Light and Fluffy Classic Buttermilk Pancakes

Recipe: Buttermilk Pancake Recipe »

Wake up to the fluffiest buttermilk pancakes! This easy, homemade recipe is ready with just 5 minutes prep. These buttermilk pancakes are soft, thick, golden and melt in your mouth they're perfect with maple syrup, butter or jam. I'll also show you how to make buttermilk from scratch and share my secret for perfectly round and even pancakes!

About These Buttermilk Pancakes

Classic buttermilk pancakes are wonderfully thick and fluffy with a great flavour to them. They are so easy to make from scratch too. The reason why buttermilk makes fantastic pancakes is because the acidity in buttermilk reacts with the baking soda to create a light, fluffy and super soft pancake with a gorgeous light, tangy flavour!

And don't worry if you don't have buttermilk, I'm going to show you how to make buttermilk too! ;)

A trip to Canberra inspired me to make these buttermilk pancakes. Laura and I had just gotten back from there where we had eaten the most delicious pancake. Neither of us are pancake people as we love savoury but there we were, two gals happily devouring a giant pancake. It was THAT good.

We asked the cafe for the recipe and they explained that it was just a classic buttermilk pancake and ran through all of the ingredients which led me to try and recreate them. And I think these are even softer and fluffier than the ones that we ate!

They serve the pancake as one giant plate sized pancake with butter, maple syrup and a jam. They go well with any sort of jam be it a pear jam, white peach jam to a classic strawberry jam. And you can make your own butter too!

Tips For Making Buttermilk Pancakes

1 - I never keep buttermilk in the fridge. I just make it on the spot by mixing milk and lemon juice. To make 200ml/7flozs of buttermilk, mix 175ml/6.2flozs milk and 25ml/0.9flozs lemon juice. It will turn lumpy and curdle-that's perfect! :)

2 - For golden coloured pancakes, cook them on low temperature. Some people prefer their pancakes more browned and at this cafe, they used a lot of butter and cooked it on low to medium temperature. This makes a very delicious, crispy edged pancake which I prefer!

3 - The secret to making pancakes perfectly round and uniform is to start with a round ladle of batter. Then using a soup spoon, scoop out the ladle of batter onto the pan (some people use a turkey baster to keep it round, but this only works for runny batter and this is a thick, fluffy batter). Then as soon as the batter hits the pan make sure that the batter is spread into a circle. Mine were 12cms/4.7inches in diameter. Using a ladle keeps the quantity consistent and spooning it out using a soup spoon keeps it round.

4 - I prefer making pancakes on a crepe pan or larger pans or hot plate so that you can angle the spatula in easily to turn them. When I try and use a small omelette pan it makes it very awkward!

5 - The cafe pancake we had was very, very buttery and I would put money on them using a lot of butter for each pancake, around 1-2 tablespoons, especially since it was the size of a dinner plate. So adding more butter will make your pancakes more delicious (there's a lot of butter and oil in restaurant foods which is what makes them so delicious!). But yes use more butter if you want that buttery, crispy edged pancake.

6 - Love buttermilk pancakes but want to make it even easier? Try this home-made buttermilk pancake mix that beats anything you can buy at the supermarket. Just add egg and milk!

7 - These pancakes freeze well for up to 2 months. Just make sure to layer them with parchment to avoid them sticking together.

Buttermilk Pancake Recipe

An Original Recipe by Lorraine Elliott

Buttermilk Pancake Recipe Overview

Preparation time: 5 minutes

Cooking time: 15 minutes

Makes: 8 pancakes

Ingredients Needed

• 1 cup/150g/5ozs plain all purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon/15g/0.5oz caster or superfine sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon bicarb soda
• 1/3 teaspoon fine salt
• 200ml/7flozs buttermilk (or 175ml/6.2flozs milk, 25ml/0.9flozs lemon juice)
• 1 egg
• 80g/2.8ozs melted butter plus 80g/2.8ozsozs extra for frying
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Step-By-Step Instructions

Step 1 Whisk - In a large bowl whisk the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking powder, bicarb and salt) together until well distributed. In a jug whisk the buttermilk, egg, butter and vanilla together until smooth.

Step 2 Add - Add the wet mixture into the dry ingredients in a steady stream. The mixture will be thick and fluffy and look lumpy - this is fine.

Step 3 Fry - Heat a frying pan on low medium heat. Add 2 teaspoons or 10g/0.3oz of butter and let it melt and spread over the pan. Fill a ladle with the batter. Using a soup spoon, scoop the batter out of the ladle and shape into a circle (do this as soon as the batter hits the pan). Wait for 1 minute or until bubbles appear on the surface. Gently flip over the pancake and cook for 30 seconds. Repeat with the rest of the batter. Serve with butter, jam or maple syrup.

Substitution notes and ingredients:

If you don't have lemon juice to make buttermilk, then you can also use vinegar or 1.5 teaspoons cream of tartar per cup of milk.

Baking powder and bicarb are two different but similar ingredients and we need both in this recipe. Bicarb reacts with the acidic buttermilk to produce a fluffier texture whereas baking powder gives pancakes a consistent rise. Bicarb is also called baking soda.

Personal Note

We actually came home from our Canberra trip with a whole lot of leftovers. We often order a lot in order to write about it but often can't eat it all and we always pack it up and bring it in a cooler bag home. Laura and I share custody of a big cooler bag that we split the cost of, and it lives in her car as she usually drives.

(I once received a rude email from a woman who scolded me for ordering so much food. I didn't even want to bother with explaining to her that we took food home and that nothing goes to waste. Some people won't even listen to what you say so I figure why bother explaining to her)

Another reason why I like bringing things home is because it's easy to go back and try to analyse what is in the food. So many times I try and remember the little details of what I ate and then head to the fridge to sample it and that helps recall the little details. And it also helps when I am trying to recreate something. Once I made my first batch of buttermilk pancakes using what they told me, I tested it against the leftover pancake. And I think this one might even be better!

So tell me Dear Reader, do you keep buttermilk in your fridge? What is your favourite topping for pancakes? Syrup, jam, butter, cream or fruit?