The Kitchen

Blueberry Pancakes

By on Tuesday, February 20, 2018

A traditional Welsh breakfast (as far as you know)!

For centuries Welsh children have been scouring the local hills to collect blueberries (we did it before it was cool). Granted there aren’t as many foraging in the mountains these days (at least not for blueberries), it still won’t stop me from enjoying the best breakfast there is: Blueberry Pancakes.

Here’s the video on how to make American pancakes, with a traditional twist.

For the full recipe and measurements, read on

 

Measurement note: This should be enough for 20 small pancakes or 10 bigger ones.

Prepare the batter

Measure the flour, salt and baking powder into a bowl (do this any time in advance)

  • 200g plain flour
  • 1 tsp / 5g baking powder
  • 1tsp / 5g salt

 

Whip the eggs together with the sugar until the mixture becomes viscous and visibly lighter ( 3-4 munud )

  • 2 eggs
  • 2 tbsp / 30g sugar

 

Wisgiwch the eggs, milk and vanilla into the dry ingredients before adding the butter. ( < 1 munud )

  • 240ml milk

  • 1 tsp / 5g vanilla extract

  • 60g molten butter

By now you should have a thick, lumpy batter. Don’t be tempted to whisk it smooth though, if you over whisk it, you’ll over-develop the gluten, producing tough, rubbery pancakes instead of light, fluffy ones.

You now have two options:

 

Option 1: Add the blueberries to the batter and mix lightly to incorporate.

  • 100g blueberries

 

Option 2: In a saucepan, bring the blueberries to a boil with some sugar and water until it forms a syrup.

  • 100g blueberries
  • 50g sugar
  • 2 tbsp / 30g water

Once the batter’s done now, you’re in a race against the gluten. The longer you wait before cooking, the tougher and worse off your pancakes will be!

It’s flippin’ time!

 

Heat a pan over a medium heat, greasing with a thin layer of butter or oil if necessary.

Ideally you don’t want any greasing (this is where non-stick is finally useful). Greasing a pan results in splotchy pancakes as pockets of steam get trapped between the batter and oil, lifting the pancakes away from the heating surface and leading to un-Instagramable pancakes covered in white, under baked spots.

 

Take a spoonful of batter and pour it gently onto the cooking surface.

For the perfect pancake, keep the batter inside the perimeter, twisting the spoon inward to mound the batter. As the batter heats up, this mound will spread out evenly, producing a perfectly round, flat, symmetrical pancake.

Let each pancake cook until bubbles start emerging on their faces and steam starts emerging from underneath them ( ~ 3 mins)

Turn the pancakes over and let them continue cooking through ( ~ 2 mins )

You are more than welcome to try old school flipping, but personally, I prefer 16 spatula flipped pancakes over 4 hand flipped ones. When it comes to pancakes, I’ve got no time for blagging rights.

Stack the pancakes up to keep them warm (and look awesome) before demolishing the lot with some syrup and a whack of butter! 

 

More to try

Hope the pancakes are a hit, whenever you decide to have them. For more ideas on what to have with these beauties, why not try our Browned Butter or the 10 Minute Syrup recipe (to come).

 

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