There's no better breakfast than a vacation breakfast on a true American Southwestern jam, served by an over-positive waitress with the standard line "Whatcha havin love?". A big load of American pancakes, spread with butter and drenched in maple syrup, and you're charged with energy for a day's exploration.
A real American pancake should be really thick and fluffy! So thick and fluffy that you can only add 3 pieces to the height before the stack of pancakes looks like the Leaning Tower of Pisa. The vast majority of recipes I have found have literally ended up in a pancake – too flat, too compact or too runny. But after years of making pancakes every weekend morning, I've found a recipe and have a few tricks that produce perfect pancakes every time.
INGREDIENTS (4 persons)
Each 1 egg
2,5 dl milk
3 dl flour
1,5 tsk baking powder
2 tablespoons sugar
0,5 tsk salt
Vanilla - a splash of "liquid real vanilla" from the USA, or 0,5 tsp of vanilla powder.
Maple syrup and butter for serving
1) Mix the dry ingredients thoroughly. Then pour in milk, wheat flour and eggs and beat to a smooth, slightly sticky batter. Be careful with the amount of ingredients! If you have a large egg, it can make the batter consistency far too runny. The batter should be so thick that it doesn't run out of itself in the pan, but you have to shape the pancake yourself with the spoon.
2) Fry small pancakes in a really good Teflon pan - preferably without butter! (I've never been able to make American pancakes in a cast iron pan.) Scoop the batter into the pan and form a circle about 10 centimeters in size. It should be quite a thick layer of batter, don't try to make it too thin! Do not fry on too high a heat (I fry on 6/10) and with very very little (if any) butter.
3) Fry each pancake until air bubbles come out on the top of the pancake, then flip it over. It takes a few minutes per side, but if you flip too quickly, the pancake will be doughy inside.
4) Serve with butter (that you spread on the pancake when it's hot), plenty of maple syrup and all the good stuff you can think of – fruit, coconut, nuts.
Enjoy!
