Never Make This Recipe With Your KitchenAid Mixer
I like to learn about different recipes online but sometimes I come across advice that I think is not the best. Case in point, the other day I was looking for KitchenAid Mixer recipes and I found one for pancakes. Now, the problem with the recipe wasn't in the list of ingredients. Rather, it was a problem with the preparation. It called for using an electric stand mixer to make the batter.
For me pancakes are all about being soft and light and fluffy. They should not be dense or chewy or gummy in any way. If I wanted that, I could make a trip to one of those all night breakfast joints and get a stack of hockey puck flap jacks.
For me pancakes need to be handled with care and attention. The reason is gluten. Now for a bit of food science. Gluten is a protein, actually it is a composition of 2 proteins named gliadin and glutenin. When water is added to wheat flour and then mechanically mixed, gluten forms. And it is this wonderful gluten that gives bread dough and pasta their chewy and elastic characteristics. But since the gluten content is increased by mechanical mixing or kneading, it is not something we ever want to do if we desire to have light and fluffy pancakes.
The general rule for me is when I want to make pancakes for breakfast, I leave my mixer alone and instead go for the old fashioned method.
You can use any basic pancake recipe that you like. The key to a great result is in the mixing. What you want to do is mix all the dry ingredients first in a bowl that is large enough for your batter. Next, mix all the wet ingredients in a separate bowl.
Now, before you add the wet to the dry, get prepared. An electric griddle is probably the best appliance for cooking pancakes at home but if you have to use a frying pan, that will also work. There are 2 differences. An electric griddle has a built-in thermostat which means the heat will remain more constant than with a pan on the stove. Second, the griddle means you can cook a lot more pancakes at the same time. I use a pan on the stove myself but I never cook more than one pancake at a time and I keep them warm in the oven till ready to serve. It's not the best but I have no more room to store a griddle so I chose not to buy one. Using my stove, I heat the pan for 2 minutes at level 5. Then I turn down the heat to 4 when cooking. If I notice that things are taking too long, I increase the heat for about another minute and then lower to 4 again.
Now that you have a hot cooking appliance ready, it is time to mix the batter. You want to achieve the mixing as fast as possible without activating too much gluten. So, take the wet ingredients and literally dump them into the dry. Then take a spatula and fold in the wet ingredients for 10 to 15 seconds. That is it. Some of the dry may not be perfectly mixed but that is all right. I have never had a lumpy pancake using this method.
Now you can cook the batter. Add about one third of a cup of batter to your griddle or pan and wait till bubbles appear on the outside. This is the signal that your pancake is ready to be flipped. With just the right amount of heat the bottom will be brown not pale. As gently as you can flip the pancake and cook the opposite side for about half as long as it took to cook the first side.
When serving the pancake always have real maple syrup on hand. It can make all the difference in the world and the taste is like no other. Since you put all this care and attention into making the best pancakes you could, you deserve to have them sweetened perfectly with a little maple syrup.
There you have it. Next time you get a craving for some flapjacks, keep the KitchenAid mixer covered and instead use the dump and fold method for the lightest and fluffiest pancakes you can make at home.
Article Source: http://www.search-raven.com
About the Author
Marcy Givens is a baking enthusiast who decided to get educated by watching shows and reading blogs and articles about cooking. She has learned some important lessons and secrets for selecting the proper Kitchenaid mixers and attachments which she encourages you to read.
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by: MarcyGivens
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