Science Reveals Perfect Pancake Recipe On Fat Tuesday 2018

Today, families around the U.S. Mardi Gras—or Fat Tuesday in English. The tradition of eating pancakes on this day, the day before Ash Wednesday, started as a way to eat fatty foods and use up eggs, milk and sugar before the 40-day fasting season of Lent. Pancakes are found around the world, but the U.S. Newsweek turned to science to answer the biggest question of the day: How do you make the perfect pancake,

First things first. What are the key ingredients, To make delicious pancakes you'll need flour, eggs, a fat like oil or butter, and milk (or buttermilk—but more on that later). You can even add a pinch of sugar if you like your pancakes a little sweeter. Mixing flour and water produces gluten, which holds everything together. This stuff makes dough elastic and bread chewy.

By adding oil to your batter, you can help keep your pancakes soft. Matthew Hartings, assistant professor of chemistry at American University in Washington, D.C., and author of the book, Chemistry in Your Kitchen. The eggs, Hartings said, help the ingredients mix and hold together, and gives the batter a good texture. Egg whites can be whipped to create fluffier pancakes. How much of each ingredient should I use,

This really depends on how you like your pancakes, Hartings said. The ratio of your four main ingredients—milk, flour, eggs and oil—will impact the consistency of your batter. As you might expect, the more liquid you have, the runnier your batter will be. For a fluffier pancake aim for a drier batter, but for a French-style crepe you'll need something wetter.

Try whipping your egg whites before adding them into your batter mix, Hartings recommended. “Whipped egg whites are fantastic. This creates an architecture of tiny bubbles which holds when you incorporate it into the mixture. Make sure your fold the egg whites gently into the batter to preserve the structure. How does baking powder actually work,

For a sure-fire rise, add a little baking powder to your batter. “As you mix baking powder in to your wet ingredients there is a chemical reaction between the different components and baking powder. Baking powder contains baking soda—sodium bicarbonate—but it also contains an acid of some sort,” said Hartings.

These components don't react until you mix them into the liquid batter. You'll need to be smart about how much baking powder you use, as too much will create oversized air pockets. These will affect your pancake's texture and could ruin the flavor, too. Buttermilk can take your pancakes to the next level, Hartings said. Hartings is a big fan of buttermilk.

He uses it throughout his cooking—to make great pancakes and even fried chicken. It might be tempting to substitute buttermilk with regular milk and some vinegar, but, Hartings said, he struggled to really replicate that flavor. A word of warning if you decide to use buttermilk. The substance is acidic, so you'll need to substitute some of your baking powder for baking soda.

Normally when you flip your pancakes during cooking, you’ll see a brown pattern resembling whatever markings you have on your pan itself. By mixing the oil throughout the batter, the entirety of the pancakes should brown during cooking. This browning, Hartings says, is extra flavor. Pancakes are the perfect food to experiment with, Hartings said. Whether you like your pancakes fluffy or thin, sweet or savory, rich or lean, you can adjust the recipe to meet your desires.



YouTube video is at the bottom of the page if you want to check it out. Makes 5 jumbo pancakes for 1 to 2 people. Also makes 10 small pancakes for kids. Just add 1/4 cup of batter per pancake! Step 1, In a large bowl Add 1 Cup All Purpose Flour, 1 tablespoon of Baking Powder, 1/4 Cup of Sugar and mix with large spoon. Step 2,Once Finished mixing dry ingredients, set bowl aside. For wet ingredients you will need a smaller bowl.

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