Pancakes are a big deal in my family. We had them for breakfast on most Sunday mornings when I was growing up and my dad would always be in charge of making them. An electrical engineer, he took a precise (pedantic) approach to their production, coming up with the ‘finishing pan’ method to ensure a more efficient delivery of pancakes to the eagerly awaiting family. The finishing pan method uses two pans: one at a medium heat for the initial cooking on both sides, and a second at a lower temperature to finish cooking the pancake through.

The pancakes of my childhood were either oaty pancakes or thick ‘American’ style fluffy pancakes, served always with a jar of preserved peaches from mum’s seemingly endless summer supply and a plastic jar of ‘Cottee’s’ maple-flavoured syrup (we eventually progressed to real maple syrup at some point in the 90s).

In more recent times, blueberry buttermilk pancakes have become our pancake of choice. I hardly ever order pancakes in cafes for the reason that they are never as good as these. Any leftovers (seems unlikely, but does happen) are excellent eaten cold and slathered with strawberry jam.

Buttermilk blueberry pancakes

plain flour 2 cups

baking powder 2 teaspoons

buttermilk 2 cups

free range eggs 4

sugar 2 tablespoons

baking soda 1 teaspoon

zest of a lemon 

butter 90g

fresh blueberries 200g (or use frozen ones but don’t defrost them first)

Blend all ingredients, except butter and blueberries, together in a large bowl. Gently melt the butter in the pan you intend to cook the pancakes in and use a spatula to scrape it into the bowl of batter. There will be enough residual butter in the pan for cooking the first pancake.

Set the pan to a medium heat and scoop in about a 1/3 cup of batter and sprinkle over some blueberries. Cook until bubbles appear which don’t immediately disappear. Flip the pancake over, cook for another minute and you’re done. Best eaten straight out of the pan, or you can put on a plate inside a clean tea towel and put into a warmed oven while you cook the rest. Serve with more berries, maple syrup and a dollop of Zany Zeus Greek yoghurt.