best basic pancakes & pancake faq

A recipe for the ‘best pancakes’ is not the easiest thing to find. This isn’t because there aren’t a million recipes out there claiming that coveted title – there really is that many out there. Rather, I think the problem has to do with the fact that people want different things from their favourite pancake recipe.

When I was a kid, pancakes were something between American-style hotcakes and crepes; they were tender but not fluffy, rollupable but not fragile. We had them with lemon juice and sugar. Sometimes at other kids’ houses they were rubbery and bland and spread with jam I didn’t much care for, but lord knows I ate them anyway. I still like pancakes this way – the way my Mother used to make them – sometimes. But somewhere along the line I discovered the joy of thick, fluffy American-style stacked pancakes, and it pretty much changed what I wanted in a pancake forever.

For something made with such a simple batter, you’d think the basic pancake would be easy to whip up and that everyone would have this down pat. But since converting to the pleasures of the stack, I’ve encountered dozens of incarnations – both good and bad, at people’s homes and out at cafes – that would suggest otherwise. I’ve had cake-like versions, so big and puffy you want to crawl into the middle of one and have a nap, and airy versions with a sparse, drier crumb. I’ve had pancakes with apple grated into the batter, resulting in a delicious moist, fritter-like cake and I’ve had others that took the idea of the ‘simple batter’ without a grain of salt, quite literally.

While there’s room for all kinds of pancakes in this world, what I want is a go-to recipe that produces consistently fluffy, tasty pancakes with a moist and toothsome texture. They should be porous enough to soak up whatever you pour over them, but they should also taste good unadorned. They should be made with stuff that is (usually) already in your fridge and, they should be easy enough to whip up on a Sunday morning after a few too many wines the night before.

I tried around six recipes that used different techniques to achieve the fluffy, tender texture I was after. I tried whipping and folding in egg whites, using buttermilk, leaving batters to rest for an hour and overnight – even adding soda water. Of course the America’s Test Kitchen Family Cookbook had the answer all along – and it was so, so simple: buttermilk + minimal mixing = tender, awesome pancakes. When I say minimal mixing, I mean there’s still lumps and bumps in that batter when you pour it into your greased pan. There’s science here: the less you mix the batter, the less chance the gluten in the flour has to develop that chewiness that is so good in bread, so bad in pancakes. So knead, knead, knead your bread, lovelies – but mix your pancake batter like a kid with no patience. And pour on syrup like there’s no tomorrow.

Best basic pancakes

Recipe from America’s Test Kitchen Family Cookbook, pancake FAQ by me

*This version of recipe is for when you don’t have buttermilk on hand; if you do, simply replace the milk with buttermilk and disregard the lemon juice
Makes around 12 pancakes

2 cups milk
1 tbsp lemon juice
2 cups plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
2 tbsp sugar
½ tsp salt
1 egg
3 tbsp butter, melted
butter, to grease pan

1. To make buttermilk, stir lemon juice into milk and set aside to thicken.

2. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar and salt in a large bowl and whisk to combine.

3. In a smaller bowl, whisk egg with melted butter, then add buttermilk and whish gently until just combined.

4. Make a well in centre of dry ingredients and pour in buttermilk mixture. Whisk very gently until just combined; mixture will be lumpy and uneven.

5. Heat pan to medium hot and add a small knob of butter. Pour 1/3 cup batter into pan. When bubbles appear on the surface of the batter, flip pancake to cook other side. Repeat with remaining batter, greasing pan when necessary.

Pancake FAQ


What should I cook my pancakes in?

The best pan for cooking pancakes is something nice and heavy, like a cast iron skillet. This is because it will distribute and retain heat evenly, cooking your pancakes beautifully every time. I use an enameled cast iron skillet and find it needs very little greasing. Just make sure you heat the pan adequately and test before you start cooking, as they can take a while to get to the right temperature.

Can I add things to this recipe to make other kinds of pancakes?

Why, yes – yes you can. I’ve had great success with this recipe and the following variations: add ricotta, blueberries or both (either in the batter, or sprinkled on once poured into pan); make wholemeal/wholegrain pancakes – simply replace one cup of plain flour with wholemeal; add slices of banana to poured pancake before flipping; add grated cheese to batter for a crispy, crispy surface. This is a very adaptable recipe, so try whatever your heart desires.

What’s the best way to keep the cooked pancakes warm while I finish cooking the rest of the batch?

The America’s Test Kitchen Family Cookbook has this covered, too. I use their suggestion here, which is to preheat your oven on a low setting and put a wire cooling rack over a baking tray/sheet in it. When each pancake is done, place it on the rack in the oven, trying your best not to overlap with other pancakes. This keeps the little babies warm and stops them from loosing their fluffiness and being flattened under the weight of one another.

How long will the batter keep?

The batter will keep a couple of days in the fridge, should you wish to use any remaining the following morning or for dessert. Pour into a jug and cover before placing in the fridge.

Can I freeze cooked pancakes?

Surprisingly, yes! Ok, so maybe it’s only a surprise for freezer-dummies like me. To do this, let the cooked pancakes cool to room temperature before wrapping well (double-wrap will help prevent freezer burn) in plastic wrap and popping in the freezer. ATK says they’ll keep well for a week here and I can’t say any different, cause all mine got eaten within the week. To reheat, defrost in the fridge overnight then warm in a moderate oven for around 5 minutes.

Where can I read more on pancakes?

Have you gone mental? Ok. Deb at Smitten Kitchen has a great guide to pancakes. I’d go there first.

vegan pumpkin & chocolate muffins

D'you know, this is my first ever attempt at vegan baking? I feel a bit silly about that, for a number of reasons: I know vegans, I read vegan blogs, I know some of my readers are vegan. What really pushed me to finally have a go though, was something I've been thinking about while putting together my forthcoming (mega)post on buffet dinners. When planning my last large-scale dinner party, I think one of the most useful things I did was to put some time into finding dishes that cater to nearly everyone. Your guests may or may not eat meat, or can't eat gluten, or are allergic to eggs, or puff up after prawns, but it's so important for the meal to be a shared experience - and it's harder for that to happen when there's a "special" plate in the back corner for the person who can't eat whatever else is on offer.

I'm so glad I finally got around to making these, because they're totally one of those treats that nearly everyone will enjoy - whether they're vegan or not. These muffins are fragrant with cinnamon and nutmeg, studded with dark chocolate and little oily bursts of walnut and are the colour of sunshine, thanks to the pumpkin puree. They're nice warm or at room temperature and they're super moist, without being wet (there's nothing I hate more than a stale, cakey, dry muffin: blerg). 

I've made a couple of changes to the original recipe. I upped the cinnamon, swapped the flax seeds for chia (super energy!) and I also dialed back the sugar. I didn't want anything too sweet and I thought they were perfect this way, but increase it back to the original 1 cup if your sweet tooth's calling out. And yes, I "made my own pumpkin puree": down under, I don't think there's much of a choice! If you're wondering what the best way to do this is, visit The Pioneer Woman for an excellent guide. 

Vegan pumpkin & chocolate muffins

Adapted from Caroline's recipe at Whipped
Makes 12

1 cup pureed pumpkin
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup mild-flavoured vegetable oil (grapeseed etc)
2 tsp chia seeds
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 cup wholemeal flour
2/3 cup unbleached white flour
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
100g dark chocolate, chopped into small pieces
1/3 cup walnuts, chopped roughly
3 teaspoons raw sugar (optional)

1. Heat your oven to 180/350.
2. In a large bowl, whisk pumpkin, water, oil, chia seeds and vanilla until thoroughly blended.
3. In another bowl, whisk together the flours, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, salt and nutmeg.
4. Add dry ingredients to pumpkin mixture and mix with a wooden spoon to combine. If the mixture seems too dry, add a tiny splash of water. When your consistency is right, add the chopped chocolate and nuts.
5. Spoon into a 12 capacity nonstick muffin tin and top each with raw sugar if you're using it. 
6. Bake 30 minutes. Let the muffins cool in tin for at least ten minutes, then turn out onto a rack. 

pumpkin waffles with honey & cinnamon butter

I’ve been inside a lot recently. In my lounge room, surrounded by stacks of paper-clipped, stapled, scribbled-on photocopies. In my kitchen, highlighting passages with one hand, putting bread into the toaster with the other. In my bed, waking up to find my face stuck to a book. Comfy.

Quincy watches me, head cocked to one side, thinking: ‘She’s lost it. My owner has lost it. She’d better not forget my crackers.’

I haven’t been cooking, or even eating, really. I mean I eat, but I don’t know what. Half a pineapple my Mum bought me at the market, all in one go? A spoonful of peanut butter, standing at the fridge? 375g of corn kernels, straight out of the can? Yes, yes and yes.

I’m not depressed. But I am writing a thesis. This evening, for 45 minutes I pretended that I wasn’t. This is what happened:

Heaven is a place where your thesis is finished and it smells like pumpkin waffles with honey and cinnamon butter all the time.

I’ll be there soon.


Pumpkin waffles with honey and cinnamon butter
Adapted from THE recipe at Pumpkin Waffles Blog
Makes 6 waffles (not the Belgian kind)

For honey & cinnamon butter:

75 gm unsalted butter, softened
1 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp honey

For waffles:

350 gm pumpkin, cut into chunks
50 gm brown sugar
25 gm corn flour
150 gm plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
1½ tsp cinnamon
1½ tsp ginger
½ tsp cloves
¾ tsp nutmeg
2 large eggs
I cup buttermilk
55 gm butter, melted

1. To make honey & cinnamon butter, beat cinnamon and honey into softened butter. Cover and place in refrigerator.
2. For waffles, roast pumpkin pieces (with skin) until soft. Remove from oven, cool and mash.
3. Turn your waffle iron on to heat!
4. Combine dry ingredients. Start with brown sugar and corn flour, whisk to combine and break up lumps. Add remaining dry ingredients and whisk again.
5. Separate your eggs, putting yolks into a medium sized bowl. Set whites aside in a smaller bowl.
5. Add mashed pumpkin and buttermilk to egg yolks. Whisk to combine and set aside.
7. Beat egg whites (with your hand mixer or your mixmaster) until stiff peaks form and set aside.
8. Pour melted butter into the pumpkin mixture, whisking to combine.
9. Add pumpkin mixture to dry ingredients, and mix until just combined. Try to avoid mixing! A few visible streaks of flour is fine.
10. Fold egg whites gently into mixture until combined.
11. Cook the babies! My waffle iron takes about two big soupspoons of batter for each waffle and I cook them for around 4 minutes. You may need to experiment a little though.

homemade bronx-worthy bagels

The first thing I wanted to eat once I'd finished the food lover's cleanse was bread. Specifically, bagels. I don't know why. But I'm glad, because it meant that I could try make some.


Try? Pfft. These were wonderful. I take no credit, though. I've been meaning to try these ever since Deb posted the recipe on Smitten Kitchen with photographs that almost bowled me over. Golden. Plump. Chewy. Fresh. I bookmarked them right away.


Growing up in Melbourne's north, a poor little Greek girl might not know what a bagel even is. Sad, isn't it? I (poor little Greek girl) knew some wonderful bread, and I knew what kolouria were (but do you? patience is a virtue...), but, really, what's so good about a bagel? I knew that there were things called bagels that people ate in Hollywood films and on American television shows all the time. But no bagel I'd ever eaten here had struck me as the kind of thing you'd want to eat every day - until I crossed the river, that is. The year I did my honours degree, I worked in a fancy delicatessen owned by a Jewish family in Prahran. Every morning I had to get up at 6 am and travel across to the wrong side of town and bust my ass for 12 hours or so serving people with one billion times more money than me. But I learned a lot about food. And, for the first time, I ate a wonderful bagels. The bagels we got in at Steve's place were from Aviv bakery - and sometimes we got bagels from Glicks. When they arrived in the morning they were golden, tender and still warm, and you'd always have a hard time putting them out without putting one aside for lunch to have with chevre and top quality smoked salmon - even if you'd already brought lunch from home. I've missed those fresher than fresh morning bagels - they'd been one of my favourite breakfast treats. Until now. I'm telling you, these are better than any bagels I've ever had - and I made them. Myself. I was home alone when they first came out of the oven and had a feeling that they might be TOTALLY excellent, but I needed confirmation. I passed a bagful to a helpful friend who fed them to a business partner from NYC, who gave these bagels the thumbs up on appearance, texture and flavour. I felt validated. And then I ate another one.


Can you imagine serving these to people fresh out of the oven after a big night out for a restorative brunch? Or better: how about sneaking out of bed in the morning to slide a few of these into the oven to awaken your (new?) lover with the best-ever scent of bread baking? Putty in your hands, my friends. You need to start these a little bit in advance, but they're not difficult by any means. You need to budget enough time to make a sponge, then the dough. Then you need to retard the dough (yep!) overnight in the fridge. You'll boil them briefly in the morning then throw them in your very hot oven for around 5 minutes. Then the world will be your oyster. I'm going to link to this precious recipe, because a) it's not mine and b) it's too bloody long to type out. But there are a few changes I made that are listed below. Enjoy.

Peter Reinhart's Bagels at Smitten Kitchen: totally bronx-worthy

Changes I made and some tips:

1. I substituted half the whole amount of bread flour used for all-purpose flour, simply because I ran out of bread flour. I don't necessarily recommend this, but thought I should note that the bagels still turned out wonderful and could thus probably be made very successfully with all-purpose flour, if that's all you have on hand.

2. Malt syrup? I could have gone to the health food store to investigate, but I subbed in honey and it worked a treat.

3. I didn't bake these all at once: I kept some unboiled, unbaked bagels in the fridge and used them over 3 days. The final day morning was pushing it a bit - they turned out a little flat. But you can have them ready to go in the evening and just finish them off at breakfast time. So handy!

4. Size matters: Deb made mini bagels. The original recipe makes larger bagels. I made something in between. I can put my hand in the air and admit that I, too, am a geek: I weighed each bit of dough to make sure the bagels came out evenly sized. I made my dough balls/rolls around 3 1/4 ounces each and got 17 bagels from this batch.

5. My first batch looked more like donuts than bagels. This was because the time between boiling and baking was too long - and I mean about 5 minutes. Try to boil as many as you can in one go and get those babies in oven ASAP. The sooner the better. They'll retain their bagely shape more and look so good you'll want to beat them up.

6. I topped mine with sesame seeds because I LOVE sesame bagels. But I can't wait to try other flavours. I've had requests already for blueberry. God help me - and my waistline.

welcoming 2011 with homemade English muffins & the food-lover's cleanse

On New Years Eve at midnight we sat in Amy and Martin's backyard and watched fireworks, with a 41 degree day behind us and a cool change winding its way between us. Champagne in hands, we agreed that 2010 had been an asshole of a year. So we decided to celebrate its passing with homemade English muffins, smoked salmon and scrambled eggs the next morning. The muffins were so delicious that I couldn't be bothered persisting with the camera, so I took the picture below later in the afternoon when it was time for a snack; I took it at that time on New Years Day when the feelings of newness and promise begin to settle in, and your mind turns to getting down to it, or back onto it. Or whatever.


I'd been hoping to make these about 11 times a day recently, but kept running out of time. What a shame! I should have pushed harder, because on New Years Day we learned that homemade English muffins knock the pants off store-bought muffins. And using the first cookie-cutter I stumbled upon in my post-sangria haze resulted in smaller muffins than what you see in the shops: not mini, but petite, and perfectly sized so that you can eat two, instead of just one.

They're really easy to make, my friends! Yardena and Nicole can attest to this, as they sat at my kitchen bench watching me while we drank sorely-needed coffee. The muffin dough needs little kneading, and is enriched with milk, a little butter and an egg. After its first rise (of around 50 minutes) it is knocked back down, dusted in polenta and cut into the sweetest little puffy muffin shapes that were so cute we wanted to beat them up. Another 10 minutes later, they're ready to go and you toast them in a dry frying pan until browned. They're then finished in the oven for another 10 minutes or so and come out piping hot and begging to be split and spread with slightly salted butter. You should really make these.

It was a lovely day of eating and going to the cinema and feeling sleepy after the chaos of the last few weeks, but thankfully the last of its kind for a little while; the catch-up drinks, many meals out, celebratory drinks, sweet Christmas treats, BBQs, days of feasting and boxes of average chocolates all add up and suddenly you feel a bit blah. Or in my case, TOTALLY blah. You know what I mean right? This year I've decided to attack this by doing Bon Appetit magazine's Food-Lover's Cleanse. I came across it a couple of weeks ago and it looked perfect for me in a number of ways:

1. It uses the principles of detoxing and cleansing in a way that is relaxed but consistent; the foods are nutritious, there's limited dairy and some fish and a tiny bit of meat, limited wheat and no coffee or alcohol. It has been developed by a food-writer and registered dietician, so the focus is on flavour and healthfulness - not low and empty calorie foods.

2. It is (really!) fully of delicious-looking food made with lots of ingredients I already have. This is a big issue for many people who want to embark on a program with a planned menu: buying all the spices you don't normally use, more fish or particular (more expensive) cuts of meat and eating something different for every meal, every day, things really begin to add up. The other thing that is unusual and great about the Food-Lover's Cleanse is that it uses leftovers! Roasted vegetables form last night's dinner get reinvented as a salad for lunch the next day. One bigger batch of citrus salad dressing is used multiple times over a week. I like this! Of course any sort of new program will have you spending a little, but when a significant portion of your time, effort and money is spent on food anyway (as with me), this doesn't seem like a big deal.

3. On a related note, the recipes are highly cutomizable once you understand the types of food and guidelines for the cleanse. This means that the program can be adjusted for seasonal and budgetary constraints. Being in Australia means that we're in summer now, while the plan has been developed for people who can get their hands on winter fruit and vegetables. I'm going to change up what I need to and blog about those substitutions and tweaks here, with little notes on what worked particularly well and what I wouldn't try again.

4. It means I get to make a whole range of recipes I've never tried before - including some from Yotam Ottolenghi's cookbook Plenty, that I've been wanting to get for ages (hopefully it will convince me to finally buy the book). Doing things like this usually means that I end up a couple of new recipes that can be thrown into the everyday rotation, which is always great.

I'll post on my progress and any deliciousness the plan puts me in contact with over the next two weeks. Join me if you like, or use me like a guinea pig and wait until I've tested the waters and come out on top (fingers crossed). So far, so good though. I'm writing this after eating a superb mushroom, onion and thyme omelet, drinking a cup of camomile tea. The sun is out and the caffeine withdrawal headaches haven't kicked in yet. I'm thinking about how lovely those muffins were yesterday, and about how great this year might be.

Homemade English muffins
From Gourmet Traveller 2010

1 tbsp dried yeast
pinch of caster sugar
60 ml lukewarm water
600 gm (or 4 cups) plain flour
1 1/4 cups milk, warmed
1 egg
40 gm butter, melted
1 tsp kosher salt
Polenta or corn meal, for dusting

1. Combine yeast, sugar and lukewarm water in a bowl and whisk with a fork until combined. Stand until foamy (5 - 10 minutes).

2. Add flour, milk, eggs, butter and salt. Mix well to combine. Turn this onto a floured surface and knead until the dough is smooth (between 3 and 5 minutes). Place dough in a greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap and stand until doubled in size (40 - 50 minutes).

3. Preheat oven to 180C. Dust your work surface with polenta. Knock back the risen dough and press out or roll to around 1 cm thick. Cut out muffins using a 9 cm cutter (or a little smaller, if you want to make petite muffins like me), re-rolling scraps to make more. I got around 20 out of my batch. Set these aside to prove for 10 minutes or so.

4. Heat a large frying pan over medium heat and toast muffins in batches until golden both sides (5 - 10 minutes). Transfer these to an oven tray and and bake, turning once, until cooked through and puffed (8 - 10 minutes).

Muffins are best eaten on day of making, but they can be toasted the following day, or frozen while fresh.

cranberry, pistachio and cinnamon toasted muesli

There's Julie London on the stereo and I've just put the lid on a big freshly-toasted jar of this muesli. It's sitting on my kitchen bench - and it looks totally ace. Next to it, I've got a litre of fresh milk slowly turning into yoghurt. Now I'm going to sit down and polish my halo. Making this muesli to get me through the week ahead makes me feel virtuous, but eating it is something else - cause this stuff is like crack. I'm totally addicted.


I love toasted muesli so much, but I'm not about to pretend that chowing down a big bowl of this constitutes a particularly healthy start to the day. However with some restraint (booo!), I think this can be part of weekday breakfasts. It is packed full of nuts and linseeds and sunflower kernels and cranberries, so it is very nutritious. After drizzling the whole thing with maple syrup and baking it though, I dare say this is a not a low-calorie affair. But I love about 1/4 of a cup of with good yoghurt and some berries - and I'll gladly have a little of anything over none at all.


I'm not sure if making muesli at home is actually any cheaper than buying it, but I'd like to imagine that it is. In any case, it is a million times better than buying it from a store, because you can put whatever you want in and leave out all those bits that spoil your otherwise favourite muesli. I adapted a basic recipe I found in delicious. magazine years ago, so I'm sure you can put anything you fancy into this and it will still be the bomb. Don't care for cinnamon (what?!?)? Add some shredded coconut. Replace the maple syrup with more honey, or use pumpkin seeds instead of sunflower. Take out the cranberries, add apricots, or dried apple, or...goji berries (?) or chopped dark chocolate (dear lord!). The world is your oyster - at least at breakfast time.

cranberry, pistachio and cinnamon toasted muesli
Adapted from delicious. magazine 2007

2 cups rolled oats
1 cup flaked almonds
3/4 cup sunflower kernals
1/3 cup linseeds
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup maple syrup
2 tbls grapeseed oil
2 tbls honey
3/4 cup dried sweetened cranberries
1/2 cup pistachios, roughly chopped

1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Line a baking tray with baking paper. Place syrup, honey and oil in a small saucepan over low heat until combined and runny - about 2 minutes.

2. Combine oats, almonds, linseeds, sunflower kernals and cinnamon in a bowl. Toss until the cinnamon is all the way through the mixture. Spread this on your baking tray, then drizzle with warm syrup mixture.

3. Bake for around 12 - 14 minutes or until toasted and golden, stirring once during cooking. A note: I leave mine in longer because I like a more golden, more toasted finish - around 18 minutes all up. Just keep your eye on it! Remove and cool to room temperature.

4. While this is cooling, combine the cranberries and pistachios in a large bowl. Add the cooled oat mix (which should be crispy and looking awesome, and stir until well combined. Store your muesli in an airtight container at room temperature. Recipe says for up to 10 days, but I know I've kept mine longer and it's fine.