Pancake day!

We have already started the day with pancakes. Very nice. Supper will be more of the same. I am going to make a mixture with spinach, onion and chicken, roll the mixture up in pancakes, snuggle them all up together in an oven dish, pour over some white sauce, and then heat the lot up in a medium oven. I may sneak in some mushrooms.

My  pancake mixture works well, if I say so myself, give it a go. It makes about 12 pancakes, depending on the size of your pan.

Cooking pancakes can be a bit anti social, and hot. I like to make a pile and then reheat them.

Recipe

ingredients (alternative measurements at bottom of the recipe - cups, oz and mugs)

·         125g flour

2 eggs

125ml milk

125ml water

2 tbsp oil

1 tsp sugar

pinch salt

oil for pan

   Method

• sift flour into large bowl (I use a plastic jug and stir it with a whisk)
• add sugar and salt
• make a well in the middle, crack the eggs into it and add the oil
• stir it all together vigorously
• add liquid bit by bit, beating all the time until smooth (if it isn't smooth, resort to the hand blender)

I use a heavy based frying pan, which is not non-stick. I have a heatproof pastry brush and a little pot of oil, and I brush the pan between each pancake. I use a small ladle, which measures about 1/4 cup. I don't like non-stick, and I think the pancakes taste different if you pour the batter into a thin layer of hot oil.

It might seem obvious how to cook pancakes, and if you've got it down pat, ignore this. If you're like me, and sometimes end up with a thick layer of batter sticking to the pan then read on.

Heat the pan for a couple of minutes before starting the pancake cooking, and get the pan good and hot, then  brush with oil quickly and pour in the batter - just enough to coat the base of the pan. You'll know the pan is hot enough, because the batter starts to cook straight away, roll it around the pan to cover the whole base. Once the pancake starts to bubble a bit and the edges curl, it's ready to turn. Watch the pancake bubble a little bit, then remove it from the pan. And so on.

I turn the gas down a bit once the pan is hot, otherwise it gets too hot, and the pancakes stick.

Other stuff

if you don't have scales, or can't be bothered, about one mugful of flour and half/half mugful of milk/water is the right amount, adding a tiny bit more liquid. Providing it's an average mug, and I'm not debating what's average. The mixture should be like thin cream, coating the back of a spoon.

Since we have chickens, and I like things eggy, I sometimes go mad and add another egg.