How to Cook Pancakes

Three tricks for gentle, air pancakes

1. Give your pancakes an air structure and meringue, borrowing the technique that gives them their cloud-like consistency: beaten egg whites:
Using the number of eggs required in the recipe, separate the yolks from whites. Mix the egg yolks with the rest of the wet ingredients, following the recipe instructions. Combine with the dry ingredients to make a slugger. Break the egg whites until the hard form of the peaks, then gently roll the beaten whites into a slugger and immediately cook the pancakes.

2. Or try replacing some or all of the liquid in your recipe with a carbonated drink (plain or flavored seltzer water, beer, cider, ginger beer) to make your pancakes very light and tender. Add carbonation just before you are ready to pour the slice into the griddle.

3. This next trick works with any slugger that includes a double-acting baking powder: Mix the batter and let it rest in the refrigerator for a few minutes, or even quickly. This allows the gluten to relax so pancakes will be gentle, and allow the baking powder to form bubbles in the batter. After the batter is resting, do not stir it, or the bubbles are deflated.

How to cook pancakes

Preheat your frying pan with a handle that does not allow burning a heavy bottom pan or a well-hardened skillet of cast iron to 375 degrees Fahrenheit (185 degrees Celsius) or until a drop of water rushes through the pan.

Lightly cover the hot pot with vegetable oil, sprinkler or clarified oil (regular oil burns too quickly).
Do a test with one sacrificial pancake and adjust the temperature or down as needed. If your pancake is scorching on the outside and raw on the inside, turn off the heat.
When you are satisfied that you have reached the perfect temperature of the pan, the ladle in so many puddles of batter as your pan will comfortably hold, leaving a little room between the pancakes for a comfortable snap.

Do not press your pancake

The pancake is ready to be flipped when it's dry around the edges, and the bubbles formed excessively. You are allowed to look to see if the ground is golden brown before you click it. While you wait impatiently for the second side to cook, resist the impulse to crush the pancake with your spatula. Pressing will not cook it a little faster, but will destroy all the effort you made to reach the fluffy, light, beautiful pancakes.

Waiting - The Hardest Part

Pancakes are best eaten fresh from a frying pan with a handle, so you can enjoy their crunchy, fluffy perfection. This can mean serving them some at a time. If you absolutely must make you wait for pancakes, arrange them in a single layer on a baking sheet and place them, uncovered, in a warm oven. Never fold or coat them - steam makes them moist.

Fun with pancakes

To add some fun to the breakfast table, use a turkey topping to squeeze the batter into designs, initials and other fun forms. The beater batter in a non-sticky pancake molds or oiled metal cookie cutters for extra unusual shapes. Butter and syrup are classic, but try jam, honey, peanut butter, lemon juice, powdered sugar, whipped cream or fresh fruit. Better yet open the pancake seasoning buffet and let everyone build their own.
How to Cook Pancakes