Pancakes

The pancake recipe on standard 550 flour and in a steel pan

· 38 minutes start to finish · refined breakfast

Everything out

Bowl on the scale, and behind it the flour for the pancake recipe: Type 550, the standard German flour, against the 405 of the last batch

start Bowl on the scale with Type 550 flour, sugar, salt, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and a measuring jug lined up behind

The dry bowl

Flour first, then sugar straight on top, tared between each

+1 min Type 550 flour poured into the bowl, 250.1 g showing on the scale mid-pour +2 min Sugar tipped in on top of the flour, 59.5 g on the scale

Baking powder, baking soda and salt after them

+2 min Baking powder shaken in from the sachet +3 min Baking soda tipped in from the tin, 1.4 g on the scale +3 min Salt poured from the box, 3.7 g on the scale

Ceylon cinnamon ground over the top from the mill

+4 min Cinnamon ground into the bowl from the mill, sitting on the white powders

Pan on early

Steel, one piece of butter, dial at 4.5. It sits there for the next ten minutes while the batter comes together

+5 min Steel pan on the induction hob at 4.5 with a piece of butter melting, the butter block on the counter below

The wet, into the same bowl

No spare clean bowl, so the wet went straight into the dry. Mixing the wet on the side first is the better way round. One bowl takes more stirring to bring together, and stirring tightens the batter and turns the pancakes rubbery

Butter weighed into the Pyrex jug and melted on its own in the microwave

+6 min Butter in the Pyrex measuring jug on the scale, 60.9 g +6 min The jug in the microwave with the light on

Milk poured straight into the dry bowl, the egg cracked in after it, then the melted butter

+7 min Milk poured from the jug into the flour, 451.3 g on the scale mid-pour +8 min Egg cracked into the pool of milk in the middle of the flour +9 min Melted butter poured in from the jug, bright yellow across the flour

Blueberries

A colander of them, folded in whole

+10 min A colander of blueberries tipped into the mixed batter

What the butter has been doing

Foamed, then browned, while the dial walked up to 5 and then 6

+12 min Butter melted flat across the steel pan, dial at 5, batter bowl alongside +13 min The butter foaming and turning golden, dial at 6

First one in

Dial at 6.5, a ladle of batter into the browned butter

+15 min The pan at 6.5 with the butter dark and bubbling +15 min First pancake poured, blueberries showing through the batter

Waiting

Bubbles come up early and mean nothing. It is ready when the surface goes matte, the bubbles stay open and the edges dry

+17 min Bubbles forming across a still-wet surface, dial at 6.5 +18 min Edges setting into the butter, the middle still glossy

Dial down to 5 partway through, then the surface dulls and the holes stay open

+19 min Dial down to 5, surface starting to lose its shine +20 min Matte surface with open holes and dry edges, ready to flip

Flip

Spatula under the edge and a run around underneath first, because steel holds on. Then one motion

+21 min The first pancake flipped, the cooked side very dark brown with scorched blueberries

Down to 4

Out on the mat, fresh butter into the pan, dial at 4

+22 min Fresh butter melting in the pan at 4, the first pancake resting on the bamboo mat +22 min The first pancake seen edge-on, standing tall on the mat
+23 min Second pancake poured at 4, the pan much calmer

Fruit in between

Nectarine and banana cut while the pan works

+25 min Nectarine sliced and cubed on the board +26 min Banana cut into chunks on the board
+26 min Second pancake spreading in the pan at 4 +29 min Bubbles working through the second pancake

At 4 the underside comes up an even brown instead of a scorched one

+29 min Second pancake flipped, evenly browned across the whole face

Eating as it goes

A pancake at the table with nectarine, banana and maple syrup, a bite cut out showing the crumb

Third

Butter into the wiped pan, batter in, same dial

+32 min The wiped pan with fresh butter bubbling at 4 +32 min Third pancake poured, small and thick
+37 min Third pancake set at the edges, bubbles open in the middle +38 min Third pancake flipped, an even golden brown

The stack of blueberry pancakes on the plate

Commentary, extra notes

  • 550 makes a much thicker pancake than 405. It holds its edge in the pan instead of running out thin, and the crumb is open rather than dense. 405 is the one to pick for thin and tender, 550 for a pancake with height
  • Butter left in the pan while the batter is mixed browns by itself. Ten minutes at 4.5 is enough to take it past nutty, which is colour the first pancake gets for free and does not need
  • The recipe is written up at Pancakes