Classic Pancakes From Scratch

These classic homemade pancakes are almost just as easy as a box mix. With very few ingredients, they are very easy to make and taste great, too!

My mother made these pancakes for us when we were growing up. She learned how to make these pancakes from scratch from her mother. Making meals from scratch is a great way to monitor what you're eating, and you will know exactly what went into this classic pancakes!

I made pancakes today for my lunch (haha), so I decided to share!

(This recipe makes about 10-12 medium sized pancakes. I have included a print-out recipe in the last step)

1. 1 cup self-rising flour

2. 1-2 tablespoons sugar

3. 2 eggs

4. 1 tsp vanilla

5. 1 cup milk (more or less for preference)

6. Mixing bowl

7. Spoon

8. Oil for cooking

9. Skillet

10. Flipper

Combine the flour, sugar, eggs, vanilla, and milk, stirring with the mixing spoon. Make sure it is thoroughly combined.

The amount of milk you add will give you thicker or thinner pancakes. This recipe makes about what I'd call "classic thickness", so you can add more milk to make a thinner pancake. Add a lot of milk to make "faux crepes". If that is what you want to do, the batter should be almost a complete liquid (it will rise slightly in the skillet).

Once the batter is mixed, add enough oil to your skillet to make a puddle. This is just a guessing game here, so I didn't provide exact measurements. The oil functions as your fat in your pancake, and it also helps prevent your pancake from sticking.

Turn the skillet onto to medium low. You may need to adjust this temperature while cooking, but for now heat up the oil.

Once the oil is hot, pour it into the pancake batter. You just need to get the majority in the batter - a little bit left in the skillet is good. Stir the hot oil quickly into the batter or you will have small cooked lumps like I did (hey, it's hard to cook and take photos at the same time!). Don't worry too much about the lumps; they will "melt" into the pancake while it's cooking.

With the spoon (or a ladle if you prefer), pour a little bit of the batter into the skillet. Go slowly, the batter will expand as it settles, so you don't want to end up with a huge pancake because you didn't realize it was still expanded. You can spread the batter out with the spoon if you want a thinner pancake than your batter gives you.

Watch the pancake as it cooks. Bubbles will begin to rise to the top of the batter and pop. Once the pancake has many bubbles showing at the time, it is time to flip it. This was one of the first recipes I learned because it was so easy to know when it was time to flip the pancake.

When you flip the pancake, allow a little time for the second side to cook, not as long as the first side took. You can look under it by lifting the edge with the flipper. It should be a nice golden brown when done. Lift the pancake out and place it on a plate.

This batter can be colored to make fun pancakes. You can also drizzle the batter into fun shapes using an icing tip and bag, or just the spoon if you're careful. My mother used to make us pancakes in the shape of the first initial of our name, and that was always very popular.

Serve these pancakes with syrup and butter. You can also eat them with jelly or jam because that is really good, too.

If you take the sugar and vanilla out of this recipe, you basically have fried bread, which is also good. It can pair well with a savory meal.

I hope you enjoy your pancakes. They are very quick to whip up, and the recipe can be upsized easily for more people. You could also cut this recipe in half for less pancakes and it would work just as well.