Pancakes have long been a traditional Russian dish that symbolizes the sun, Shrovetide and the family gathering around the table. Correctly fried pancakes are perforated, beautiful, tasty and with a golden brown crust. They can be fluffy or thin and crunchy.
Important rules
In order to properly fry pancakes, you need to know several important rules for cooking them. The essential ingredients for making pancakes are flour, salt, water, eggs and a little oil. The pancake dough must have a liquid consistency that resembles a good thick kefir. Wheat flour is most ideal for making pancake dough, but it can be easily replaced with ordinary, buckwheat, rye or oat flour.
In the event that the pancake dough is mixed with yeast, you can not add eggs to it - or limit yourself to one egg.
In order for the pancakes to be fried as they should, it is advisable to use a cast-iron pan with a handle when preparing them. In this case, this pan should serve exclusively for frying pancakes. If this is not possible, the pan must be well ignited over a fire before preparing the pancakes. You need to lubricate it with oil using a special culinary shaving brush, which will remove excess oil and make the pancakes less greasy.
The recipe for the correct preparation of pancakes
Take 1 liter of water (with or without milk), 3-4 eggs, 2 cups of sifted flour, 1 teaspoon of salt, 1-3 tablespoons of sugar, 2-3 tablespoons of butter, a little baking soda or baking powder. Beat the eggs, butter, sugar, salt and baking powder with a mixer, then add flour and water to them, beat again with a mixer until smooth. Let the dough sit for 40 minutes until the flour swells.
If the dough turns out to be too liquid, you need to add flour to it, if it's too thick, pour in a small amount of water.
Knead the finished dough and wait until it expands several times. When small craters begin to appear on its surface, heat a skillet over high heat and brush it with oil. Then wrap the pan handle with an oven mitt or a towel so as not to burn your fingers, tilt it slightly and pour half of the pancake dough pan onto the edge of the bottom. Tilt the pan backwards again and spread the dough evenly over its surface.
When the pancake is browned, turn it over with a spatula and fry until tender. Transfer the finished pancake to a plate and grease the pan with oil before the next pancake. This way, overcook the whole dough. Serve properly prepared pancakes with sour cream, butter, honey, condensed milk, jam or caviar.
