The Best Fluffy Pancakes recipe you will fall in love with. Full of tips and tricks to help you make the best pancakes.
The color and puffiness of a stack of pancakes should be the same from top to bottom. But the first pancake rarely looks like the rest. Sometimes it’s pale, other times burnt. What’s happening? The pan is not yet up to temperature. In the time it takes to heat, the pan isn’t holding a consistent temperature and that temperature is transferring inconsistently to the batter. To make pancakes, you need to be able to tell when the pan has reached the right temperature. Then you can pour the batter and your pancakes will be good from the first one.
To heat a pan, turn the stove to medium. Not medium-high, not high. Medium. Now add a small amount of butter or oil to the pan. Watch the butter melt. If it forms a single large puddle that does not spread out much, the pan is not yet hot. If it melts and spreads out into a thin, shiny layer, the pan is hot. This is probably the point at which you pour your first pancake. The first pancake is a test. You do not expect it to be as good as the rest. In fact, you expect it to be worse.
Look at the bubbles forming on the surface of the batter. If the bottom seems done and the bubbles are not yet appearing across the entire surface, the pan is too hot. If you turn down the heat, wait 30 seconds before pouring the next pancake. If the bubbles appear slowly and evenly across the surface, the pan is now the right temperature. One thing that causes the pan to not produce a good first pancake is if you add butter or oil to the pan after each pancake. The pan overheats if you add too much butter or oil. Don’t add butter or oil after every pancake. Instead, add a small amount when the pan starts to dry out. If you want to make sure the pan is clean, you can use a folded paper towel to wipe out excess butter or oil after every few pancakes.
Leave a thin film behind though. This keeps the pan from sticking without overheating it. Here is an exercise to develop your sense of heat. Set a timer for 15 minutes. Cook four pancakes in a row, but don’t worry about the batter. Just adjust the heat after every pancake to achieve an even cooking time. This will teach you how to adjust the heat, how to tell if the pan is too hot or too cold, and how to make the heat adjustments to achieve an even cooking time. After you do this a few times, your first pancakes should be as good as the rest.
