Thin (Dessert) Pancakes (for Breakfast)

Made in India and served with fruit, cream and honey on my 20th Birthday...

I love,  love pancakes they're one of my top five favourite foodstuffs of all time (along with spinach, olives, ice-cream and whatever happens to be flavour-of-the-month)!! However although I love all pancakes in all their different incarnations at all times (buckwheat, crepe, American stacking, buttermilk, dosa... etc...) my favourite way of the moment varies. Currently, it's super fluffy buttermilk that I crave... when this photo was taken (and post intended to be posted) *gulp* over a year ago in India I loved thin, tender, almost crepe like pancakes.

This kind of pancake is often presented as a dessert pancake, I guess because it is more delicate than it's fluffier cousins? The batter needs to sit for at least an hour to allow the gluten in the flour to soften which results in a more tender pancake. I like to make my batter the night before (or morning before - if you're making dessert) just to be sure to be sure...

Also - don't let the fruity presentation of this post or the term "dessert" pancake blind you! There's no sugar in  this recipe - and I have been know to make these for breakfast and then keep some over to make Enchiladish later, using the now "savoury" pancakes in place of the traditional tortillas... Just make a basic chilli (or bolognese for an Italian feel...) roll the pancakes up with a little filling and place into a baking dish, seam side down, pour over a little tomato paste or pasta sauce, sprinkle some cheese on and bake at 200 until heated through and the cheese is bubbling. Yum. Yum!

OM NOM NOM NOM!!!

That's enough chat... time for the recipe, I feel.


You'll need:

1 1/2 cups plain flour
1/8 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk (at least)
2 tsp flavourless oil

water to thin

Sift the flour and salt into a bowl and make a well in the centre.

Beat the egg, oil and milk together.

Slowly whisk the wet ingredients into the dry until you have a thin batter, adding more milk if you need to...

Chill for at least and hour (pref. overnight - see above)...

Take the batter out of the fridge and start to heat a frying pan.

Give the batter a whisk to reincorporate the oil... thin out with a little water to reach the original consistency, if necessary.

Very lightly grease the pan with a little oil (the oil in the batter should help the pancakes to not stick - but you'll probably need all the help you can get, at least for the first few pancakes)

Pour in enough batter to cover the bottom of the pan (with the help of a little swirling action)... cook the pancake until bubbly all over and the edges become slightly translucent. Flip and cook the other side for 15-30 seconds.

Keep the cooked pancakes on a plate in a 50 degree oven while you get on with the next lot.

Serve as you desire... sweet, savoury, sour... you're only limited by your imagination!