How to Make Homemade Pancakes

Learning how to make homemade pancakes is easy. If it weren't for the hot griddle, even a child could do it. And you don't even have to go to IHOP.

A pancake today is essentially the same flatbread recipe that our early ancestors baked on hot stones in the Neolithic Age. But because different peoples have different requirements, and as the name changed from flatbread to flapjacks, johnnycakes and fennel cakes, the recipe changed accordingly. Yet, at the same time, this comfort food we call "pancake" has the same main ingredients as it had when our ancestors first invented it.

How to Make Pancakes

Ingredients You Will Need:
6 tablespoons butter
5 eggs
1 ½ cups milk
5 cups buttermilk
5 cups flour
5 teaspoons baking powder
2 ½ teaspoons baking soda
5 tablespoons sugar

Melt the butter. Whisk together the wet ingredients, including the melted butter, in a large bowl. Then combine the dry ingredients into another bowl. Make a well in the dry ingredients, pour in the wet ingredients and blend together.

When mixing pancake batter, always stir lightly. Once the dry ingredients are covered, stop mixing. Tough pancakes are the result of over-stirring. As soon as the batter is mixed, the active ingredients will begin working, so it's important to pour pancakes immediately.

Coat a large skillet with cooking spray, and heat over medium heat. Once the skillet is hot, pour out ¼ cup of batter. Cook until bubbles appear. Flip and cook until both sides are brown.

Pancakes are ready to be flipped when bubbles form and the edges start to set. Make sure the heat is high enough; the longer it takes for a pancake to cook, the dryer or tougher it will be.

Pancake Tips and Tricks

• For easy pancakes, use Bisquick or Jiffy Mix. Simply add two cups of one of the mixes, and stir in about one and one fourth cup of milk and one egg.
• Thick pancake batter will result in thick pancakes, while thin batter will produce thin pancakes.
• Mix up only as much batter as needed for one meal. Batter does not store in the refrigerator well.
• To make pancakes for later, cook them at just the right size to fit into the toaster, and freeze them. When you want pancakes, they can be popped into the toaster to thaw.
• For ease in thawing frozen pancakes, place waxed paper sheets between each pancake.
• The skillet is ready when a drop of water dances across it.
• Pancakes can be kept warm in the oven for about 10 minutes before they begin to dry out.
• Use medium-low heat to fry pancakes.
• Use cookie cutters in the skillet to make shapes. (Cutting shapes out of the actual pancake results in a lot of waste.)
• Pancakes are one of the original fast foods. A large pancake can be rolled up with jelly inside and taken on the go, like a sandwich.
• Pancakes fit into a busy lifestyle-they can be stored in the fridge for several days or in the freezer for several months.
• Buttermilk pancakes are actually lower in fat than pancakes made using milk.
• Substitute buttermilk for milk or water in your pancake mix. (Just about all buttermilk sold today is low-fat.)
• Potato pancakes are best when made with Yukon Gold potatoes, but Russets are also good, as are Red Pontiac.
• Chocolate chip pancakes are fantastic when served with banana slices and whipped topping.
• Blueberry pancakes are best with wild blueberries, which are smaller than domesticated blueberries and have a more distinct taste.