I make pretty pancakes the slow way.  Egg white separated and whisk to soft peaks.  Pan over low heat, all to achieve that lovely smooth brown surface, albeit a longer cooking time.

While the recipe I have been using remained more or less the same over the years, some tweaks were made on several occasions when I ran out of an ingredient, or when I have excess ingredients to clear.  Like how I use Hong Kong flour for today’s version.  Hong Kong flour is used for making fluffy steamed buns, so fluffy pancakes should be achievable too!  I mixed 50:50 ratio of Hong Kong flour and plain white flour.  But if you don’t have Hong Kong flour at home, simply stick to plain flour or cake flour.  The pancakes will still turn out fluffy.

The other item I have altered since last year is the use of milk powder instead of fresh milk.  To cut down on plastic bottle/paper carton waste from fresh milk consumption, I started using milk powder instead for bread/waffles/pancake recipes.  Sometimes, I would even skip milk as an ingredient altogether in bread recipes and use plain water.  No one has complained.

I have also picked up other cooking habits, like covering the pan with a pot lid during cooking.  The pancakes somehow cooked faster in the trapped steam, or so I think.

When done properly, the pancake is ready when the top side of the pancake has no wet and uncooked spots,

while the pan side has cooked to a beautiful golden brown shade.

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Fluffy Pancakes Recipe

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1/2 cup hong kong flour
1/2 cup plain flour
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons (28g) raw sugar
2 tablespoons milk powder
1 egg, yolk and white separated
1 cup (240ml) water
28g butter, melted 
more butter, for greasing pan

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In a mixing bowl, add Hong Kong flour, plain flour, baking powder, salt, raw sugar and milk powder and combine well with a small hand whisk.

Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour in water and egg yolk, whisk to mix.

Drizzle in melted butter and whisk to mix until the batter becomes smooth and no longer lumpy.  Set batter aside.

In a separate bowl, whisk egg white to soft peak.  Gently fold the egg white into the pancake batter.

To cook, warm up a pan on low fire, not too hot.  Remove the pan from the stove and brush the smallest amount of butter on the pan to prevent pancake from sticking.  Pour some batter onto the pan and return the pan to the stovetop.  Cover and let the pancake cook over low heat.  Bubbles will start to appear on the top side of the pancake.  Continue to let it cook in the covered pan, until there are no wet or uncooked spots on the top side of the pancake.

Remove cover and lift a corner of the pancake slightly to check, the bottom should turned golden brown by now.  If it is too brown or has charred, this means that the fire is too hot, reduce the heat further when cooking the next pancake.  Transfer the pancake to a serving plate and cover with a clean towel to keep the pancake from drying out.  Fluffy, moist and warm ones are preferred on the breafast table.

Remove the pan from the fire to bring the temperature down slightly.  Brush butter and repeat to cook the remaining batter.

Serve immediately with syrup or favorite toppings.