Step-By-Step To Perfect Banana Pancakes

A few weeks back, I posted my recipe for the perfect banana pancakes. Since then, I've revised and improved the recipe, so it's possible to get an even better result. So if you want to try something new for Shrove Tuesday, give these bad boys a go!

Ingredients

135g gluten free self-raising flour (I used Dove's Farm but there are, of course, others)
200ml semi-skimmed milk
2 large eggs
20g melted unsalted butter
3 large ripe bananas

Method 

Put the self-raising flour into a large mixing bowl. Gluten free flour tends to be extremely light, so you shouldn't need to bother sieving it (sometimes, coeliac disease makes life a lot easier!)

Throw in the milk and both eggs. The milk can be cold, but the eggs should be at room temperature. 

Cut off 20g unsalted butter 

 

 

Melt the butter. You can do this in a saucepan, but it's much easier to blitz it for 40 seconds at full power in a microwave. 

Pour the melted butter into the mix SLOWLY. It's tempting to chuck it in all in one go, but doing so will chill the butter and you'll get tiny lumps of solid butter in the mix. If that happens, the pancakes will be too firm instead of light and fluffy. So take your time with this.

 

Time for the bananas! Now, it's tempting to throw bananas out when they look like these two, but actually, the skin goes black long before they're bad on the inside. These guys were perfect for these pancakes.

Bananas that are just ripe will also work perfectly well. I took the last banana from this bunch.  

The riper the bananas, the easier they are to mix in because you don't need to mash them first (see how easy this is!?). Just lob the ripest bananas straight in. Less ripe bananas can be added a bit at a time, while the machine is mixing. Just break off a chunk of banana and drop it in the batter.

Once you've mixed it all in, the batter should reach this consistency. See the way it's dripping off the beater? It should be quite runny like this, but not be watery at all. If it seems a little thick, pour in a little more milk (slooowwwllly!) while mixing until the batter is looser.

One of the biggest mistakes, when making pancakes, is the heat on the hob. This is the setting I use every single time I make pancakes, and I begin heating the pan on this setting about 10 minutes before I want to cook the pancakes. Have you heard of the 'first pancake' rule? It suggests that the first pancake is always a throwaway because it's a bit rubbish. You can avoid wasting good batter by properly heating the pan first.

Next you need to grease the pan. I use Flora Cuisine but ultimately, you can use any form of butter or spread. The pan should be hot enough by now that the butter will melt and bubble like this, smoking a little at the same time. This means the pan is good and hot. Perfect timing! Once it's melted, use a couple of folded pieces of kitchen roll to wipe it all round the pan. You don't want to put pancakes in grease, or they'll be oily.

When you're ready, use a ladel to pour the batter into the centre of the pan. The ladel should be almost full for a bread plate-sized pancake but you could make a few smaller 'Scotch-pancakes' instead for children.

See all those teeny bubbles in the batter? These should appear after about 20 seconds and they tell you that it's time to flip the pancake. It will also start to firm up and change colour a little around the very edges. I find it's best to use a metal spatula or fish slice for this. Be confident, slide the tool under the pancake in the middle and....FLIP! (Note, there's no real point in trying to flip the English pancake way. Although it's distinctly more fun, it'll knock air out of this pancake and probably make a lot of mess, as there will still be liquid batter on the top.)

And this is what it should look like on the top. It should start to puff up a little as it cooks on the other side. It will take a little longer to cook on the bottom...roughly an extra 30 seconds, but you can always flip it to check and then flip it again to cook it a little longer.

To keep the pancakes hot while you're cooking, it's a good idea to have the oven on at 100 degrees C / 225 degrees F / Gas Mark 1/4. 

Et voila! The perfect American-style banana pancakes! Ready to top with Nutella, golden syrup or even a freshly stewed fruit compote.

Have a great Shrove Tuesday, everyone!