Scottish Pancakes Recipe | Diethood (2024)

FAQs

What's the difference between Scottish and English pancakes? ›

Today's Scotch pancakes are still different to English ones: smaller, daintier, sweeter and richer than their English counterparts,” says Mary-Anne before adding: “Scotch pancakes or drop scones are delicious eaten just with butter.

Sift the flour and sugar into a bowl and make a well in the centre. Add the melted butter, the egg and half the milk. Mix together, then slowly stir in the remaining milk to make a smooth, thick batter. Heat a large frying pan until hot.

Over-mixing pancake batter develops the gluten that will make the pancakes rubbery and tough. For light, fluffy pancakes, you want to mix just until the batter comes together—it's okay if there are still some lumps of flour. Fat (melted butter) makes the pancakes rich and moist.

To this day, pancakes go by many names, such as flapjacks or slapjacks. Both Scotch pancakes and American flapjacks are cooked the same way with some hot oil or melted butter on a griddle or pan.

Scotch pancakes are also known as 'drop' or 'dropped scones', because soft dollops of mixture are dropped onto the cooking surface. Scones originated in Scotland, and the 'Scotch pancake' is one of its many forms. They are different to the traditional British 'crepe' because they are thicker and slightly risen.

American pancakes are often made from a boxed mix, or homemade with flour, baking powder, sea salt, milk, egg, and oil, a slightly longer ingredients list than that of Scotch pancakes.

Why are my pancakes flat and not fluffy? A flat pancake is usually the result of the batter being too wet. This is because there isn't enough strength from the flour to trap the bubbles produced by the baking soda.

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Top tips for fluffy pancakes

Don't be tempted to add more than the recipe suggests, as too much baking powder will make pancakes taste soapy. Alternatively, you could use self-raising flour, which will add to the amount of raising agent in the recipe and potentially make your pancakes fluffier.

Baking soda is essential for baked goods, but baking powder is really what makes pancakes and biscuits rise and become so super fluffy. Double-acting baking powder, which is the kind that you'll find in the grocery store, produces bubbles in two ways: when it is mixed with wet ingredients and then when it gets heated.

What does adding more eggs do to pancakes? ›

A word of caution though — if you add too many eggs you'll end up with a loose pancake batter that will need to be balanced with more pancake mix. If you're vegan or allergic to eggs, there are a few ingredients you can use to substitute an egg.

The secret is in the egg whites!

Yep, egg whites are THE determining factor here. To give your pancakes that fluffy text, beat only the egg whites for 3 minutes on medium speed. They'll start turning creamy, which means it's time to add them to the pancake mixture.

Whether you are making your own batter or using a pancake mix, the the secret to fluffier pancakes rests in air pockets. Yes—air pockets. Air pockets make the difference between a pancake and crepe, which means it's crucial that you get the perfect amount of bubbles in your batter to form a fluffy pancake.

And British pancakes are endlessly adaptable. Unlike their puffy, cake-like cousins, there's no sugar in the mix meaning they work for savoury toppings as well as sweet. And yes, I know the Yanks like theirs with bacon alongside the maple syrup, but that's down to an intense sweet-salt obsession.

They are different. American pancakes are made with self raising flour (or baking powder) so they have a cake-like texture. British pancakes are made with plain flour and no raising agent. The batter contains a greater proportion of milk and egg to flour than the American variety.

Brits take a different approach to pancakes, too

Not only is it a bit thinner and crispier around the edges, but the British pancake is also presented differently. Often, that means covering it in a filling and folding it into quarters. Instead of maple syrup, the traditional sweet addition is sugar and lemon juice.

Scotch pancakes are not as raised and thick as American-style pancakes, so not as much leavening is needed in the batter.