to ask how you actually make delicious pancakes? --It is a completely mysetery to me.--

[mameulah]

Another morning of trying to do good Mummy deeds and another batch of decidedly unappetising pancakes.

I have tried hundreds a few recipes and experimented with the temperature on the hob but they always just look wrong.

I get on better with the crepe type, but the Scotch pancakes are a complete mystery. Please tell me your trick of the trade.

[ghostyslovesheep]

buy them

[mameulah]

I know but I want to have that good Mummy cooking with my boys time. Not quite the same when you just open a packet!

[LadyMercy]

Have you tried making American style pancakes?

[marshmallowpies]

The first few always screw up. The pan has to get really, really hot, hotter than you think you need. And make the pancakes smaller than you think you need so there is less surface area to go wrong...

[atticusclaw]

Scotch pancakes and American pancakes are made completely differently to our uk pancakes. It's not worth the effort imo

[ToomanyChristmasPresents]

Buttermilk and a heavy, cast iron skillet.

[GothicRainbow]

One cup self raising flour, one cup milk, one large egg (should make about 4 plate sized pancakes) whisk together and fry in proper butter. Eat with bacon and maple syrup - yum!!

Recipe is totally fool-proof, promise!

[Trills]

Pancakes are not delicious.

They are a medium for deliciousness.

Like crumpets are a medium for eating loads of melted butter.

Or Yorkshire puddings are a medium for eating more gravy.

They are very bland in themselves.

[dementedpixie]

allrecipes.co.uk/recipe/22467/traditional-scotch-pancake.aspx - I have used this one and it worked ok

[WhenMarnieWasThere]

Buy the bisquick mix.

[Timeforabiscuit]

The BBC website fluffy american pancakes are lovely.

What makes them amazing is a pat of butter melted into a stack of them, topped with crispy panchetta and maple syrup.

[dementedpixie]

you need sugar for scotch pancakes and they are delicious

[ToomanyChristmasPresents]

So, what's going wrong? Are they burning? Raw in the middle! Not fluffy? Too thin?

[atticusclaw]

Don't they like uk style pancakes? Why do you need to make American style? Buttermilk isn't commonly used here and so it's a pain to buy just for a few pancakes (which aren't as good as ours anyway).

[dementedpixie]

what do you mean UK style? - is Scotland not in the UK any more?

I don't like English style pancakes as they are horrible. Scotch pancakes are much nicer and do not require buttermilk

[MillionToOneChances]

These: www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/fluffyamericanpancak_74828

I ignore the maple syrup and bacon instructions and make these with one large ladle (I can fit several in my large frying pan) and a sprinkling of fresh blueberries which pop and disperse their juice as the pancake cooks. Yum.

[dementedpixie]

Scottish crumpets are also much nicer than their English counterparts

[18yearstooold]

4oz plain flour
4fluid oz milk
1egg
2tbsp caster sugar
2tbsp melted butter
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
Vanilla extract

Mix sugar, flour, egg & bicarb
Add milk, vanilla & melted butter

Leave for about 15 mins, not in the fridge

Hot pan but not too hot -6 on my hob
Heat some oil, add a tablespoon of batter and don't touch until bubbles start appearing in the top
When bubbles appear flip it over and it should puff up

I have the oven on low and once they are done I pop them on a plate in the oven to keep warm so I can make a stack

[CatsClaus]

yes...what is going wrong??

I use 2 eggs, 8oz SR flour, 2-3 tbs sugar you can leave this out but i think it makes them a bit duller and leathery and let's face it, it barely counts when you are slatehring the finished thing with an inch of nutella

so flour and sugar into the bowl and whisk it about a bit, crack in the eggs and add about a quarter pint of milk....this will be very thick and you iwll need a bit more,, but not any more than half a pint of milk in total

I sometimes use up odds and ends of milk/sour cream/yogurt

It needs to be a very thick liquid and then you drop spoonsful onto a hot griddle and flip them over when the bubbles on the top all break.

make sure the griddle is lightly greased, you don't want them to fry, just not to stick.

If you like them extra thick then do a spoonful for each pancake and then go back and add a extra half spoonful on top, before turning them over, if you just do a spoonful and a half straight away they will just be bigger not thicker.

[atticusclaw]

Clearly I was referring to uk as opposed to us.

[ToomanyChristmasPresents]

I really like buttermilk. You can find it near the sour cream at the supermarket. The acid in it reacts with the baking soda and makes the pancakes rise especially high.

[CatsClaus]

squeeze of lemon juice in your milk will pass as buttermilk...it looks awful but the acidity helps the raising agent.

[ToomanyChristmasPresents]

Like muffins or brownies, it's really important not to over mix the batter. A few remaining lumps is OK. Also, a heavy pan or griddle makes a big difference. I tend to burn them on the outside while still leaving them raw on the inside when I try to make do with a thin, cheap skillet.

[Sagethyme]

WhenMarnieWasThere where do you get you bisquick from? I inherited my grandmothers cookery books, she was American, and a lot of the recipes call for bisquick, but seems impossible to find (at least in this part of the UK) i'd love to experiment try some of the recipes, esp. As i have very very fussy children!

[ContentedSidewinder]

atticus you can make your own buttermilk, no need to buy it!

I do it for a birthday cake recipe. Normal milk, lemon juice and 10 minutes, the milk curdles and you have buttermilk equivalent.

Recipe is - 1 tablespoon of lemon juice, add milk to make it up to one cup, leave at room temp to curdle for 10 minutes.

Pancake wise we cheat, we use Krusteaz pancake mix from Costco for American pancakes. Just add water and whisk. My boys don't like any other kind of pancake.