Fluffy Pancakes II

My friend had been craving pancakes for some time, and I wanted to try out a new pancake recipe, which was perfect - she came over to my place early in the morning, so that we could get started on making some pancakes for our breakfast!

This pancake recipe is unique in the sense that it requires whipped egg whites. It also uses milk and not buttermilk or sour cream, which makes life so much easier since milk is so much cheaper and readily available than those ingredients. Now, making pancakes should be a relatively easy task, and you might think - whipped egg whites ain't easy at all! Well, I'm here to prove you wrong - it really is pretty easy. Make sure you separate the egg when it's cold, because it separates most easily then. Let it warm to room temperature before attempting to whip it. The egg white will whip easier when it's not cold. It was all manual labour here - no mixer, just a metal bowl and whisk, and lots of elbow grease. Just use your wrist and whip that egg white  up, it will start to froth and slowly whiten, and before you know it, you have softly whipped egg whites. The whitening of egg whites is one of those processes in baking that I anticipate the most, really. 

Do try out this recipe if you're bored of your usual pancake recipe - whipping your egg whites separately does produce results and some mighty delicious pancakes :]

Fluffy Pancakes

Adapted from Evan here

Makes 7 pancakes

Ingredients: 

1 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
1 cup milk
1 egg, separated

2 tsp caster sugar

1 tbl oil

Method: 

1. Sift flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl. 
2. In another bowl, whisk together the egg yolk, sugar and milk. Add in the oil and mix well. 
3. Add the yolk mixture into the flour mixture and whisk to combine. Make sure the batter is smooth with no lumps. 
4. Whisk the egg white until soft peaks are achieved, before folding it into the mixture above. 
5. Heat a non-stick frying pan on medium low heat. Using a 
   ¼-cup measuring spoon, ladle 
   ¼-cup of batter on the pan and cook for 2 minutes, or until bubbles appear on the surface. Flip the pancake and cook for another 1 minute or until golden brown. 
6. Repeat for the remaining batter until you get a stack of pancakes. Serve warm with a pat of butter and maple syrup. Enjoy!

Janine's jots: 

• Taste: Pancakes were sufficiently sweet, such that they could be consumed on their own. Of course, nothing beats pancakes with jam and maple syrup :]
• Texture: The pancakes were really one of the fluffiest I've consumed, and trust me, I've tried tons of pancake recipes, ranging from those requiring buttermilk to sour cream to yogurt ... the list just goes on! I also like that these pancakes developed a slightly more 'crusty' exterior - perfect for dipping into maple syrup with!
• Serving size: This was the first time that a recipe yielded exactly what it promised - 7 pancakes were what I got. I know that my photographs only have 5 pancakes but well that's because I ate 2 of them while waiting for the rest to be done since I was SO hungry and the pancakes looked so darn delicious!
• Modifications: I would probably try decreasing the amount of oil in the recipe because I prefer to use more butter on the pan instead of in the pancake. Otherwise, this recipe is pretty close to perfect for me! 
• Storage: Pancakes should preferably be consumed right after they are made, but I have found that you can store them (cooked) in the fridge for up to 3 days, and give them a quick zap in the microwave to heat them up. The pancakes are noticeably heavier and less fluffy, but still delicious. You can also choose to store the batter (sans the egg white) in the fridge for a day - this means that you can make the batter the night before, wake up to whip the egg white and make pancakes early in the morning!
• Would I make this again?: My last pancake using the last 
  ¼-cup of batter turned out rather tough - that's because my pan is only large enough for 1 pancake to be cooked at a time and I think the gluten had already started to form and the egg white deflated. I would definitely try making this on a larger pan, to ensure that all pancakes are equally fluffy :]