Saturday, November 01, 2008

Pancake help, please!

not-so-fluffy-pancakes

I love pancakes. Especially the thick, fluffy American kind. Swedes eat thin pancakes, like crepes, and they're nice too. Not something I'd ever make for breakfast though. The American ones however.. oh, I love a special weekend breakfast with a batch of these and some crispy bacon.

It's just that I don't love my recipe all that much. I'm using this, which is originally from Bill Granger, and the problem is that they don't fluff up all that much. Or rather, they deflate really fast. I want them to keep their puffiness, diner-style.

So, dear readers - help me out. What's your very favorite pancake recipe? Everything's welcome - I'd love to work my way through your favorites!

26 comments:

Anonymous said...

Anne, I think Junior's Griddle Cakes are the classic American diner pancake. It really does help to have a griddle for pancakes.

The recipe is posted all over the web, http://www.copykat.com/component/rapidrecipe/?page=viewrecipe&recipe_id=528

Anonymous said...

Själv kör jag på ett recept med amerikanska vaniljpannkakor. Om du vill servera bacon till så strunta i smaksättningen isf.

Receptet hittar du här: http://www.saltpeppar.se/blog/?p=995

Anonymous said...

The Jamie Oliver recipe I use for my US style pancakes has always worked nicely. Food Network version here.

Anonymous said...

Hi there Anne,
I think you will love this recipe for fluffy pancakes.
It´s one from Rose Bakery. Her book is called Breakfast lunch Tea.
Here goes the recipe, hope you enjoy it as much as we do at home.
Note. I only use 2 teaspoons baking powder and half a tablespoon caster sugar.

2 eggs
220ml milk
5 tablespoons unsalted butter melted
190g flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1tablespoon caster sugar
4 teaspoons baking powder

In a bowl beat eggs, milk and melted butter. put aside.
In another bowl sift together flour, salt, sugar and baking powder.
Pour egg mixture into flour and stir lightly until wet and dry ingredients are combined.

Then proceed as you would to do your pancakes.

Voila! hope yo try it out
xx Bianca from Spain

BC said...

It really depends on the type of flour. One with a lot of gluten will hold the "fluff" longer and better but too much can be tough. If there is too much liquid, they will be flat.

If you find your batter too thin, add a little more flour.

dp said...

The elusive fluffy pancake!

I agree with the comment about the batter too thin.

The recipe I use has both baking soda and baking powder, which helps with the rise.

1 cup buttermilk
2 tbs neutral oil
1 egg

2 tbs sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 to 1 tsp baking soda
salt to taste (I use about 1/2 tsp kosher)

Whisk the wet ingredients and add it to the dry ingredients. Mix until the lumps are gone.

Sounds like you'll be busy trying all these different recipes :-)

eatswedishfish said...

Many of us lazy Americans use Bisquick (or similar) to make our pancakes! It may not be available in Sweden.

Bisquick
http://www.bettycrocker.com/products/bisquick

Anonymous said...

Mark Bittman's Everyday Pancakes

YUM

also, his narrative commentary about pancakes is nice: found here

if you make more pancakes than you can eat, they can be frozen. Cool on a rack, then stack with a bit of wax paper between them. Freeze. Reheat in a toaster and you've got breakfast on the go & easy. (I esp. like mixing in pecans or walnuts and chocolate chips for this -- not a bad breakfast.)

Anne said...

Zazzy - sadly, griddles are rarely used here since gas is really uncommon - almost everyone has electrical stovetops, and while I have seen griddles that will work, I've only see one which was *hugely* expensive. So, I think I'd have to stick with frying pans, but I'll check out the recipe!

Maria - tack, låter gott!!

Ken - thanks, Jamie is generally dependable, so I'll have to try that!

Bianca, that sounds great!

bc - ooh, interesting! My batter is pretty thick, but I do have extra-gluten flour which I could try using!

dp, definitely one to try!! :)

eatswedishfish - you know, I did bring Bisquick back last time I was in the US, and yes, pancakes were definitely fluffier. Not sold here, though!

Ordinary girl, what a great idea! I'd love to make a jumbo batch, then have some ready to go on busy mornings.. brilliant. :)

Noel said...

Hi Anne,

I definitely suggest you check out Alton Brown's pancake recipe. Definitely my favorite hands down: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/instant-pancake-mix-recipe/index.html

Let us know how you like it if you give it a try.

Anonymous said...

Here is a great post that I love about pancakes!

http://smittenkitchen.com/2008/07/blueberry-pancakes-pancake-101/

Lydia said...

We always use my grandmother's recipe for pancakes as our standby; my family likes various additions including chocolate chips, sliced bananas, strawberries or other fruit, coconut, etc. and the leftovers make great peanut butter sandwiches!

I can't say as this is a particularly "fluffy" diner style pancake, but I recently decided to up the amount of baking powder (from the original 3 tsp. to 4 tsp.) and that helped a lot. You can also beat the eggwhites stiff if you want, folding them in at the end--but I'm lazy and skip that step.

Grandma's Pancakes
2 cups flour (I use half white, half whole-wheat)
4 tsp baking powder
2 Tbs. sugar
2 eggs
2 cups milk
1 tsp vanilla, almond or anise extract (optional)

I don't add oil or butter to the mix, but like to cook them in a bit of oil in a cast iron skillet.

It does make quite a bit, so freezing the extra is a good idea.

I hope you enjoy our recipe!

Anonymous said...

give me food

Anonymous said...

Anne, what about my own recipe of apple pancakes? Actually, this is my favorite one from all pancakes recipes I ever tried. First I am peeling two middle apples and grating them, adding a little bit of cinnamon, nutmeg and vanilla, mixing up everything, then I am letting them to stay in room temperature, while I am making a dough. For dough I am mixing up one egg and one cup of flour, then I adding a kefir, just a little bit each time during the mixing, to get a dough-mixture. To make my pancakes fluffy I am measuring a teaspoon of baking soda, putting it to a tablespoon, then I pour a little bit of vinegar to the soda, waiting until it finish to process and then I am adding the baking soda to the dough. Then I am mixing up my dough with the grated apples and I am heating a little bit of olive oil or sunflower oil in a frying pan and pouring this my dough-mixture with a tablespoon to the frying pan. I love to make small pancakes (I hate big ones). Finally, when pancakes are ready, you can enjoy them with some jam, whipping cream, whatever... My husband loves my apple pancakes with a maple syrup. By the way! Did you notice, I didn't mention any sugar in the recipe? It is because I am usually using sweet juicy apples for pancakes. But if you are using a cooking apples, of course, better to add a little bit of sugar to them, together with vanilla, cinnamon and nutmeg.

Annika said...

You can find my favourite recipe
here on my food blog (på svenska, då):

Anonymous said...

Hej Anne!
Have you tried using metal rings for the pancakes? The batter has to be VERY gloopy (I am assuming you want the Canadian sort of small pancakes with maple syrup, right?) and spooning the batter on the rings is the only way of containing them. It also means you can make them as high as you want! Once they are half cooked you can take the ring away to turn them over. Lycka till!

Marona said...

Hej Anne! My pancakes got much better after I read and aplied this Martha Stewart "rules" ;)
http://www.marthastewart.com/portal/site/mslo/menuitem.3a0656639de62ad593598e10d373a0a0/?vgnextoid=748576ecfd22f010VgnVCM1000003d370a0aRCRD&vgnextfmt=default&rsc=sl_breakfast_p1
I hope that helps!

Kimberly Pye said...

The favorite in our house is this one:

http://vegetarian.about.com/od/breakfastrecipe1/r/veganpancakes.htm

You can use apple sauce instead of oil, and it's just as good -- maybe better! (Sooo light and fluffy!)

I've also replaced half the flour with acorn flour, and they were delicious!

escralan said...

yes, I always throw alittle baking soda in any pancake recipe..helps with the rise. Give it a few minutes after the mix to activate.

satu said...

Hello! Today I tried the recipe from Bianca from Spain. Ofcourse I had to tamper with the recipe, I traded 100 ml of the milk for plain yoghurt and the butter for oil. The result was quite good, juicy enough and not so sweet. We had them with strawberries, bananas, jam and chocolate sauce.

satu said...

It's me again, I forgot, I tampered more than what I told above, the 190 grams of flour consisted of 60 g sifted rye flour, 65 grams of spelt wheet flour and 65 grams of organic flour.
And forgot to say, I love your blog, it's already inspired so many food trials. So thank you!

Anonymous said...

I use Nigella's recipe (from how to be a domestic goddess). I'm American, and I think they're quite good. (And there's a whole tablespoon of baking powder in it!)

A good way to help any "fluffy" recipe along is to beat the egg yolks and whites separately. Folding stiff egg whites in will make anything fluffy!

Anonymous said...

Hi Anne
Our family favorite is from The Joy of Cooking - Sour Cream Pancakes. super light and SUPER fluffy. It is one of the recipes I always follow to the T!
mb
btw - bookmark is working fine today, but up until yesterday it was pulling up 10/22 . . . .go figure

Anonymous said...

Hi, Anne,

There are two secrets to making fluffy pancakes.
1) The batter should be not be runny.
2) Separate your eggs. Beat the yolks with the liquid ingredients and mix them into the dry ingredients. Beat your egg whites separately and fold them into the batter.

Amanda said...

I have a sad little admission to make: my pancakes come from a box. I like the pancakes that come from Bisquick or Jiffy baking mix--instructions right on the side of the box. They always come out fluffy & delish.

HennHouse said...

There are two recipes that we use a lot. The kids like the simple one, I like the thicker ones.

Sour cream pancakes (my favorite--I'm not sure where I got it but I wonder if it is similar to the Joy of Cooking recipe mb referenced(I don't own that cookbook))

2 1/4 cups flour (I use half whole wheat)
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt (I use fine popcorn salt)
1 1/4 cups milk
2 eggs
8 ounces sour cream
2 tbsp cooking oil (I use olive oil)

1. mix wet and dry ingredients separately then combine
2. cook on hot griddle 1/4 cup at a time


Basic pancakes (so quick and easy)
1 1/4 cups flour
1 egg
2 tbsp sugar (white or brown)
1/2 tsp salt
3 tsp baking powder
1 1/4 cups milk


I've also got some great recipes for parmesan-cornmeal pancakes, spiced eggnog pancakes, chocolate pancakes, and pumpkin pancakes.

I have a colleague who swears by the Alton Brown recipe that Noel referenced.