Buttermilk Blueberry Pancakes

Pancakes are basically a small exercise in controlled chemistry. Buttermilk brings acidity, baking soda gives it something to react with, and a gentle hand keeps the gluten from getting too enthusiastic. The result is a stack of soft, fluffy pancakes with little bursts of blueberry and a hint of lemon. Simple ingredients, very good science.

Ingredients

Dry ingredients

• 120 g all-purpose flour

• 1 tbsp sugar

• 1 tsp baking powder

• ½ tsp baking soda

• ¼ tsp salt

Wet ingredients

• 1 egg, at room temperature

• 240 ml buttermilk

• 2 tbsp butter, melted, plus more for cooking

• ½ tsp vanilla extract

• Zest of ½ lemon, optional but highly recommended

To finish

• 100 g fresh blueberries, patted dry

No buttermilk? Mix 240 ml milk with 1 tbsp lemon juice. Stir and let it sit for 10 minutes before using.

Method

Prepare the dry ingredients
Whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl.

Prepare the wet ingredients
In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg, buttermilk, melted butter, vanilla extract and lemon zest.

Make the batter
Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients.
Fold gently with a spatula until just combined. Don't try to make the batter perfectly smooth. A few small lumps are exactly what you want.
Overmixing develops the gluten in the flour, which gives you tougher pancakes instead of light, fluffy ones.
Let the batter rest for 5–10 minutes. This gives the flour time to hydrate and allows the leavening agents to get to work.

Cook the pancakes
Heat a pan or griddle over medium-low heat and lightly butter it.
Pour approximately ¼ cup of batter for each pancake.
Immediately scatter a few blueberries over the surface of each pancake rather than mixing them into the batter. This keeps the blueberries intact and, more importantly, prevents their juices from turning the entire batter purple.
Cook for 2–3 minutes, until bubbles appear across the surface and the edges look set.
Flip and cook for another 1–2 minutes, until golden brown and cooked through.
Repeat with the remaining batter, adding a little more butter to the pan as needed.

Serving
Serve the pancakes warm, stacked high and generously drizzled with maple syrup.
For something richer, add a knob of butter on top and let it melt into the stack. You can also serve them with whipped cream, crème fraîche, Greek yoghurt or vanilla ice cream, depending on how indulgent you're feeling.
For the blueberry version, a little extra lemon zest and a handful of fresh blueberries work beautifully. If you're making one of the other variations, match the topping to the fruit. Caramelised banana loves maple syrup and toasted nuts, while apple and cinnamon work particularly well with a spoonful of thick yoghurt.
And if you want to go completely overboard, warm the maple syrup slightly before pouring it over the pancakes. It spreads faster, gets into all the little gaps, and makes the whole operation considerably more enjoyable.

Getting the batter right
The batter should be thick but pourable.

• If it is too thick, loosen it with milk, 1 tbsp at a time.

• If it is too thin, add flour, 1 tbsp at a time.

The exact consistency can vary slightly depending on the flour and the thickness of your buttermilk, so trust the batter more than the measuring cup.

Other things to put in your pancakes
Blueberries are only the beginning. The same batter works beautifully with:

• Caramelised banana and cinnamon: Slice bananas and caramelise them in butter with brown sugar and cinnamon. Add them to the pancakes while cooking.

• Apple and cinnamon: Dice an apple and sauté it with butter, brown sugar and cinnamon until just soft.

• Chocolate and orange: Add dark chocolate chips to the pancakes and finish with fresh orange zest.

• Strawberry and vanilla: Add sliced strawberries to each pancake and serve with vanilla cream.

• Pear and ginger: Finely dice ripe pear and add a little freshly grated ginger.

• Peach and brown butter: Add sliced peaches and serve with browned butter.

• Raspberry and white chocolate: Scatter fresh raspberries and white chocolate chips over the batter.

• Banana and walnut: Add sliced banana and toasted walnuts, then finish with a little maple syrup.

• Pecan and maple: Fold toasted chopped pecans into the batter and serve with maple syrup.

• Mango and cardamom: Add small cubes of ripe mango and a pinch of ground cardamom.

The basic rule is simple: keep the batter neutral and let the topping do the interesting work.