Pikelets

This is the first of our Bake Off challenges and perfect for Pancake Day. I ate a lot of these growing up in Birmingham, but I haven’t seen any since I came to Canada.

You mix equal amounts (175 g) of plain  and bread flour. Stir in two 7 g sachets of instant yeast. Warm 350 ml of milk ( we used skimmed milk) and add 1 tsp of sugar.

Pour this into the flour mixture and beat with a wood spoon for 3-4 minutes.

Cover it up and ignore it for an hour or two. We put ours in the oven with the oven light on and I went for a physiotherapy appointment. When I came back the batter had risen and fallen back. You can see the line around the bowl.

Perfect. Now mix 150 ml of warm water with 1/2 tsp of soda and 1 tsp salt. Beat that into the batter. The recipe says you can add more warm water to reach a thick pouring consistency. Our batter was already there. Go and have a cup of tea or coffee and leave the batter to ponder the world. When you come back in about 20 minutes there should be little holes on top. Obviously it has finished thinking and needs to be cooked.  Heat a griddle or heavy frying pan. Add a little oil if it needs it. Drop 2 tbsp of the batter onto the cooking surface.  I’m not sure if this is English tablespoons which are bigger than N American spoons.  Either way, get the batter on there and cook for 2-3 minutes.

When the bubbles have burst and the surface is dry(ish) flip them over for another 2-3 minutes.  Don’t skimp on this part. Now you have

Pikelets! Becky and I slathered butter and jam on them and just ate them with our hands.

We ate the lot! You can save them and toast them, which is how I had them in Birmingham; toasted over a coal fire. Happy memories. However you choose to eat them, I’m sure you’ll enjoy them.  Many thanks to Paul Hollywood for the recipe from his “British Baking” cookbook.