Thursday, 28th March 2024
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2 Pancake Recipes That Always Work

March 5 was widely celebrated as Shrove Tuesday – a day before Ash Wednesday and this celebration is popularly marked by eating pancakes. If you are struggling with making pancakes, these tips and recipes will help. Everything needed to make delicious pancakes you probably have in your kitchen, only a few staple ingredients. There are…

Pancake. Photo: Martha Stewart

March 5 was widely celebrated as Shrove Tuesday – a day before Ash Wednesday and this celebration is popularly marked by eating pancakes. If you are struggling with making pancakes, these tips and recipes will help.

Everything needed to make delicious pancakes you probably have in your kitchen, only a few staple ingredients. There are some ingredients that can be substituted, and some extras that can be added, all of which are personal preferences.

Pancake ingredients are divided into wet and dry ingredients:
Dry Ingredients –

Flour: Aside from the multipurpose flour, this can also be substituted with wheat flour, almond flour and other types of flour.

Baking Powder: The purpose of baking powder is to make the pancakes light and fluffy, the more baking powder, the fluffier the pancakes. But it is not a necessity.

Salt: Sometimes all you need is a pinch of salt to balance the sugar in the pancakes and make it taste better.

Sugar: You can use any type of sugar to add sweetness to the pancakes.

Wet Ingredients –
Egg: Egg adds structure to the pancake and can help make the batter lighter and fluffier.

Butter: Butter should be melted so that it would combine with the egg and milk to give the pancake a better texture.

Milk: Any type of milk will work, from whole milk to almond milk and coconut milk.

Fluffy Pancakes
Ingredients
2 Cups Flour
2 Teaspoons Baking Powder
1/4 Teaspoon Salt
4 Tablespoons Sugar
5 Tablespoons Butter (melted)
1 Teaspoon Vanilla Essence
2 Cups Milk
2 Large Eggs

Preparation
•Sift flour and baking powder because you can find clumps or unwanted items there so make sure to sift. Also it helps make sure that your measurements are accurate

•In one bowl, combine all the dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, sugar, salt and whisk together.

•In another bowl, combine all the wet ingredients: Eggs, melted butter, vanilla essence and milk. Whisk together.

•Make a well in the dry ingredients then add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix gently, if the batter is over mixed it will result in
very thick, tough pancakes instead of a light and fluffy texture. Mix lightly; it is okay if the batter has lumps.

•Lightly brush a bit of butter or vegetable oil on a non-stick pan and heat up the pan till it is hot.

•Scoop a small portion of the pancake batter and add to the pan.

•You will know it’s ready to flip over when bubbles/holes appear at the top of the pancake. Flip and cook for another minute or two till you achieve the level of brownness you want.

Nigerian Pancake
The difference between Nigerian pancakes and other type of pancakes is the type of extra ingredients added and the texture.

It is less fluffy (more like crepes) and more savoury than sweet. Here is how to make Nigerian pancakes, whatever you add as extras is optional.

Ingredients
2 cups of flour
1 Cup of water (use discretion too)
1 Tablespoon Pepper (ground)
4 table spoons of Butter (melted)
1 cup of Milk
Sugar (Use discretion)
2 Eggs
1/2 teaspoon of salt

Preparation
•Heat butter to melt if it is still tough then place in a bowl that can contain your pancake mixture.

•Whisk and add 2 medium eggs to the butter then mix, don’t worry if it looks a bit lumpy. Add 1 cup of warm water, 1 cup of warm milk, and mix together.

•In another bowl, add 2 cups of sifted flour, then 1/2 tablespoon of salt and then sugar to make it as sweet as you want. If you like ground pepper, you can add it now.

•Mix everything together till it is a bit smooth, the little lumps are butter which will melt when you make the pancakes.

•Give the batter some time to rest, ideally for about 15 minutes – this will ensure that whatever gluten has developed while mixing the batter can relax.

•Heat a small frying pan and add a teaspoon of oil or lightly brush the pan with butter. You can also use spray oil.

•Pour in a little portion of the batter and leave for the bottom to become solid, it bubbles a bit at the top and the edges get brown and lift from the pan; that’s when you’ll know it’s cooked.

•Flip the pancake to the other side till you achieve your desired brownness.

Serve based on preference.

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