Playtime

Happy Solstice and Holidays

Tiny Sweater. Image by CDavies

Playing

This is a light-hearted article about my recent adventures in playing. 

I love to play. This week I’ve leaned into the idea of playing, which for me is knitting tiny sweaters and baking weird sourdough flatbread. I’ve learned from my play; my gauge changes when I knit in the round, and sourdough left on the counter overnight is ready to be baked the next morning. This might only work in winter when I turn the heat down at night. It is cool in my apartment.

I also played by relearning how to make English pancakes. In a recent post, I mentioned how I had forgotten how to make these in favor of American pancakes. 

English Pancakes

I had forgotten how easy English pancakes are to make. What was throwing me off was the batter; it is very runny. I mixed 100 g flour, 2 eggs, and 300 mL milk together and left the batter for at least 30 min. This made 12 small pancakes.

Eggs and flour ready to become pancakes. Image by CDavies

The key to making pancakes is a hot sizzling pan and a lining of oil. I have my burner set to medium-high. I test for a hot sizzling pan by splashing it with room temperature water. If the water immediately evaporates, sizzling, the pan is hot enough. 

Pour a small amount of batter (a couple of tablespoons is plenty) in the pan and quickly tilt the pan the cover the bottom with the batter. You must do this quickly, before the batter sets. Cook for 30-60 seconds. Flip over or toss if you feel brave. Leave the second side to cook for another 30-45 seconds. 

Finished Pancake. Image by CDavies

Add pancakes to a plate. 

It was so much fun that I made all 12 pancakes in one go. I ate hot fresh pancakes in the traditional English way with lemon juice and sugar and rolled into a tube. 

I stuffed the older pancakes with either mushrooms, broccoli and blue cheese or grated cheese and then baked on my toaster oven.

I will repeat this experiment, replacing some of the milk with sourdough. Perhaps only 50 mL to start.

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I hope you get to play over the holidays and learn something new. Let me know in the comments, what you do to relax. 

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This month’s blog post on Food Safety Mid Atlantic is about prerequisite programs and why standard operating procedures are a core part of a food businesses food safety program. 

December’s food safety newsletter is a checklist for a food safety self audit. If you want helpful food safety advice every month, sign up for my business’s newsletter.