Fluffy Pancakes

Ever since I sunk my teeth into my first McDonald's Hot Cakes,  I've been hooked on what I term American-style pancakes.  Thick and fluffy with a hint of vanilla, served with salted butter and drenched in golden maple syrup.  All that sweet salty flavours combined together to make a truly indulgent breakfast.

Thinking to replicate this at home (McDonald's breakfast ends at 11am) on a lazy weekend - I mean, how difficult can it be?  After all I'd worked in McDonald's before, and made Hot Cakes (also fries, Big Macs, Quarter Pounders...you get my drift).  Since McDonald's is what it is (fast), the pancake mix came all ready to use and all I had to do was add water to it.  And what can be so difficult about making pancake batter at home?  Make batter, pour and cook, and voila - I should have a stack of fluffy pancakes.  Famous last words. 

All my pancakes turned out flat.  Like crepes.  Or something in between a crepe and a pancake.  Fluffy just refused to show up!  Yikes!  At this rate, I will have to wake up earlier and scoot to the nearest McDonald's for my breakfast fix.  It took me a few weekends of trying to get this right.  Then I found Evan's blog which recommended separating the egg whites and beating them to soft peaks before adding them to the batter.  Fluffy showed up!  Saved by egg whites!

see how fluffy they are,,,

delicious with butter and maple syrup

 

To celebrate this success, I decided to up the indulgence factor with fresh strawberries, piled higgledy-piggledy on a stack of pancakes.  Salty.  Sweet. Tart.  Fluffy.  Heavenly. 

Pancakes (recipe from Joy of Baking)
Makes 8 - 10 pancakes

Ingredients:
1 cup (130 grams) all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
a pinch of salt
2 tablespoons (28 grams) sugar
1 large egg, separate the white from yolk
1 cup (240 ml) milk
2 tablespoons (28 grams) butter, melted
a knob of butter for greasing the pan.

Method:

1.  In a large bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar together.
2.  In a separate bowl, mix the egg yolk, milk and melted butter.
3.  Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and then pour in the liquid mixture all at once. 
4.  Stir with a spatula until just combined.  Don't over stir or pancakes may be tough.  Lumpy batter is fine.
5.  While the batter is resting, whisk the egg white until soft peaks form. 
6.  Gently fold the egg white into the batter. 
7.  Heat a frying pan over medium heat, and lightly brush a little butter over the surface. 
8.  With a small ladle, pour about 1/4 cup of batter into the hot pan.  Batter will spread a little.
9.  Wait until bubbles start to appear on the top surface of the pancake (about 2 - 3 minutes), then only turn over.   Cook until lightly brown (another 1 - 2 minutes).
10.  Repeat with the balance of batter.