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Pancakes

Black-and-white photograph of four pancakes cooking on a griddle over an old-fashioned brick fireplace.

Baking lightcakes. Kennixton, St Fagans National Museum of History.

It was a general tradition to prepare pancakes for afternoon tea when celebrating the birthday of any member of the family in Dowlais, as in many other districts in south Wales.

Griddle Cakes

The Recipe

You will need

  • one pound plain flour
  • one ounce butter
  • one ounce lard
  • four eggs
  • a little milk
  • (currants, if desired)

Method

  1. Sift the flour into a bowl. 
  2. Melt the butter and lard and pour into a well in the centre of the flour. 
  3. Beat the eggs, add a little milk and gradually pour into the flour, beating well to make a thick, creamy batter. 
  4. Then add a little water and beat again for a few seconds to make it light in consistency.
  5. Melt an ounce of fat on a frying-pan or on a bakestone and pour on it half a cupful of batter.  (A few currants may be added at this stage, if desired.) 
  6. Allow the pancake to bake until small bubbles appear on its surface, then turn and bake on the other side. 
  7. Place on a plate and spread with butter and a little sugar.
  8. Continue to bake the remainder of the batter, and pile the pancakes on the plate to keep warm.

 Ffroes eira 

  1. Take a cupful of clean snow instead of the water in the above recipe and fold it into the batter.  The snow helps to give a light consistency.

Dowlais, Glamorgan.

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