Blueberry Pancakes

Growing up I had often seen families sharing a breakfast of hot, fluffy pancakes. It would either be a romantic gesture by the guy or the girl, or a Dad doing a special breakfast for the kids n wife etc etc.... in most of the English sitcoms, soaps & movies. The idea of having pancakes for breakfast was always shown as a special thing and I found it very charming (or advertised in a manner that it at least felt so J ) So charmed by the thought, over the years we explored this breakfast option at various restaurants but it sadly never lived up to the expectations set by the television/movies & the travel & living food shows. After a while I tried making it at home, it turned out to be a disaster. After this failed attempt of making it at home, I moved on to the boxed Pancake mix, it was much better but was still a far cry from the real deal. Then came Martha Stewart my knight in a shining apron :D, I discovered her recipe for the ‘Best Buttermilk Pancakes’ in one of her old cookbooks and just had this intuitive feeling, that my search for an awesome homemade pancake recipe was finally over. I am thrilled that contrary to my earlier belief flipping perfect fluffy pancakes isn’t daunting anymore. I can flip-up a delicious homemade batch of pancakes whenever I want in a jiffy..

These pancakes are delicious. They are fluffy, light & spongy, with just the right amount of richness and perfect golden crusts. The blueberries bring a nice sweetish tang to the pancakes, you can add any other berry if you prefer.

They are incredibly easy to make! Please do give it try and trust me you will never go back to the boxed pancake ever again nor will you have to drool at those amazing looking pancakes on the screen like me J

Recipe (yield about 15 pancakes – approx 4 inches each)       

Ingredients:

2 cups Flour (Maida)

2 tsp Baking Powder

1 tsp Baking Soda

½ tsp Salt (use only ¼th tsp is using salted butter)

3 tbsp Castor Sugar (Powdered Sugar)

3 cups Butter Milk (I used 1 cup curd and ½ cup milk instead as Butter milk is not available here)

2 Eggs (Lightly beaten)

4 tbsp Butter plus 1 tbsp for brushing the pan/girdle

1 cup Blueberries (Fresh or Thawed Frozen)

Method:

1) Place a  girdle pan or skillet over medium heat.

2) Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and sugar in a bowl. Add the eggs,   

    buttermilk (curd & milk) & 4 tbsp butter and whisk lightly to combine. Make sure that you do

    not  over combine the batter. The batter should still be a little lumpy after whisking. 

 3) Test the skillet/girdle by sprinkling a few drops of water on it. If the water spatters it is hot

     enough. Brush the skillet with very little butter (the remaining 1 tbsp melted butter) using a  

     pastry brush.

4) Using a Ladle/large spoon, pour the batter onto the skillet in pools at least 2 inches apart. Dot

     the cooking batter with blueberries, pressing them in slightly. Flip the pancake when the

     small bubbles rise to the top of the batter & it is slightly dry around the edges. The moist batter

     could ooze out or blueberries may roll out while flipping the pancake, just push it in with the

     spatula. Cook for about a minute till the bottom is golden brown and then remove from the

     skillet.

5) Serve warm with dusted icing sugar & some fresh blueberries, you can also pour some maple

    syrup like we did if you like!

Tips:

   · There is a secret ingredient to this recipe J. Malted milk powder!! add 1 1/2 tbsp of malted milk powder to the dry ingredients before making the batter. This is the key ingredient that diners & pancake houses have been using for a long time to give the pancakes an undeniable depth of flavour.  

   · To give the perfect fluffy, airy yet rich texture to your pancakes ensure a thick moist batter and proper cooking temperature. The batter should be just thick enough for you to be able to pour it onto the skillet in a slow ribbon. The skillet should be heated to a medium-high, so that the pancakes cook quickly but don’t turn dark and remain uncooked in the centre. Small lumps in the batter also ensure light pancakes, so it’s important not to over mix the batter.

   · Always dot the batter with blueberries or any other fruit that you may be using after you have poured the batter onto the skillet. This ensures even distribution of the fruit as well as less messy looking pancakes compared to mixing them with the batter earlier.