There’s Only One Right Way to Make a Pancake

There’s only right way to make a pancake.

And that way comes by way of Roxana Jullapat, a pastry chef and the head baker and co-owner of Friends & Family in Los Angeles, as well as the author of Mother Grains: Recipes for the Grain Revolution.

Step 1: Start with a strong foundation.

Small pancakes are flimsy, forgettable. Large ones rise high and have substance.

So reinforce your batter. In a large bowl, sift your dry mix: 1/4 cup each buckwheat and all-purpose flours, plus 1 Tbsp sugar, 3/4 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp baking soda, and 1/4 tsp salt. This will yield one big, thick, crispy, fluffy flapjack.

Step 2: Use buttermilk.

Regular milk is missing the tangy-tasting acids of buttermilk, which react with the leaveners (baking soda and baking powder) to release dough-raising carbon dioxide into the batter. (Cool, right?) Whisk your wet mix: 1/2 cup buttermilk, 1 large egg, and 1/2 tsp vanilla.

Step 3: Make it thick.

Create a small well in the center of the dry mix. Add the liquids and whisk slowly from the center to combine. Add 3 Tbsp melted butter. (The batter will be slightly thicker than from boxed mix.)

Step 4: Bubble and Bake

Preheat the oven to 350°F. In a medium pan over medium high, melt 1 tsp butter and a little vegetable oil. Add the batter and cook till the edges bubble, 1 to 2 minutes. Then bake for 5 minutes, flip the pancake, and cook until browned, 1 to 2 minutes.

Now, if you want, you can top the pancake with jam, fresh berries, powdered sugar, peanut butter, or all of them.

Maple syrup is awesome—but you can make it even awesomer. In a small saucepan over medium, heat a 4-to-1 ratio of syrup to any liquid. (May we recommend bourbon, coffee, stout, or porter?) Cook, stirring frequently, till well combined, about 5 minutes.

A version of this article appeared in the September 2021 issue of Men’s Health.

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