For all you Europeans out there, here’s how to make thick American style pancakes.
Ok ok, I’m going to cheat on this one. Why mix ingredients when you can get the premixed stuff? Just add water! So why am I making a dedicated page just for pancakes?
- Storage
- I bought a package of pancake mix at the store, but it is stored in plastic and cardboard. Cardboard gets soggy and may carry cockroach eggs onto the boat. So use tupperware for long storage.
- Ensure the tupperware is air-tight and won’t open when (yes, when!) it falls on the floor. I use a thick, plastic container by Leifheit with an air-tight lock. Expensive, but worth it.
- Weevils! You know those little, squirming bugs that live in flour? Sure, they are fine to eat, but who wants to? And simply storing your flour in an air-tight container won’t work all the time. You’d be surprised how often weevil eggs are found in the grocer’s flour and are transferred into your boat containers. A trick I’ve used is to put a basil leaf in every container of flour, pancake mix, rice, etc. I have stored flour for over a year in the same container with no weevils. Without the leaf: weevils. I don’t get it, but it works.
- I bought a package of pancake mix at the store, but it is stored in plastic and cardboard. Cardboard gets soggy and may carry cockroach eggs onto the boat. So use tupperware for long storage.
- Cooking
- Stir water into the pancake mix until the dough is the consistency of runny peanut butter. These aren’t crepes, so keep the dough thick! You may even have to help it out of the mixing bowl onto the pan with your stirring utensil.
- Heat a non-stick pan to medium-high on the burner and add a dollop of oil.
- Spread the oil out and add some pancake mix. You’ll want the dough to spread by gravity in the center of the pan, leaving enough room along the sides so you can flip the thing.
- After about one minute, the edges of the pancake will begin to look like they are cooking and bubbles will be rising in the center of the pancake dough. Now is the time to flip. The bottom should be a golden brown.
- If the bottom is burnt at this point, you didn’t add enough oil or the heat is too high. Experiment until you get it right.
- Cool on the other side for about one minute and it’s done. Move to a plate and try another one.
- Keep experimenting with the thickness of the dough, the amount of oil added, heat levels and cooking time until you get it perfect. The perfect pancake will be golden brown on both sides, cooked all the way through, and about half an inch thick.
- You can also add extras to the dough before cooking: chocolate chips, banana, apple, coconut, macadamia nuts, etc.
- Top with butter and maple syrup, traditionally. Or try coconut syrup, molasses, peanut butter, jam… anything goes!
Apple pancakes
