Nothing beats a nice airy and fluffy set of pancakes that can be topped and enjoyed with some fruits, syrup, butter, chocolate, you name it. But one thing for certain is that the fluffier the pancake, the better, and while there are plenty of tips and hacks on how to achieve the fluffiest set, this one trick might just be the easiest, and it involves seperating the yolks and eggs, which many people tend to do already, but this trick requires no extra whisking.
The shortcut is revealed in The Kitchn’s Fluffy Buttermilk Pancakes recipe by Dana Velden. She writes: “In many pancake recipes you seperate the egg white from the yolk, beat the white until peaks form and then gently fold the white into the batter. (This really lightens the batter and makes the pancakes incredibly fluffy.)
“But in this recipe, curiously, you don’t beat the white before adding it into the batter! You just stir it in. It’s that simple and easy, and yet it makes all the difference. These pancakes are quick to come together, foolproof and quite delicious!”
The egg white trick doesn’t just apply to buttermilk pancakes. It works for any pancake recipe that requires eggs.
Simply just seperate your eggs, whisk the dry ingredients, pop the egg yolks into the wet ingredients, combine the wet and dry together and then add in the egg whites. Let it sit for a couple or minutes while you heat up your frying pan.
The recipe was put to the test with a review posted on Food5, which confirmed that extra whipping is infact not needed and adding the whites at the end gives it “a noticable puff and bounce”.
Rosy Levy, author of the Baking Bible revealed exactly why that is the case. She explained: “Adding the white at the end give more support. This is a technique used in souffles – adding a little of the white unwhipped at the end so that the souffle doesn’t deflate quickly.”
She also highlighted the process behind adding whipped egg whites. She added: “Whipping egg whites to soft or stiff peaks adds more air but also as the egg white cells enlarge, the membrane gets thinner and thinner and is more fragile.”
So next time you’re in the mood for perfectly puffed pancakes, you can save yourself the extra arm trouble and throw in the egg whites at the end, you’ll be left with the perfect texture that is consistent.
