Tips on Making the Perfect Pancake
If you’ve ever experienced a perfectly light, fluffy, and delicate pancake at your favorite breakfast restaurant and tried unsuccessfully to recreate it at home, then you know the struggle that making the perfect light, fluffy pancakes can be.
Too often, our pancakes turn out flat, overcooked, and uninspired.
Luckily, we have five amazing tips for you that will help you make the perfect pancake that will rival any restaurant from the comfort of your own home. In this article, we dive into ingredient freshness, overmixing, resting your batter, cleaning your cooking surface, and flipping.
After mastering these tips, you will be ready to become a pancake-making pro. Still feeling uninspired? At the end, we will include a delicious recipe for Easy, Fluffy Lemon Blueberry pancakes that are perfect for trying out your new pancake prowess.
1. Check Ingredient Freshness for Easy Fluffy Pancakes
Certain ingredients like flour and baking powder often stick around our kitchen for far longer than they probably should. If you want that perfectly light and fluffy pancake texture, make sure that your dry ingredients aren’t past their prime. Baking powder is what gives your pancakes that fluffy texture. Unfortunately, it immediately starts losing its effectiveness after being opened. Experts recommend getting a new tin of baking powder at least once a month.
The same can be said for fresh ingredients like fruit. If you want delicious fruity pancakes, make sure your berries are in season and of high quality. Right now, it’s blueberry season, so opt for blueberry pancakes if you feel like fruit.
2. Don’t Overmix Your Batter!
Possibly the easiest mistake to make when making pancakes is overmixing your batter. Believe it or not, some lumps in your pancake batter are a-okay.
If you keep mixing your pancake batter until it is completely smooth, you will form gluten proteins in the flour. These proteins are great for bread, but not pancakes. In this case, the gluten formation will lend to tough pancakes with not enough air bubbles.
3. Let your Batter Rest for the Best Pancakes
After you’ve worked so hard to not overmix your batter, don’t move! Set your pancake batter aside for anywhere from fifteen to thirty minutes.
When you let your batter sit, the wet ingredients will soak into the flour and other dry ingredients. This will give your pancakes a much fluffier and lighter texture than if you had used the batter right away.
4. Clean Your Cooking Surface
If you want easy, light, and fluffy pancakes, make sure that your cooking surface is wiped down before you put the batter in the pan. Any leftover burned bits or pieces from previous cooking will wreak havoc on your pancakes.
A clean pan ensures a pancake that won’t stick to the bottom. In addition, pancakes love to become scarred and lose that beautiful texture when touching dirty pans.
5. Flip Confidently!
One confident flip is key to making the perfect pancake. Flip your pancake anymore than once, and you risk deflating the air bubbles inside of your pancake. The light air bubbles that form when your pancake rapidly cooks on the inside are what give it that signature texture.
Unsure when to flip? Wait until you can see bubbles forming on the uncooked side of your pancake. If you’re feeling anxious, flipping a little bit late is better than flipping your pancake a little early. Slightly crispy pancakes are better than ones that fall apart.
Need a recipe to try these tips out on?
Click below for our original recipe for Lemon Blueberry Pancakes!
This delightful pancake recipe for Lemon pancakes with blueberries combines tart blueberries with tangy lemon for a delicious and refreshing combination. The lemon and blueberry cause the pancakes to be both sweet and sour, resulting in a delightful breakfast twist.
When you make these pancakes, make sure that your ingredients are all as fresh as possible. It’s blueberry season currently, so you shouldn’t have trouble finding fresh fruit. Notice that you don’t add the blueberries in until the pancakes are cooking -- this should help prevent overmixing! After making your batter, let it sit for around 15-30 minutes. You can use this time to properly clean your pan or griddle. Notice that the pancakes only take about 1-2 minutes to cook per side. Keep an eye on them, and remember to flip confidently.
Get flipping!
