The American pancake

Pancake Month!

pan·cake/ˈpanˌkāk/
Noun; A thin, flat cake of batter, usually fried and turned in a pan.

When we all think of pancakes, I’m sure the American style pancake comes to mind, with its fluffy subtle buttery flavor. Unlike their European cousins who don’t use a rising agent and are flat, American style pancakes strive to be fluffy and thick. This greedy girl has a batter recipe that will yield ½ inch thick pancakes. You will never make your standard batter the same way again. If you love thick pancakes as opposed to flat flapjacks, this is the batter for you.

The last time I made these pancakes was about 3 years ago for my little sister’s birthday weekend. We had a whole weekend fun filled with paint balling, the Bombay room at Spice Market in Manhattan, a few friends slept over and I made pancakes, eggs and bacon for breakfast before heading to Rye play land (good times!!)  Those pancakes were the best I ever made in life.

I have been trying really hard to remember the exact source where I found the method, but it was so long ago,  i'm pretty sure it was something I googled. I'm just glad I remembered the method so I could recreate this masterpiece. 

Makes 4 large ½ inch thick pancakes

Ingredients  (Printable Recipe)

2 cup flour

2 eggs separated

2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

1 3/4 cup butter Milk

1 tsp. melted butter

2 table spoon sugar

½ tsp. salt

Instructions 

1.  Combine the dry ingredients, flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, sugar

2. Whisk in another bowl the egg yolks butter and milk 

3.  Blend the egg whites in a mixer  till you get stiff peaks

4.  Add the milk mixture to the flour mixture and stir with a whisk just until its incorporated. There will be lumps left but that’s fine. You’re not looking for a smooth mixture.

Now I always say DONT over mix, and you may wonder why? here is why:

"Over-mixing leads to tough pancakes because the gluten in the flour begins to develop as soon as liquid touches it, and the more you mix, the tougher the gluten becomes"

5.  Then fold in the egg whites and you’re ready to cook

You can see the batter looks swollen, it is full of air from the egg whites, air bubbles will even rise to the surface to pop

6.  Ladle a spoon of batter into a greased pan on medium/low heat

7.  Once the batter starts to bubble on the top and edges with air bubbles popping, its ready to be flipped. Cook on the other side until done.

Greedy Tip:

1. Do not over mix the batter or fold in the egg whites too much, you should still see very small bits of white chunks in the batter

2. Do not use too much oil/butter in the pot and don't use high flames. This is a thicker pancake the center takes longer to cook. And you don't want burnt outsides and raw insides.

3. The best thing to do is grease the pan with an oiled/buttered paper towel

4. If you use regular milk instead of butter milk don't include the baking soda. However you can make  butter milk at home click here. 

Like I said, this makes four large pancakes, very cake like and filling (I can only eat one). You can definitely make smaller sized pancakes to make more than four. I used a large soup ladle to spoon the batter into the pot in order to make only four pancakes. These pancakes are the perfect density to hold up to a few blueberries or bananas. Try it for your next breakfast or brunch.

Xoxo GreedyGirl