Fluffier Pancakes Made Easy with Simple Trick
Pancakes are a classic breakfast food across America, made in kitchens from coast to coast with plenty of regional flair.
For those who want fluffy-as-a-cloud pancakes, the goal is a nice stack that’s light and airy enough to glide a fork through. While nearly every household has their go-to weekend pancake recipe, there are a few tried-and-true methods to make your pancakes exceptionally fluffy and consistently tender, no matter which recipe you’re making.
Making pancakes is all about the mixing process. The most important part is to avoid overmixing the batter, as this can lead to chewy, flat pancakes with too much developed gluten and not enough air pockets to help them rise.
Gently folding the dry and wet ingredients together helps prevent overmixing and results in much fluffier, tender pancakes. This method is essential whether you’re making silver dollars or a full stack.
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Pancake batter shouldn’t be completely smooth, but instead thick and slightly lumpy. Seeing small clumps means you haven’t overmixed. There shouldn’t be any dry ingredients left in the mixing bowl, and if clumps are too large, break them up.
The batter should be thick, but still pourable, and it’s prepared like baked goods: Mix the wet and dry ingredients separately in two bowls, then pour the wet ingredients into the dry and stir gently to combine.
Resting pancake batter for 10–20 minutes at room temperature before cooking is ideal. During this brief rest, the dry ingredients can better absorb the wet ingredients, which helps hydrate the flour and smooth out the batter without additional mixing.
Our best-ever pancake recipe with baking soda and baking powder is also perfect for a short rest. Once moistened, the leaveners begin producing gas, which helps the pancakes rise.
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If you want to make pancake batter the night before, consider mixing just the wet and dry ingredients in separate bowls to save time, and then combining in the morning before the designated rest period.
An overnight rest can reduce the leavening power, so the pancakes may not rise quite as high.
By following these simple tips, you can make exceptionally fluffy and consistently tender pancakes.
