Pancake Day 2022 - our recipes for the best pancake you'll have this year

Pancakes day is upon us. For me, life is all about 80/20 and when I have pancakes, I don't go with anything but the usual culprits that are seen as unhealthy but which are not. Flour, milk, eggs, and butter - nothing wrong whit that! So this is what I'll give you today, and we've also found a way to make them vegan.

I had my first Pancake Day in 2005. I was working at M&S at the time and I was in charge of visual merch and didn't really understand what Pancake Day was (we don't celebrate this in Canada but we really should - we ARE the home of Maple Syrup after all).

That year, I was surprised at how many pancakes were bought especially the ready made version. In my mind, pancakes were the easiest food to make. At home, my dad made the pancakes with no recipes - just a random mix of flour, eggs and milk - that's it. Whilst that is good - very good, I was then introduced to proper pancakes. By that I mean their fluffy, slightly spongy counterparts. The ones you see on adverts.

Now, before we get into an argument, there are two types of "pancakes": crepes and pancakes. There's been a bit of  tension in the office as to which is which AND because I am writing this I get to impose my views... ah ah!

Crepes - thin and quite large. about 25cm wide.

Pancakes - fluffy and spongy, and quite small and 15cm wide. 

The recipes below are for MY pancakes. 

Classic Pancakes Ingredients (makes about 6)

• 175g self raising flour
• 1/4 tsp Himalayan Salt
• 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1 tbsp caster sugar*
• 200ml of whole milk + 50ml**
• 1 tbsp Apple Cyder Vinegar with the Mother
• 1 free-range egg
• 45g unsalted butter plus extra for frying

Method

1. First start by making your own buttermilk. Take 200ml of whole milk, mix with 1 tbsp of Apple Cyder Vinegar in a large measuring jug. Let this sit, at room temperature for 15 minutes if you can.
2. In a bowl, sift together the flour, bicarbonate of soda, salt and sugar.
3. Add the 100ml milk, eggs and melted butter to the buttermilk. Pour the wet mixture into the dry ingredients and stir to just combine. 
4. Leave to rest for 10 minutes.
5. Add a small amount of butter to a frying pan on medium to low heat. Using a ice cream scoop, pour the batter into the pan gently to make a pancake. 
6. Cook the pancakes for about a minute, or until you see bubbles appear on the surface.Turn them over and cook them for a further minute. 
7. Keep the pancakes warm while you cook the remaining batter.
8. Serve the pancakes stacked on top of each other with maple syrup and fresh fruits.

*Sugar is needed! You can try with coconut sugar but I cant guarantee you will get the same result. Sugar and butter give tenderness to the texture and the fluids help the mixing process and enable chemical reactions to occur. 

**you might not need the extra milk - see how thick the batter. Ideally a figure of "8" would show for a few seconds. 

Vegan Pancakes

Exactly as above BUT...

1. Replace the milk with almond milk (unsweetened - we used PLENISH) and make the buttermilk using the plant milk & ACV as above. Omit the extra 100ml of milk

2. For the egg, replace with 1 tbsp. chia seed mixed with 4 tablespoons of warm water. Let it rest for 15 minutes. 

3. Finally for the butter, replace with you favourite vegan spread (Emma in the office rates Naturli Vegan Block)