Breakfast Pancakes

Put a frying pan on a low to medium heat and melt the butter. Whilst
the butter is melting, measure the flour and sift into a large mixing
bowl. Add the salt, sugar and baking powder.

Measure the milk in a measuring jug. Separate the eggs and place the
whites in a cup, adding the yolks to the milk. Add the melted butter
from the frying pan. Remove as much from the pan as you can, but
don’t be too particular. The remaining butter in the frying pan will
be used to cook the pancakes in. I use a rubber spatula to get most
of it off the pan. Leave the ring on, but don’t put the pan back on
it. (I have an electric cooker which takes a long time to heat up).
In this way you can start cooking the pancakes as soon as the batter
is ready.

When the butter has coagulated, add the liquid mixture to the dry
ingredients and mix them up. I use a metal spoon. It is at this stage
you can judge whether the mixture has the right consistency.

Wash the measuring jug and dry it thoroughly. Pour the egg whites
into it and whisk with an electric hand-held whisk. I whisk them
until they are quite hard. (If there are lumps in the batter, you can
user the whisk to get rid of them.) Using the spatula (from the
butter, right?), transfer all the egg whites into the big bowl. Fold
the egg whites into the batter with the metal spoon until they are
all incorporated. The batter is now ready.

Put the frying pan back on the heat and wait until it is to a
reasonable temperature. I can’t be more specific because it depends
on your cooker and the frying pan that you are using. Make the
pancakes one at a time, turning them over when the underside is
cooked. Eat immediately with butter and maple syrup.

NOTES:

* Light and fluffy breakfast pancakes — The formula comes from “The
Joy of Cooking” by Irma S. Rombauer and Marion Rombauer Becker. I
bought the book when I was visiting California a few years back. The
pancakes are to my liking, but my wife has had to endure vast
quantities of failures before I got the right technique. These
pancakes are amazing for their stupefying ability. No more than three
can be eaten in one day. A slow and painful death will result from
exceeding these guidelines. Yield: 8-10 6-inch pancakes.

* The order that I do things is the result of much experimentation.
I have a Creda Cavalier and use a Fissler German-made
corrugated-bottom frying pan. With this combination I set the ring to
2.75-3.0.

One way to test is to place a small dollop of batter in the frying
pan. It should take about 1-2 minutes to brown. As the underside is
browning, bubbles should be forming on the top surface. The
consistency of the batter and the temperature of cooking are correct
when the bubbles fail to burst when the underside is fully cooked.

* Now that I know what I’m doing, they’re easy, but I had a awful
lot of failures to start with. Don’t expect success the first time.
You won’t be disappointed. The effort is worth it in the long run.
What is important is to get the moisture content of the batter
correct. If it is too sloppy; then the pancakes will be flat and
stodgy. If the batter is too dry; then the pancakes will burn before
they are cooked.

: Difficulty: moderate until you learn the technique.
: Time: 30 minutes preparation, 30 minutes cooking.
: Precision: measure the ingredients.

: Simon Kenyon
: The National Software Centre, Dublin, IRELAND
: simon@einode.UUCP