Buttermilk pancakes

My sweetie has a tried and true recipe for pancakes that he uses over and over. They are the yardstick he measures every other pancake by. On the rare occasion I manage to drag him out to a café for brunch, he will inevitably order pancakes and then declare, "I make better pancakes at home". He's often right about that.

I had some buttermilk in the fridge left over from making spicy vanilla cupcakes before Christmas. I found a recipe for buttermilk pancakes in the Dominion Post on Christmas Day. It's a Ruth Pretty recipe so I expected it to be good. I can honestly say that these are the lightest, fluffiest and yummiest pancakes I have ever made! Although the recipe says it makes 21 small pancakes and feeds 7-8 people, two of us polished off six large pancakes smothered in maple syrup between us.

Ruth Pretty's buttermilk pancakes

Ingredients

• 1 cup self-raising flour (140g)
• 2 tablespoons (20g) sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon (3g) baking soda
• pinch table salt
• 1 tsp (5g) finely grated lemon zest (I used a few drops of lemon essence instead)
• 1 cup (250ml) cultured buttermilk
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 3 tablespoons (30g) unsalted butter, melted

Method

1. Into a large bowl, sift flour, sugar, baking soda and salt. Add lemon zest, buttermilk and eggs and whisk to form a smooth batter.
2. Add melted butter and whisk to combine.
3. Lightly grease a frying pan with additional butter or baking spray. Place over a medium heat.
4. Pour batter into pan. Turn pancake over when bubbles form evenly on the surface. Cook second side until golden brown.