THE BEST Pancakes
If you want to make good pancakes my #1, sold-gold, absolute best piece of advice I can give you is to make the batter the night before. It allows the gluten in the batter to relax (giving you fluffier pancakes) and also saves a huge amount of time (and cleaning up) in the morning. It really is a fairly simple process. You just need a good recipe, and this is definitely it.
I put this recipe up on my Instagram a while ago and it was hugely popular…
… so finally here is the recipe. (I decided to make a YouTube video of this as well, and you can check that out below.)
If you want to follow me on Instagram, you can do that here: https://www.instagram.com/adamliaw/
This may seem like a lot of pancakes (this recipes makes about 12), but pancakes for us are generally a special occasion. The batter will keep easily for about 4 days in the fridge. If it’s just us, this recipe feeds our family of 4 for two days of breakfast pancakes (1-2 per person), but if we have guests (which is when we usually have pancakes) this is the perfect amount.
Ingredients
Makes about 12 thick pancakes
4 cups (600g/22oz) self-raising flour and 2 tsp baking powder
(or 4 cups plain flour and 3 tbsp baking powder)
3 eggs
3 1/2 cups (875ml/30oz) milk
½ cup (125g/4.5oz) sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract (optional)
To serve
butter, whipped cream, and real maple syrup, or any other preferred toppings
Method
Tips for Pancakes
- Lately there has been a popular trend to separate the egg yolks and whites, adding the yolks together with the milk and then mixing the whites in after the mixture has been passed through the sieve. With most pancake recipes this helps as it reduces the protein from the egg whites binding with the gluten from the flour. In this recipe you can do that if you like, but as there is very little gluten developed in this mixing process (and the batter rests overnight, further relaxing the gluten) the improvement in texture is negligible.
- You don’t need to add butter to a non-stick pan when cooking pancakes. Butter and oil will just form beads in a non-stick pan and make the heat from the pan uneven.
- Don’t cook the pancakes too fast. Low-medium heat is best, as they are so thick that they will take a little time to cook. On my induction stove I set the stove to 6 (out of 12), dropping it to 5 after I’ve cooked a few pancakes.
- If this all sounds too difficult, a simple ratio of 1 cup self-raising flour, 1 egg and 1 cup of milk makes a great pancake, too. But you should definitely still make the batter the night before. That’s a game-changer.
Will tty this definitely!
More power to you Adam!!! ❤✔
No butter or oil at all?
Nope, none at all.
Hi Adam. Recipe says 3 tbs of baking powder. Is that a typo?
No, it’s not. If you’re using plain flour instead of self-raising then you will need to add a lot of baking powder (3 tablespoons). If using self-raising flour then you’ll just need to add 2 teaspoons.
Hi Adam, regarding the baking powder amount, in the past whenever I used baking powder it always seem to leave a sort of bitter after taste.
Is it because I used too much of baking powder?
how long can i store the batter?
Hi Adam,
I got quite a dense texture, not light and airy. I only let it rest for an hour rather than overnight, do you think this was why? Also, I only had a fine mesh sieve. Could it have been this too? Cheers, Aaron
Yes, both of those factors are likely the reason. Working it through a very fine sieve probably overworked the batter and developed the gluten, and then not letting it rest long enough didn’t allow the gluten to relax so it would be quite rubbery.
Made these pancakes
There the absolutely best ones I’ve ever made in my life and I’m 52. My 5 children loved them all.
Thanks ever so much Adam love all of your recipes..
Hi I got the bitter after taste and had to toss the whole batch. I used plain flour with 3 tbsp of baking powder. Any idea how to improve this?
Hi Adam,
How long can this batter be kept in the fridge?
It will be fine for about 4 days.
Hi Adam,
If I were to use 1 cup of all purpose flour, how many tablespoon of baking powder should I use? Thanks!
Can you use gluten free flour or banana flour for this recipe?
Sorry, no idea. I didn’t even know banana flour existed until right now.
I used buckwheat flour and loved it. Has a nutty flavour, though possibly a bit more dense than the plain flour version.
Can I make them without adding sugar?
Sure.
I really like the way you explain your recipes, so informative, helps with the why things are done.
the thing for me is if im not happy with the end pancake i can adjust ingredients/steps to fix it because i know the how and why
being able to fix recipes makes me a better cook
thankyou
How would you recommend making this dish without a nonstick skillet or griddle?
Could I use a little oil to start the pancakes?
Have you tried this recipe with a waffle iron?
I followed the recipe exactly (well, I not exactly as I did 2/3 ratio) and left the batter overnight and the results were amazing!
BEST pancakes ever, such a wonderful recipe – Thank You Adam! I got a surprise visit from some relatives & didn’t have a lot in the house. So i made the mix up (in the Thermomix, because it was late & I was lazy) – I just whizzed the egg & Milk mix then added the dry ingredients & mixed – I didn’t sieve, a) because it was around 11pm when i was making them & b) I am in the middle of moving & can’t find my sieve.
They turned out BEAUTIFULLY, I was a little skeptical about the no oil/butter in the pan BUT I AM NOW A CONVERT – worked PERFECTLY. Thank you so much for your concise, easy to follow, thorough instructions.
The fondest memories of my Mum was her perfect pancakes every Christmas morning. She passed away in my early teens and not long after our house burnt down along with all of her recipe books- so it’s been more than twelve years of trying and failing with crazy, fancy ingredients to try and figure out the secret to pillowy pancakes. I am so mad I didn’t try this recipe earlier!
I cried into my plate this morning and now my children think I’m a nutter, they were so perfect.
Thanks so much for sharing, I’ll be borrowing for many Christmases to come!
With an egg allergy, what do you recommend as an egg substitute?
Hello Adam
Can I add custard powder to the batter and would it affect the texture?
Good It allows the gluten in the batter to relax giving you fluffier pancakes.
Thank you for the post. It saves my days!
Adam
Could you please tell me if it is possible to half the recipe?
Thank you
Bhagya
Recipe says’4 cups (600g/22oz) self-raising flour and 2 tsp baking powder.’
I have a friend who is gluten intolerant Adam. Which flour can I substitute
to make this pancake and in what proportion? I take it the baking powder
should be OK for the gluten intolerant?
karine
I think the people reporting a bitter aftertaste might be using just bi-carb of soda, rather than baking powder, which is a mix of bi-carb and cream of tartar.
Oh I love the 111 pancake recipe!
It’s a wonderful post. It’s very conducive for us. Types of posts have been searching by me. An article about post had been red by me some days ago. But article is better than post.