready. However during the mixing process, you helped the gluten in the flour stiffen and the mixture will be tougher. Let it rest for 20 to 30 minutes at room temperature, or alternatively overnight in the fridge. The latter will produce the best results, just stir a little before frying.
Make the pancakes. If you have a non-stick pan you can go without butter, as I do. Frying with butter produces different results, which are best for some people. Do as you like, and have fun!
The fluffy pancakes
These are my girlfriend`s favorites, so I usually have a hard time not-making them. Basically all is the same, with the difference that we separate the eggs and whisk the egg-whites separately and we combine them with the final mixture. You will probably need an electric mixer for these.
Lets do this with some pictures
5 minutes under high with the electric mixer should produce these:
A well in the flour:
And the milk and egg mixture:
Now, after combining the flour with the milk and eggs you should add only 1/3 of the egg-white at first to loosen the mixture a little bit. Use a guy like that if you have at hand:
Then add the rest of the egg-whites and combine carefully. This is my final mixture:
We like to add some yellow cheese while frying the pancake:
And this is the result:
Twists and caveats
You do not have to use 100% milk, substitute some percentage with water.
You can add ground nutmeg/cloves/cinnamon to the mixture, depending on your taste
Butter can be melted and added to the mixture in small quantity
Flour/milk proportion depends on many things, experiment with it and find your own balance with your local products
The heat of the pan is also something that you should figure out on trial and error basis.
Classic western ways to eat pancakes are with chocolate, peanut butter or jam, but there are many different ideas. I personally do it sometimes with smoked salmon and avocado for example. You do not have to come up with all the ideas yourself, just cheat and use something like this to get the ideas. Twist them as you prefer.
My way of doing pancakes is far from perfect, but it`s the best I got for now. I always try to improve and I will welcome any suggestions on how to do that.
