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