recipes@decwrl.UUCP (02/13/87)
PANCAKES-2(B) USENET Cookbook PANCAKES-2(B)
BREAKFAST PANCAKES
PANCAKES-2 - Light and fluffy breakfast pancakes
The formula comes from The Joy of Cooking by Irma S. Rom-
bauer and Marion Rombauer Becker. I bought the book when I
was visiting California a few years back. The pancakes are
to my liking, but my wife has had to endure vast quantities
of failures before I got the right technique. These pancakes
are amazing for their stupifying ability. No more than three
can be eaten in one day. A slow and painful death will
result from exceeding these guidelines.
INGREDIENTS (8-10 6-inch pancakes)
1 1/2 cups
all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
3 Tbsp sugar
1 3/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp vanilla essence
2 eggs
3 Tbsp butter, melted
10 floz milk
PROCEDURE
(1) Put a frying pan on a low to medium heat and melt
the butter.
(2) Whilst the butter is melting, measure the flour
and sift into a large mixing bowl.
(3) Add the salt, sugar and baking powder.
(4) Measure the milk in a measuring jug.
(5) Separate the eggs and place the whites in a cup,
adding the yolks to the milk.
(6) Add the melted butter from the frying pan. Remove
as much from the pan as you can, but don't be too
particular. The remaining butter in the frying pan
will be used to cook the pancakes in. I use a
rubber spatula to get most of it off the pan.
Leave the ring on, but don't put the pan back on
it. (I have an electric cooker which takes a long
time to heat up). In this way you can start cook-
ing the pancakes as soon as the batter is ready.
(7) When the butter has coagulated, add the liquid
mixture to the dry ingredients and mix them up. I
use a metal spoon. It is at this stage you can
judge whether the mixture has the right
consistency.
(8) Wash the measuring jug and dry it thoroughly. Pour
the egg whites into it and whisk with an electric
hand-held whisk. I whisk them until they are quite
hard.
(9) If there are lumps in the batter, you can user the
whisk to get rid of them.
(10) Using the spatula (from the butter, right?),
transfer all the egg whites into the big bowl.
(11) Fold the egg whites into the batter with the metal
spoon until they are all incorporated. The batter
is now ready.
(12) Put the frying pan back on the heat and wait until
it is to a reasonable temperature. I can't be more
specific because it depends on your cooker and the
frying pan that you are using.
(13) Make the pancakes one at a time, turning them over
when the underside is cooked. Eat immediately with
butter and maple syrup.
NOTES
The order that I do things is the result of much experimen-
tation. I have a Creda Cavalier and use a Fissler German-
made corrugated-bottom frying pan. With this combination I
set the ring to 2.75-3.0.
One way to test is to place a small dollop of batter in the
frying pan. It should take about 1-2 minutes to brown. As
the underside is browning, bubbles should be forming on the
top surface. The consitency of the batter and the tempera-
ture of cooking are correct when the bubbles fail to burst
when the underside is fully cooked.
Now that I know what I'm doing, they're easy, but I had a
awful lot of failures to start with. Don't expect success
the first time. You won't be disappointed. The effort is
worth it in the long run. What is important is to get the
moisture content of the batter correct. If it is too
sloppy; then the pancakes will be flat and stodgy. If the
batter is too dry; then the pancakes will burn before they
are cooked.
RATING
Difficulty: moderate until you learn the technique. Time:
30 minutes preparation, 30 minutes cooking. Precision:
measure the ingredients.
CONTRIBUTOR
Simon Kenyon
The National Software Centre, Dublin, IRELAND
simon@einode.UUCP