Pancakes (North American)
Serves 3 Time 15 minutes Difficulty 2/5 Ingredients 6 Steps 6
North American pancakes are a type of pancake prepared from a batter that is baked on a hot griddle or frying pan. They exist in several variations in many different local cuisines.
Ingredients
- 120 g (1 cup or 8 oz) wheat flour (white, whole grain or 1:1 mix of white and whole grain)
- 1 ½ tsp baking powder
- 1 pinch salt
- 250 ml (1 cup or 8 fl oz) milk (substitute buttermilk or 1:1 mix of milk and buttermilk)
- 1 egg, separated
- 1 tbsp white sugar (optional; this will add a sweetness to your pancakes and is recommended if you are not using any sauces, syrups or ingredient such as bananas or blueberries that will add natural sugars to the mix)
Steps
- Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl until well blended.
- Add milk. Mix until smooth.
- Separate the egg. Put the whites in a medium bowl and the yolks in the batter. Mix well.
- Whip whites until stiff. Fold gently into the batter. Skip for heavier pancakes or if 1 cup buttermilk replaces the milk.
- Pour ladles of batter into a non-stick pan, one at a time.
- Cook until the edges are dry and bubbles appear on the surface. Flip. Cook until golden.
Notes from the original
- Serve with butter, maple syrup, fruit, chocolate spread, melted chocolate, jam, or cheese.
- Many variations of this recipe use a whole beaten egg instead of the yolk and whipped whites. In these variations, all wet ingredients are mixed together with the dry ingredients to make the batter before moving on to the cooking.
- Use buttermilk or yogurt instead of milk, or wholegrain flours instead of white. This will change the consistency of the final product—whole grain flours generally lead to a denser heavier pancake, so try mixing white and wheat in various proportions as suggested above to get the feel you want.
- Try adding sliced fruit such as banana and apple, or broken crispy bacon to the batter after pouring into the skillet and before flipping.
Source. Adapted from “Cookbook:Pancakes (North American)” by Wikibooks contributors, revision of 2026-09-19, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Changes. Steps rewritten into short commands. Introduction shortened. Wiki formatting removed. This adapted recipe is shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Photo. Banana on pancake.jpg by Brandon Martin-Anderson, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia. Resized; otherwise unchanged.