These Hairy Bikers American pancakes are big, pan-sized buttermilk pancakes, each scattered with blueberries as it cooks. While Chicken & Egg says serves 4, their BBC Food version makes 8 in about 45 minutes, at roughly 330 calories each by my count.
Brunch is only the start, since “these are so good you’ll want to eat them at any time of day”, as they write. And they finish the stack with a maple butter, whipped until white and fluffy before the syrup goes in.
The flip is where these succeed or fail, because a pancake this wide tears if it leaves the pan too soon. So patience pays here, while the berries sink into the batter and the base sets firm enough to turn in one go.
Hairy Bikers American Pancakes
Description
Buttermilk, vanilla and melted butter go into self-raising flour, then stiffly whisked egg whites make the batter light and bubbly. Then each pancake fills a 20cm pan and gets a handful of blueberries, ready to stack with a cinnamon maple butter.
Ingredients
For the pancakes
For the maple butter (optional)
Instructions
- Maple butter first: Whisk the softened butter with the salt and cinnamon until white and fluffy, then whisk in the maple syrup a little at a time. Then set it aside, so it’s ready when the pancakes are.
- Dry mix: Whisk the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt in a large bowl to break up any lumps, then make a well in the middle.
- Wet mix: Whisk the buttermilk with the vanilla, egg yolks and melted butter in a separate bowl. Then, in a clean bowl, whisk the egg whites until stiff.
- Bring it together: Pour the buttermilk mixture into the well and whisk until combined. Then fold in one big spoonful of the whites with a metal spoon, and gently fold in the rest.
- Pan and batter: Melt a little butter in a 20cm frying pan over a medium heat. Then pour in about 1½ ladlefuls, roughly 150ml by my reckoning, to cover the base.
- Blueberries on top: Scatter a large handful of blueberries over it straight away, about 35g or an eighth of the total, since the batter puffs up around them.
- Flip once: When the underside is browned and the pancake is firm and cooked more than halfway through, about 3 minutes by my timing, flip it quickly. Then give it another minute.
- Keep warm and repeat: Keep each pancake warm on a tray in a low oven, loosely covered with foil, while you cook the rest. Then stack them with extra blueberries, the maple butter and more syrup.
FAQs
What if I can’t get buttermilk?
In One Pot Wonders they make their own by stirring a tablespoon of lemon juice into 200ml of milk and leaving it for 10 minutes. So for the 600ml here, I’d go with that and scale it to 3 tbsp lemon juice in 600ml milk.
Make It Easy has a stronger version, with about double the lemon, so the One Pot Wonders ratio is the gentler pick. And the John Torode buttermilk pancakes at the top of Google for this search are a different cook’s recipe.
How do I make the sausage version?
Use the same batter without the vanilla, cinnamon and blueberries, because that’s how their savoury pancakes with sausage work in Chicken & Egg. Then fry 500g of sausage meat, breaking it up as it browns, and drain off any fat.
Scatter a couple of tablespoons over each pancake in the pan, then flip and finish it the same way, with maple syrup to serve. And for sausages baked in batter instead, their toad in the hole is the oven version.
Can I use frozen blueberries?
Yes, and in the recipe tips on BBC Food they say to thaw them in the fridge overnight first. But thawed berries are juicier than fresh ones, which is why they say to add them carefully.
So I’d drain them and pat them dry before scattering, to stop the juice running into the batter, which is my own tip. And their blueberry muffins take frozen berries the same way, defrosted first.
Is there a vegan version?
Yes, in Veggie Feasts they make about 16 with 200g plain, spelt or wholemeal flour, 2 tsp baking powder and ½ tsp bicarb. And it takes 2 tbsp caster sugar, ½ tsp cinnamon, 1 tsp mixed spice and a pinch of salt.
Then 300ml of soya or almond milk is soured with a tablespoon of cider vinegar or lemon juice, since oat milk won’t thicken. Then they fry 4 small ladlefuls at a time in coconut oil, and warn not to flip them too soon or they may crack.
Can I make them smaller?
You can, by using about half a ladleful, around 75ml, and cooking 2 or 3 at once in a bigger pan. But they’ll need a little less time on each side, so watch the colour, which is my own adjustment rather than theirs.
Or for small pancakes made light from the start, their fluffy banana pancakes use only egg whites and semi-skimmed milk. And those are 74 calories each, with 4 cooked at a time. Or skip the frying pan entirely, because their Finnish pancakes bake as one big tray in the oven.
