Fluffy Pancakes

Experiment with your cooking. See how far a recipe can evolve through many generations of trial-and-error and small, incremental changes.

Kathryn and I have pancakes for breakfast on Sunday mornings, while we watch Dr. Greger’s latest videos from the past week. We started with the recipe for “Larry’s Sunday Buckwheat Pancakes” from Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease, but Kathryn kept urging me to make them “fluffier.” So the recipe slowly evolved, as I came to understand what “fluffy” meant and tried with various degrees of success to make the pancakes fluffier.

Here for reference is the original recipe:

The first thing I changed was to use a little extra baking powder. Since it is what makes the pancakes rise, I hoped a little more would make them rise more, and thereby become fluffier. I also added 2 tablespoons of ground flax seed, for two reasons. First, it is a passable replacement for eggs, and most pancakes have eggs in them. Second, Dr. Greger recommends eating a tablespoon of ground flax seed everyday, and we are in the habit of putting it in our breakfast. I also reduced the milk to 1-1/2 cups. For extra goodness, I added a cup of frozen blueberries that I thawed in the microwave.

That was an improvement, but Kathryn did not like the grittiness of the corn meal. I tried replacing the corn meal with amaranth flour, but that tasted like dirt to her. I tried again with brown rice flour, and that tasted fine. In other trials, I eliminated the baking soda and vinegar, with no detectable change in the product. Kathryn did not like the degree of banana flavor caused by the mashed banana, so I removed that too. I needed something to replace the lost substance, so I added some whole wheat pastry flour.

At this point, there is little left to leave out, so I try some creative additions. I add a tablespoon of Bob’s Red Mill Egg Replacer. It is hard to mix in by hand, so I blend it in with the almond milk, thinking the air bubbles added by blending might enhance fluffiness. I add two tablespoons of erythritol for sweetness, to replace the sweetness of the banana I had removed, and to reduce the temptation to pour on lots of maple syrup at serving time.

I learn that the reason we mix the dry ingredients first and then add liquid is to avoid activating the gluten in the flour. I learn that letting the batter rest for a few minutes before cooking improved fluffiness, by allowing the oats to absorb more liquid. I reduce the liquid to one cup, and sure enough, the pancakes get thicker. I reduce the cooking heat to one notch above medium on my stove, and increase the cooking time to 5 minutes on each side. Because my griddle does not heat evenly, I rearrange the cakes after both sides are done, to brown them more evenly. The reduced heat and longer time lets the insides cook through before the outsides blacken.

The pancakes please, but still have room for improvement. I reduce the total amount of flours, and add back the banana, but this time, blending it rather than mashing it, so chunks of banana don’t hit the tongue all at once. I blend the rolled oats into oat flour.

Now the pancakes are an inch thick, sweet and delicious. I proudly serve them to friends, and they eat them amiably, with ample maple (see what I did there?) syrup and whipped coconut cream. I realize the pancakes are too dry. I add applesauce to the blend, for the moisture.

The current recipe is unchanged for months, and detailed below. But who knows what further experiments will lead to further improvements, in the quest for even fluffier pancakes?