The American Pancake
- apprenticecakemum
- 3 days ago
- 3 min read
The American pancake is a smaller, thicker and fluffier version of the Classic British pancake.
Traditionally, an individual serving includes a stack of 4 or 5 hot pancakes, topped with a pat of butter (which is allowed to melt) and generously drizzled with maple syrup.
Another favourite addition to the butter/maple syrup combo is crispy fried, streaky bacon, which goes surprisingly well with the maple syrup.
Recipe
200g self-raising flour
One and a half teaspoons of baking powder
A pinch of salt
12.5 g golden caster sugar
3 large eggs
25g melted butter
200mls full fat milk
Method
You will need a large, non-stick frying pan so that you can make 2 to 3 pancakes at the same time, aiming for each one to be around 8cm diameter with enough space between them to allow for some spreading .
Sift the flour, baking powder and salt in a large mixing bowl. Add the sugar and stir gently to combine.
Whisk the eggs and milk (both at room temperature) in a medium mixing bowl.
Make a well in the centre of the flour and add about 1/3 of the milk mixture and the cooled melted butter . Whisk together until smooth.
Gradually add the rest of the milk mixture, whisking continuously until you have a smooth batter.
Be careful not to over-beat the batter, you don't want to beat out all of your hard won air.
Leave the batter to rest in the bowl for at least 10 minutes.
Heat the pan to a medium/high temperature and grease the base and sides using a ball of kitchen paper dipped in either melted butter or vegetable oil. Remember to wipe out the pan and re-grease between pancakes.
Using a ladle or tablespoon to drop enough batter into the pan to form an 8cm round pancake. You should be able to fit between 2 and 4 pancakes in the pan at the same time, depending on how large your frying pan is.
Cook for 1 to 2 minutes until small bubbles appear on the surface, then using a flat spatula, slide the spatula under each pancake and lift and flip it over. Cook for 30 seconds to 1 minute on the other side.
If you want to keep your pancakes warm and serve the whole batch together, then place them in small stacks on a flat baking tray, cover with tin foil and put in the oven on its lowest setting.
To Serve the American Pancake
As I have already mentioned, the classic way to serve these small pancakes is to stack 3 or 4 on top of each other and put a knob of room temperture butter on the top one. Then as the butter melts, drizzle maple syrup generously over the whole stack.
I love the idea of also adding streaky bacon inbetween the pancakes, but I never quite get around to it. Mainly because it requires another frying pan, good organisation and more washing up. I tell my children, that if they want the whole hog, then they can go out to a proper restaurant where there are staff to do the dishes and more than one chef to cook. Interestingly they seem to choose the free, bacon-less option of eating at home.
Other sweet toppings you can add are the same as for the Classic British pancake. They work just as well on the American variety.
One last useful feature of the American pancake, is the simple method that can be used to reheat leftover pancakes the following day. All you have to do is pop them in your toaster and cook until warmed through. They won't need long in the toaster, so keep and eye on them to prevent burning. What could be easier, its my kind of dessert.