Now I have a thing about pancakes. To be honest, I’ll happily admit that I have a 'thing' for most carbs that then get smothered in unhealthy quantities of either salt or sugar. However, sitting squarely on the top of my list of favourite unhealthy things, is an eternal wrestling match between the many varieties of pancakes and the many-holed joy of crumpets. Both are very happy to be smothered in maple syrup but I think I’d much rather have the pancakes for breakfast.
At this point I should probably let you into a little secret - I’m not that good at pancakes, or crepes to be precise. In fact, I can barely remember a time when I’ve managed to make two good crepes in a row. Thankfully, the world of pancakes is wide and varied and although I struggle to make a decent crepe (or British pancake for that matter; which looks much like a crepe but tends to be thicker and heaver), I can do a decent American pancake, or scotch drop scones or whatever-you-want-to-call-them. Ax mixed copious quantities of blueberries and strawberries with these pancakes and then served them with some rather nice, oak-smoked bacon. All in all, it was a very good, if mildly healthy start to a Saturday morning. But let’s be honest, if you wanted purely healthy then you wouldn’t be reading this blog now would you?
Soured Cream Pancakes
- 285g Plain Flour
- 2 tsp Baking powder
- 1 tsp Salt
- 55g Caster Sugar
- 2 Eggs (separated)
- 250 ml Soured Cream
- 150ml Milk
- 55g Unsalted butter
- any fruits that you may wish to add (Ax used Strawberries and Blueberries)
Sift the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar into a bowl. Put the egg yolks, soured cream, milk and butter into a second bowl and beat well, then add the flour mixture and beat until smooth. Put the egg whites into a clean bowl and whisk until soft peaks form. Using a metal spoon, fold the whites gently into the batter and the fold in the fruit. Do not over mix at this point; a few spots of batter or egg white don't matter.
Lightly grease a frying pan and preheat over a medium heat, add 3 tbsp of batter to the pan and turn the heat down to low to avoid burning your fruit. When bubbles are beginning to form and the underside of the pancakes have turned golden brown, it’s time to flip them. They should take about 1-2 mins on each side. These can be kept warm in a low oven whilst you finish cooking the rest of the batter in batches or can be stolen by the ravenous hordes as when Ax was cooking.
