Pancakes (Welsh Crempog or Ffroes)

Traditionally served on Pancake Day (Shrove Tuesday), Welsh crempog (also known as Ffroes) differ from the British/French crêpe. Similar to the American pancake and bigger than the Scotch pancake, crempog can be made with or without yeast, with buttermilk, oats or speckled with raisins or currants. Traditionally, they are made from self-raising flour, salt, eggs, milk and butter. Often stacked in a pile and smothered with butter, the stack can be sliced like a wedge of cake and eaten as a teatime treat. You can also add fruit to the batter, we added some fresh blueberries just before cooking them.

2 oz butter (55 g)
15 oz buttermilk, warm (450 mL)
10 oz all-purpose flour, unbleached (275 g)
3 oz sugar (75 g)
1 tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. sea salt
1 Tbsp. vinegar
2 eggs, well beaten

To Serve:
jam or preserves
fresh fruit
pure maple syrup
chocolate sauce

Gently warm the buttermilk in a saucepan. Stir in the butter and stir over a low heat until melted. Take care not to boil the buttermilk.

Put the flour into a bowl and gradually pour the buttermilk and butter into the flour and beat well to create a thick batter. Leave the batter mixture to stand for at least 30 minutes but up to an hour or two if possible.

Stir the sugar, baking soda, salt, and vinegar into the beaten eggs.

Add this mixture to the flour and milk mixture and beat well to form a smooth, lump-free batter.

Heavily grease an iron griddle, hot-stone, or heavy-based frying pan and heat until hot but not smoking.

Drop the batter, a generous Tbsp. one at a time, onto the heated griddle and bake for a few minutes over a moderate heat until golden brown.

Flip the pancake over and cook on the other side.

Once cooked, wrap the pancakes in a thick tea towel to keep them warm. Continue as above until all the batter is used up and all the pancakes cooked. Do not let the pancakes go cold.

Spread butter on each pancake and eat while warm. Jam, banana, syrup, currants and even a chocolate drizzle are of course optional.