BEST FLUFFY PANCAKE RECIPE - Chefjar (2024)

FAQs

Why are restaurant pancakes so fluffy? ›

The secret to fluffy restaurant style pancakes? Buttermilk! The acid in the buttermilk reacts to the leavening agents in the pancake batter, creating air bubbles that make the pancakes tall and fluffy. It's a simple switch that makes all the difference.

Pancakes and waffles typically both contain baking soda, which causes them to rise. As soon as the baking soda is combined with the wet ingredients (which contain an acidic ingredient, like often buttermilk), it starts producing carbon dioxide gas bubbles that cause the batter to rise.

Adding baking powder is the easiest way to make fluffy pancakes. There's more than one way to make the bubbles that make a pancake fluffy, but the easiest way is by adding a raising agent such as baking powder.

While the griddles themselves likely vary from one diner chain to the next, diners are pretty much all working with a waffle iron or griddle that's already hot. IHOP, for instance, requires its pans to be heated to 350 degrees Fahrenheit, and uses Crisco instead of butter to grease it, says Grimm.

Restaurants have professional griddles

The constant heat leads to a more evenly cooked pancake, that never runs the risk of having the batter poured too early. If the heat is always at the right level, it's always the correct time.

First, Ramsay mixes 100 grams of flour (about 3/4 cup), 300 mL of milk (about 2 Tbsp.), and two whole eggs into a bowl. After 15 minutes, he sprays a hot nonstick pan with oil before pouring in one full ladle of the mixture into the center of the pan.

When chemical leaveners, such as baking powder, create bubbles in a cooked pancake, the gluten network traps these bubbles and allows a pancake to rise and stay fluffy yet still keep its shape.

The lactic acid reacts with the bicarbonate in the self-raising flour to produce carbon dioxide (CO₂) gas. Bubbles of gas are caught in the batter as it cooks and this is what makes the pancake fluffy.

"The oil in mayonnaise helps moisten the recipe and acts as an adequate substitute for the liquid an egg would have added." It also does a bit of leavening, since mayonnaise is made from eggs and is already emulsified.

A – Ideally make your batter and let it rest for about 30 minutes before cooking. This allows the flour to absorb the liquid, making the pancakes lighter and fluffier. Q – Why buttermilk? The acidity of buttermilk reacts with the raising agents to make you pancakes lighter and fluffier.

How are diner pancakes so good? ›

At diners, the griddle is usually so well-seasoned that the pancake-makers don't even need to add extra fat to the surface. Take a page out of their book and skip applying butter or oil to the surface of the pan before adding the pancake batter.

In order to get a fluffy pancake, we need to have gas (carbon dioxide) bubble up through the gluten just as the mixture is heated. This reaction requires an acid and a base. Almost all pancake recipes use baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) for the base.

In pancakes, gluten forms strands that give the cake its structure. But too much gluten results in a pancake that is dense and gummy. The dry ingredients are rounded out with just a bit of sugar and malted milk powder, baking powder, salt, and baking soda.

Griddling your pancakes right away will yield much lighter, fluffier pancakes. In pancake making, the sloped sides of a pan are not your friends. If you have a griddle, definitely use it. Otherwise, use a wide heavy-bottomed pan—if your pan is too thin, your pancakes will burn.