Wednesday 29 July 2015

The Pancake Project, Week 1

Hi,

Thank you for visiting my little slice of the web. I will be using this site to post my reviews of different recipes, patterns and other projects mostly inspired or outright taken from Pinterest.

My first project is going to be pancakes. One day every week I make pancakes for breakfast. I always start with my mother's recipe as a base and then add different flavours. The problem is that sometimes my additions don't work and I can never remember which ones are amazingly good, which are ok and which are terrible. I also can't remember what flavours we have tried, although the leftovers in my freezer may provide a little bit of this information.

Since this is a brand new site, I'm going to go back to the basics and start with the plain, basic recipe that my mother used when I was a kid. I never understood why people use boxed mixes for something as simple as pancakes. It takes about two minutes longer and tastes 100 times better to make them from scratch. Not to mention that it's the only way to know exactly what is in there. This particular recipe is so simple you will never go back to those mixes and even the pickiest eater will love them.

Warning: I love taking pictures but I am not the greatest photographer so this blog is going to be full of pictures, some of which will be blurry.

 Start by gathering your ingredients:
  • 1 1/2 cup Flour
  • 1 Tablespoon Sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon Salt
  • 1 Egg
  • 1 Tablespoon Baking Powder
  • 1 Tablespoon Oil
  • 1 teaspoon Vanilla 
  • Milk, enough to get the right consistency, around 2 cups
 

 Mix all of the dry ingredients in a bowl.





Lightly beat your egg in a measuring cup then add the oil and vanilla. Now fill the cup with milk. I find that a 2 cup measure makes the perfect consistency of batter. If you are adding something like cocoa or peanut butter, you will need more milk.







Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix. I like to use a whisk to get rid of most of the lumps (some lumps are ok but no one likes biting into a blob of flour). Your batter should be runny and pour easily.




Use a spoon, ladle or whatever works for you to get the batter into the pan. For a plain batter like this I pour it into an empty mayonnaise bottle for way less mess (shorter clean up time!)

See the bubbles in the picture? They tell you that the first side is done and the pancake is ready to flip. It usually takes about 1.5-2 minutes per side to get the perfect golden brown.





Add your favourite toppings and enjoy! We like to keep it simple with a little butter and syrup. My son, Bug, loves sprinkles on everything so they get added as well.