Fluffy American Pancakes

About This Recipe

American-style pancakes are a fundamentally different beast from French crêpes — thick, fluffy, golden and designed for stacking in tall towers. The fluffiness comes from three things: buttermilk (which reacts with baking soda), minimal mixing (which prevents gluten toughening) and resting the batter. Master these and you'll make the pancakes of every American breakfast dream.

Ingredients

Serves 4

• 200 gplain flour
• 2 tbspcaster sugar
• 1½ tspbaking powder
• ½ tspbaking soda
• ½ tspfine salt
• 300 mlbuttermilk(or regular milk + 1 tbsp vinegar)
• 1large egg
• 2 tbspunsalted butter(melted and cooled)
• 1 tspvanilla extract
• butter or neutral oil(for cooking)

Instructions

1. 1

   Mix wet and dry separately

   Whisk flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl. In a separate jug, whisk buttermilk, egg, melted butter and vanilla.

2. 2

   Combine — don't overmix

   Pour the wet ingredients into the dry. Stir with a fork until just combined — lumps are fine and desirable. Do not whisk until smooth. Rest for 5 minutes.

   Overmixing develops gluten and makes pancakes tough and flat. Stop mixing when you can no longer see dry flour.

3. 3

   Cook

   Heat a large non-stick pan or griddle over medium heat. Brush lightly with butter. Pour in ¼ cup (60ml) of batter per pancake. Cook until bubbles form on the surface and the edges look set (about 2–3 minutes). Flip and cook 1–2 minutes more until golden.

4. 4

   Serve immediately

   Stack on warm plates and serve immediately with maple syrup, butter, fresh berries or whatever you love. Pancakes wait for no one.

Variations

• •

  Blueberry Pancakes: drop 10–12 fresh blueberries into each pancake immediately after pouring the batter.

• •

  Chocolate Chip Pancakes: fold 80g chocolate chips into the batter just before cooking.

• •

  Ricotta Pancakes: replace half the buttermilk with full-fat ricotta for an Italian-American variation that's even fluffier.

Storage

Refrigerate for up to 2 days. Reheat in a toaster or dry pan. Freeze stacked between parchment for up to 2 months.

Frequently Asked Questions