Anyway, with my passion (nasty clichéd word but necessary in this situation) for creating wonders (ahem) such as these...
...you can imagine my heartache when I arrived in France to a) no oven, and b) just two hob-rings to cook with. Not even a microwave. Yes, my "kitchenette" looks like this:
I know. Less than inspiring. But me, being the plucky, British, every-cloud-has-a-silver-lining, always-look-on-the-bright-side kind of gal that I am (there may or may not be some exaggeration in the previous sentence), have been valiantly trying to find ways to cure my baking cravings (because oh boy, have they been coming).
"But wait!" I hear the keen eyes among you cry, "that cheesecake in the picture is unbaked! There is no need for an oven!". Ah yes. But, I must regretfully inform you, cheesecake requires cream. Double cream. Double cream that is not Ultra-Heat Treated. Double cream that does not come in a pouch and have the consistency of wet cream cheese. See where I'm going with this? I tried cheesecake. It ended up making a weird smell and stinking out my fridge. It tasted OK, but only if you held your nose. Not really the kind of thing I was going for.
In fact, I have resigned myself to the fact that I will not, for the duration of my stay in France, be engaging in any form of cake-making or other form of baking. I have, however, become a master of another sweet delight that I have never before managed to make without messing up at least twice:
Pancakes.
Now, I know you're probably thinking "but you live in France...you can buy pancakes everywhere, for very little money", and you are right. But the one time you can't buy pancakes? When the shops are closed. And inevitably, this is when I need them most. And anyway, the whole point of this blog was to explain how I am getting over my baking cravings. So shush :-P
So I have, over the last month or so, made hundreds of the things. Today, however, I ran into a little snag. Feeling rather sorry for myself (my lungs are once again reacting to winter with a cough that tires me out and keeps me awake), I wanted nothing more than some nice, warm pancakes, filled with nice, raspberry jam. The problem? No eggs. And no butter. And no fresh milk.
But did I let this stop me? No, dear readers, I did not. I embarked on an experiment of the culinary kind. To make pancakes without any of the standard pancake ingredients, except for flour and water, obviously. And you know what? It worked. So I'm going to share the recipe with you. Forgive me the very approximate measurements...I just put it all in a bowl. Not only a good recipe using things you probably have lying around, but also very good for vegans!
Eggless, Butterless Pancakes
Ingredients
Flour
Soya Milk (or you can use normal milk)
Water
Icing Sugar
Vegetable Oil
Instructions
1. Put about 1 and 1/2 tablespoons of vegetable oil in a pan and place over a medium-high heat (depending on the quality of your hob).
2. In a bowl, mix together about 3 heaped tablespoons of flour with enough milk to create a thick, dough-like mixture, then add a bit more milk until it is the consistency of thick cake batter.
3. Add water a little at a time until the mixture is runnier - slightly thicker than standard crepe batter.
4. Stir in about 2 tablespoons of icing sugar.
5. Remove the pan from the heat and pour the hot oil into the batter a little at a time, whisking well to incorporate. Leave enough oil in the pan to just coat the surface so that it is not dry, and place back on the heat.
6. When the mixture is well combined, pour one spoonful at a time into the pan, tilting it to spread the mixture around. The pancakes will be slightly thicker, more like breakfast pancakes. When bubbles start to appear on the surface, flip the pancake over and wait for the other side to cook. Repeat with the remaining mixture.
7. Serve with the filling of your choice :-)
These quantities made four pancakes, so just adapt it to your needs :-)
And there you have it. Eggless, butterless pancakes. So there, French, oven-less flat.
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