When it’s a beautiful morning, and you’re craving a pancake, you want it to be nice and fluffy. Boxed mixes might get the job done, but most of the time, they turn out bland and too flat. Plus, it’s really easy to make them from scratch, with results that are many times better. But one of our test cooks discovered the key to perfect pancakes is lumpy batter.
You may have heard that overmixing pancake batter can cause gluten to develop, which in turn gives you a dense pancake. But this isn’t the real reason that your pancakes come out tough. What really matters is the batter’s texture and hydration.
Throughout the development of her recipe for Easy Pancakes, Cook's Illustrated Senior Editor Lan Lam realized that keeping the lumps in the batter was what makes pancakes tall and fluffy. She also made some other important discoveries regarding the ingredients to use in your homemade pancake batter. (Start a free trial to check out the recipe. Your breakfast-loving self won’t regret it!)