Pancakes are the most ancient flour products, and they are an integral part of the cuisine of any nation in the world. In Russian cuisine, pancakes at first were exclusively a memorial dish.
Their baking requires a minimum of flour with a maximum of liquid and special skill, approaching the art. No cookbook contains exact information about how much dough should be poured into the pan and when the pancake should be turned over. These subtle points helps to determine only personal experience. Delicious thin pancakes can not be cooked without a suitable pan and products of excellent quality.
A large selection of modern kitchen appliances makes cooking a high-tech procedure that does not require specific culinary knowledge and experience. Baking pancakes using a multicooker or a multi-kitchen is reduced to simple cooking of the dough and pressing a few buttons, by means of which the heating temperature of the frying surface is selected. And only baking pancakes in a pan allows the hostess to go beyond the proposed standard program and show all her skills and imagination, although, of course, it will require her constant attention and control of the situation.
Cheap pans are made from short-lived extruded aluminum. Their thin bottom is not suitable for baking pancakes and quickly deforms at high temperatures. The cast aluminum pan will be more expensive, and only on it the non-stick coating is kept stronger: this is the feature of its production technology. The ceramic pan is more durable and durable, but its non-stick coating wears out faster than Teflon. Teflon is easily damaged and at the high temperature required for baking pancakes, there is a high risk of release of hazardous substances from the coating material. For strength, titanium is introduced into the coating, but such pans are not cheap at all.
When baking pancakes in a pan with a ceramic or Teflon coating, wooden or plastic blades are used for turning. Such dishes are ideal for beginners who have not yet developed the skill of handling pancake dough.
But the best dishes for baking pancakes and an unconditional tribute to the tradition is a massive cast-iron pan. New cast iron pan should be ignited with butter. The technology of making cast iron is such that its surface is covered with microscopic pores. The purpose of annealing is to get the oil into them charred and form a solid protective coating, which is akin to artificially produced non-stick. This prevents pancakes from burning and rust.
The main drawback of a cast iron pan is its heavy weight. Cast iron skillet should not be washed to perfect condition, carefully degreasing its surface. The remains of the oil is simply drained and wipe such dishes with paper napkins. Regardless of the choice of the pan before baking pancakes, you need to warm it up well. Therefore, the first pancake comes out as a lump, because the pan is not hot enough or the oil that has recently been poured in is not heated.
Simple tips can help to bake successful pancakes that do not stick to the pan:
- it is desirable to have a separate frying pan with a massive bottom for baking pancakes;
- pancake dough should not contain excess soda;
- liquid batter is poured into the center of the pan and, rotating it, evenly spread over the surface;
- the pancake is turned over when its bezel is reddened and well separated by a spatula.
Pouring oil from a bottle makes it very difficult to measure the right amount of it. A perfect alternative to butter will be a piece of bacon, pinned on a fork.
Cooking a lot of pancakes in a relatively short time will be helped by their “parallel” baking in two pans at once, but it will require some dexterity.
