Foolproof Easy Pancakes

If you search for easy pancakes on the Web, you’ll find so many recipes it will be hard to choose one. Let’s start with the basics: the soft and fluffy pancakes are typical of the United States and are made for breakfast or for a particularly substantial brunch. In Uk, Ireland and most of Europe, the pancakes can be both thin like crepes or fluffy like the American ones.

One of the biggest differences between American and English pancakes is the batter: the classic American pancakes contain baking soda and this means their thick and fluffy. On the other side, the English pancakes are like French crepes: no baking soda is used and this means their flat and light.

Making pancakes can be seen as an easy task but in reality, failure can occur especially at the very beginning: if the pan is not too hot or if you fail with the amount of batter used, your pancakes can remain undone or can get burnt. The first 2 pancakes can be a failure, that’s why if you want to play safe you should make them slightly thicker.

Pancake Day – Pancake Tuesday

Do you know that Pancake Day is celebrated every year in England and in the Anglo-Saxon countries? Pancake Tuesday is specifically celebrated on Shrove Tuesday, the day before Ash Wednesday, a period Christians dedicate to deprivation; it falls 47 days before Easter Sunday, between February and March each year.

It started with people using up the last of their butter, sugar, and eggs before fasting, but now it’s a great excuse to enjoy lots and lots of tasty pancakes, topped with all of your favorite things

The same pancakes also represented a particularly symbolic food for Christians because of the ingredients used: the eggs represented the creation, the milk the purity, the flour that represented the nourishment and salt instead represented the well-being.

Today during the Pancake Day in the United Kingdom is celebrated in a particular way: organizing and participating in special races where the pancakes are made to rotate while walking briskly. This tradition was apparently created in 1445 by a woman in Olney, in the Buckinghamshire region, who was busy preparing pancakes and who, not realizing that mass was starting, began to run with the pan and pancakes for arrive in time in the Church and confess his sins before the beginning of Lent.

This is the very basic and foolproof recipe to make easy pancakes at home, for Pancake Day or any other day of the year. At the end of the recipe, you’ll find a few ideas on toppings and two pictures showing you the differenct between American pancakes and European ones.

 Suggestions for sweet toppings for your pancakes:

• Sliced Bananas
• Berries
• Plums
• Apples  and Cinnamon
• Lemon Curd
• Maple Syrup
• Honey
• Apple Syrup
• Nut Butter
• Chocolate Spread
• Nuts and Seeds

Suggestions for savory toppings for your pancakes:

• Salmon and chive
• Salmon and creme fraiche
• Charcuterie
• Cheese and jam
• Cheese
• Meat and vegetables
• Fish and vegetable
• Ham and cheese

American fluffy pancakes

English pancakes – Crepes