Instructions: Put a frying pan on a low to medium heat and melt the butter. Whilst the butter is melting, measure the flour and sift into a large mixing bowl. Add the salt, sugar and baking powder.

Measure the milk in a measuring jug. Separate the eggs and place the whites in a cup, adding the yolks to the milk. Add the melted butter from the frying pan. Remove as much from the pan as you can, but dont be too particular. The remaining butter in the frying pan will be used to cook the pancakes in. I use a rubber spatula to get most of it off the pan. Leave the ring on, but dont put the pan back on it. (I have an electric cooker which takes a long time to heat up). In this way you can start cooking the pancakes as soon as the batter is ready.

When the butter has coagulated, add the liquid mixture to the dry ingredients and mix them up. I use a metal spoon. It is at this stage you can judge whether the mixture has the right consistency.

Wash the measuring jug and dry it thoroughly. Pour the egg whites into it and whisk with an electric hand-held whisk. I whisk them until they are quite hard. (If there are lumps in the batter, you can user the whisk to get rid of them.) Using the spatula (from the butter, right?), transfer all the egg whites into the big bowl. Fold the egg whites into the batter with the metal spoon until they are all incorporated. The batter is now ready.

Put the frying pan back on the heat and wait until it is to a reasonable temperature. I cant be more specific because it depends on your cooker and the frying pan that you are using. Make the pancakes one at a time, turning them over when the underside is cooked. Eat immediately with butter and maple syrup.

NOTES:
* Light and fluffy breakfast pancakes - The formula comes from "The Joy of Cooking" by Irma S. Rombauer and Marion Rombauer Becker. I bought the book when I was visiting California a few years back. The pancakes are to my liking, but my wife has had to endure vast quantities of failures before I got the right technique. These pancakes are amazing for their stupefying ability. No more than three can be eaten in one day. A slow and painful death will result from exceeding these guidelines.

Yield: 8-10 6-inch
pancakes.

* The order that I do things is the result of much experimentation. I have a Creda Cavalier and use a Fissler German-made corrugated-bottom frying pan. With this combination I set the ring to 2.75-3.0.

One way to test is to place a small dollop of batter in the frying pan. It should take about 1-2 minutes to brown. As the underside is browning, bubbles should be forming on the top surface. The consistency of the batter and the temperature of cooking are correct when the bubbles fail to burst when the underside is fully cooked.

* Now that I know what Im doing, theyre easy, but I had a awful lot of failures to start with. Dont expect success the first time. You wont be disappointed. The effort is worth it in the long run. What is important is to get the moisture content of the batter correct. If it is too sloppy; then the pancakes will be flat and stodgy. If the batter is too dry; then the pancakes will burn before they are cooked.

Difficulty: moderate until you learn the technique.

Time: 30 minutes preparation, 30 minutes cooking.

Precision: measure the ingredients.

Simon Kenyon

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