Mary Berry’s three-ingredient pancake recipe for Shrove Tuesday 2023

Try Mary Berry’s three ingredient easy pancake recipe this year

Pancake Day is here. It’s time to put your batter making and pancake flipping skills to the test.

Whether you go for savoury or sweet pancakes – or both – Mary Berry’s easy pancake recipe is a foolproof method that uses only three ingredients. It works if a simple lemon and sugar topping is your thing, or if you like to pile on the ice cream, chocolate sauce and marshmallows.

Shrove Tuesday, also known as Pancake Day, is celebrated the day before Ash Wednesday, which marks the first day of the Christian observance of Lent.

It is traditional for people to eat pancakes to mark the beginning of Lent as a way of using up ingredients that they wouldn’t be allowed to eat during the 40-day fasting period, which is how Pancake Day came to be.

Remember: if the first pancake of the day doesn’t go to plan, don’t worry – it will be a good way to test the consistency of the batter and your technique.

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Mary Berry’s simple pancake recipe

Timings: Five minutes prep time, plus 30 minutes for the batter to stand, 10 to 12 minutes cooking time

Serves: 12 thin pancakes

Ingredients:

• 125g plain flour
• 1 egg and 1 yolk
• 300ml milk
• A little oil, for cooking

Method:

1. Sift 125g plain flour into a bowl and make a well in the middle. Whisk together one egg, one egg yolk and a little milk taken from the 300ml, then pour into the well. Whisk with a little of the flour.
2. Gradually whisk in half of the remaining milk, drawing in the rest of the flour a little at a time, to make a smooth batter. Stir in the remaining milk. Cover and leave to stand for about 30 minutes.
3. Heat a frying pan and brush with a little oil.
4. Ladle two or three tablespoons of batter into the pan and tilt the pan so that the batter spreads out evenly over the bottom.
5. Cook the pancake over a medium-high heat for 45-60 seconds until small holes appear on the surface, the underside is lightly browned and the edge has started to curl. Loosen the pancake and turn it over by tossing or flipping it with a palette knife. Cook the other side for about 30 seconds until golden. Slide the pancake out of the pan.
6. Heat and lightly grease the pan again before making the next pancake. Serve the pancakes as they are made, or stack them on a plate and reheat before serving. (If the pancakes are hot when you stack them they will not stick together; there is no need to interleave them with greaseproof paper.)

Recipe from Mary Berry’s Complete Cookbook (£25)

(P.S. the recipe can easily be doubled or tripled, and any uneaten pancakes will keep in a stack for 24 hours or can be frozen.)