Now this one is special.. I’m pretty picky when it comes to pancakes, after growing up with my GrandMa’s.

These aren’t thick and puffy.. These are dutch/flemish style. Thin and a little crispy… Very light.

If you’ve been to Holland, hopefully you checked out some of the great food.. including their ‘pannekouken’. I’ve seen oven baked styles that are like Pies.. But also ones that are more like this one from my Grandma.. flat, thin and crispy.  Some places put all sorts of toppings on or in them..Amst like a pizza.. I prefer just plain, with a good quality maple syrup.

I remember when I was living in Brussels for a couple months on a project for work, I found shrinkwrapped pancakes in the grocery store, very close tasting to my Grandmothers..  Though it took a few days to find maple syrup. Ended up finding it in a special ‘imports’ section of the grocery store.. from Canada 😉

There are 3 crucial areas of this recipe, which may take some practice to master..

1. The thickness of the batter

2. The amount of oil in the pan

3. The temperature of the pan

anyway.. here is the recipe:

To Make about 12 pancakes maybe 10 inches in diameter (15 minutes prep, over an hour frying)..

2 cups flour (I now use 1 cup white, 1 cup whole wheat)

about a tablespoon of Vanilla extract

about 3 tablespoons of melted butter

2 eggs

1 teaspoon Baking powder

1 teaspoon Baking soda

nearly 1 litre milk

extra light tasting olive oil (i’m sure others are fine too)

1. put the egg yolks in a blender  (my grandmother used a big bowl, but my brother had the great idea to just make this in a blender), egg whites in a separate medium bowl.

2. Using a mixer, mix the egg whites until they are just a big fluffy foam in the bowl.

3. pour the foam into the blender

4. add the butter, extract, baking powder & soda

5. add maybe 2 cups of milk

6. add 1 cup of the flour. turn on the blender and let it mix well.. adding milk as needed to get it to mix (not too much.. just so it mixes)

7.now continue adding flour and milk until the flour is done, and the correct consistency is achieved.  You want a medium consistency.. not too think, not runny. bubbles should hold for a while. See this pic if it helps – taken just after running the blender. – more on consistency later..

8. Have your pan heating up, with a couple tablespoons of oil.  Once hot, make sure to swirl the oil around, coating the pan well. The perfect temperature setting on my stove is just under the half way point. – more on temperature later

9. Now comes the trial and error.. it may take some fine tuning, but it’s worth it to get it right..  Pour the batter into the pan, in the center of the pan, making about a 6 inch diameter circle. Now tip the pan in circles, so the batter runs off the original circle, adding an inch or two all around, and keeping the pancake thin.

10. Wait until the top is dry, and the edges are just getting crispy brown on the underside See pic below. Then flip the pancake over. If the 3 key items above are right, you’ll get something like this second pic..

11. Let the pancake get completely cooked, with brown spots on the bottom now.. then throw it on a warm plate for serving. Be sure to be warming the high quality maple syrup too!

12.  now pour in about a two inch circle of oil.  then repeat from step 9, until all the batter is done. When you pour the batter in, and finish tipping the pan around, make one final swirl.. if the right amount of oil is in the pan, the edges of the pancake will deep fry just a little.

Fine tuning tips:

1. In step 10, if the top of the pancake doesn’t dry until the bottom is getting black / burnt areas, then the temp is too high.  If the top dries, but upon flipping the pancake, it’s not golden brown with crispy edges, the temp is too low.

2. If the pancake is turning out thick (ie. more puffy then about 4 or 5 millimeters), add more milk, blend, and see how the next one goes.

3. If the edges of the pancake are flat, not many bubbles, and not like the photo above, the batter is too thin. Add more flour, blend, and see how the next one goes.

I’ve added banana to the blend a couple times.. it’s good.. but I still like the original best.