About Baking: Eight Tips for Perfect Pancakes


Pancakes are easy and almost foolproof. But there are some tricks to making them perfect. We'd like to share those tips:

1. Use a low gluten flour. We like to use unbleached pastry flour in our recipes-that's what our mixes are made with-but all purpose flour will do. Bread flour makes for a pancake that it too tough and chewy.

2. Don't over mix. Mixing develops the gluten in the batter. Mix the dry ingredients together to dispense the leavening throughout the flour. Mix the recipe's wet ingredients together in another bowl. Pour the wet ingredients into the bowl with the dry ingredients and mix until just moistened. There will still be lumps. That's okay-they'll cook out.

3. Get the batter the right consistency. The batter should be runny enough that it will spread on the griddle. If it is too runny, the pancakes will be crepe-like. As you progress through the batch, the batter will tend to become thicker as the leavenings work. Add a little more water or milk as needed but remember to stir minimally.

4. Prepare the griddle. Very lightly grease the griddle with a little shortening or with an aerosol can of vegetable oil.

5. Get the griddle hot enough. Set the griddle on high or medium-high heat. When the griddle is hot enough, water droplets will dance on the surface. After putting batter on the griddle, turn the heat to medium.

6. Cook uniform-sized pancakes. Use a 1/3-cup measure for medium-sized pancakes and a 1/2-cup measure for larger pancakes.

7. Cook it right. You can tell when it's time to turn the pancake by watching the bubbles form and watching the edges of the pancakes. The bubbles tend to cook into little craters and the edges will be dry-looking when the pancake is ready to turn. A little practice makes perfect.

8. Keep your pancakes hot. Pancakes are best if steaming hot. As you take the pancakes off the grill, cover them lightly with aluminum foil. If it's going to be more than a few minutes before they are eaten, stick the loosely covered plate in an oven heated to 275 degrees. For a special touch, heat the empty plates in the oven before serving.

For more articles like this visit The Bakers' Library.

© 2004 The Prepared Pantry

More Resources

Unable to open RSS Feed $XMLfilename with error HTTP ERROR: 404, exiting

More Cooking Information:

Related Articles

Secret of Light and Fluffy Biscuits and Pancakes
Would you like to lose some weight -- in your baking, that is? This one secret ingredient (that you likely already have in your kitchen) is not only inexpensive and healthy, it'll also add a bit of "cloud" to your biscuits and pancakes!And that ingredient is ..
Vegetarian Cooking - Three Basics
For any of the many reasons people choose to eatvegetarian food - religion, politics, finances, or health -one thing in common is that everyone prefers food thattastes delicious and provides good nutrition. There aresome basic techniques to vegetarian cooking which willaccomplish that.
Emergency Bread: Can you Bake Bread Without an Oven?
What would you eat if you were stranded without power? It could happen; it does happen. A natural disaster, a breakdown in the delivery system as the Northeast experienced recently, or a terrorist strike against the infrastructure could leave you without power.
How to Prepare the Best Garlic Mashed Potatoes
Would you like to prepare the best Garlic Mashed Potatoes that you enjoy at your favorite restaurant, but have no idea where to start to achieve that wonderful and delightful flavor?There are a variety of ways to create the best garlic mashed potatoes that you have ever tasted but when it comes down to which way is best is according to your own taste buds.When you take a look at garlic you will see that there are various kinds of garlic that you can use for your mashed potatoes such as German red garlic, Spanish Roja garlic, Leningrad garlic, and Yugoslavian.
Wok this Way! (Part 1 of 5)
IntroductionWoks have been synonymous with Chinese cooking since the emergence of Chinese cuisine. They have been used for some 3000 years in China for a variety of cooking methods, including stir frying, boiling, and steaming.
Buying, Storing, and Preparing Apricots
When buying apricots, always look for those that are firm, plump orange fruit that gives slightly when you press with your thumb. Bruised apricots should be avoided.
Rice Cookers - Perfect Rice Every Time
Love fluffy cooked rice but dislike the preparation time and clean up? Then rice cookers maybe just what you need. Today's rice cooker is a thrifty time saving device for anyone's kitchen.
Outdoor Chefs Choose Gas Grills
How many of you remember dad trying to get the charcoal started? The mess, time and burgers tasting of lighter fluid are some reasons why outdoor chefs are choosing gas grills for their recipes for BBQs over a charcoal barbecue. A gas grill offers many advantages for BBQ over charcoal.
Two for One Dinners: Eggplant
If you find leftovers boring, uninviting or downright "yuck," then here are some ideas to put the "zing" back into mealtime. With a little creativity your home-cooked meal can easily become a delicious meal another night.
50% Less Cooking
50% Less Cookingwithout hitting the fast food button! Don't you just cringe when some clever kitchen type tells you what you could be doing with the leftovers in the fridge, when it's plainly obvious the leftovers will stay there until they walk out by themselves!More often than not, saving money with leftovers, although a great idea, takes a lot of time in preparation and relies on many other ingredients being available. So.
Why do We Need to Knead?
Bread dough needs to be elastic in order to capture the gases created by the yeast, stretch as bubbles form in the dough, expand, and rise. Without that elasticity, bread would not have the open texture we enjoy nor would bread be chewy.
Cut The Take Out
A long hard day at work. You get home and need dinner.
Seasoning An Oven
Untreated cast iron rusts, especially around water. To prevent metal from oxidizing in the presence of moisture, cast iron requires a process called ?seasoning?.
The Best-Kept Secrets of Beef Revealed! Get Ready to Become the Meat Expert in Your Family!
Do you helplessly stand at the meat counter looking from package to package, not knowing what to buy? Do you end up buying chicken because you don't know which cut of meat to buy and wouldn't know how to fix it if you did buy it?There are so many cuts of meat, at so many prices and so many ways of cooking that meat, it's no wonder so many people are confused, and walk away with the same cut every time they buy meat. Bar-b-qued tri-tip again!You don't have to worry anymore! I'm going to explain beef to you so well, you will become the meat expert of the family.
Perfect Picnics - Frugal Food Safety Tips
Summer is finally here and for a lot of us that means heading out to the lake or to the park for a picnic with friends or family.Unfortunately, if we're not careful when we plan, transport and serve that picnic, our outing might not end up happily.
Baking Bread in a Dutch Oven
Dutch ovens were made for baking. In the hands of a practiced baker, a Dutch oven will create beautiful breads and desserts.
Eating Healthy with a Meat Grinder
While it may be surprising, owning your own meat grinder can help you in your pursuit to live a healthier life. According to the USDA, the average American in 2000 consumed 300 more calories than the average American in 1985, a 12% increase, including a 24% increase of fat calories.
To Fry Or Not To Fry?
Here's a little known factoid - did you know that KFC changed its image by retiring the slogan Kentucky FRIED Chicken. Instead, they became known as serving up Kitchen Fresh Chicken.
How to Peel Almost Anything
The great English cook Prue Leith once famously remarked "life's too short to stuff a mushroom". I feel pretty much the same way about peeling a grape.
A Cookie Assembly Line: Efficient Cookie Baking for Busy Cooks
As a busy working mother, I'm short on time, especially during the holidays, but baking Christmas cookies is a family tradition I'm unwilling to give up. Over the years, I've come up with many ways to make the process of baking a large variety of cookies go much smoother and take less time out of my busy life.