When I announce Pancakes for breakfast! our kids ask immediately: thick or thin? Thin pancakes are actually crepes and thick are pancakes. Considered as a French specialty, crepes are widespread and very common throughout continental Europe: if you order pancakes, chances are you’ll get crepes.

Our son likes “thin” pancakes (read crepes) and our daughter “thick” ones, pancakes, that is. So when I make the latter, I thin out the last batch of the batter to runny consistency and make a few crepe-like pancakes. But still have to alternate between the two varieties.

My favourite pancake recipe is with buttermilk. Buttermilk pancakes are thick and spongy with less fat needed to achieve the softness. There is always buttermilk in our fridge as I make my own buttermilk. If you don’t have buttermilk, you can substitute it with regular milk (1 cup) mixed with 1 tablespoon of lemon juice, apple cider or vinegar and let it stand 5-10 minutes.

The buttermilk pancake recipe:

2 cups plain flour (if using self raising flour, omit bicarb and baking powder)

1 teaspoon bicarb soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

¾ teaspoon salt

2 eggs

2 tablespoon melted butter or oil

2 cups buttermilk

1. Mix all dry ingredients together.
2. Beat the eggs and add melted butter or oil.
3. Add one cup of buttermilk to the eggs, mix well.
4. Pour buttermilk and eggs mixture into dry ingredients and mix all quickly into a thick batter with a whisker. By adding half the required liquid first the batter will be smooth and without clumps.
5. Now add the second cup of buttermilk and incorporate gently. Add more buttermilk if the batter is too thick.
6. At this stage you can add some corn, herbs, grated cheese or carrot for savoury or chopped fruit or berries for the sweet version.
7. Pour the batter into medium hot oiled pan or griddle – about ¼ of cup or more for larger pancakes. Cook as many at the time as you can fit in your pan without sticking together.
8. Turn over when bubbles appear on the top and cook the other side until golden.
9. Serve warm.

This is a simple buttermilk pancake recipe without sugar. We love it with avocado or other savoury spreads as well as jam or honey, hence the jam will lend the sweetness. To make sweet pancake batter just add 2-3 tablespoons of sugar to the flour when mixing dry ingredients.