Crespolini with spinach, cheese sauce

I made my crespolini slightly differently this year. (Earlier recipe here.)

I used self-raising gluten-free flour, on the grounds that the xanthan gum that Doves includes might give the pancakes a more coherent texture. They turned out to be somewhat foamy by comparison with wheat flour versions, but perfectly palatable.

As recommended by Felicity Cloake, I used 1 whole egg and 1 egg yolk, with 115g of flour, about half a pint of semi-skimmed milk, and a few pinches of salt. (Advice here – but this time, I added the milk gradually to the flour and egg, not being worried about developing gluten.)

Why is the first pancake so often a failure? I was careful to get my pan very hot, but my first pancake nevertheless fell to bits when I tried to turn it. All the rest were fine. My batter made six pancakes.

I cooked a bagful of spinach (advice here), squeezed it dry, and divided it between the pancakes, rolling them up and placing them in an oven dish. I poured half a pint of cheese sauce (there's advice about this too in the eggs Florentine recipe) on top, and baked the crespolini at the oven’s highest temperature for about 8 minutes, until the sauce was bubbling.