How to Make Perfect Buttermilk Pancakes, Every Time

Making the perfect buttermilk pancakes—not the stacks you get at your local diner, we’re talking perfect here—takes practice, but it also often involves making a few testers for the dogs. But when you have the cooking technique dialed in, you’ll make perfect pancakes right from the start, and you won’t have to waste any batter on testers.

ChefSteps co-founder and executive director Grant Crilly shows you which pans to use, the exact pan temperature you want to get perfectly browned—not burnt—surfaces, and how to adjust the ratio of ingredients to get the most tender, flavorful classic buttermilk pancakes that are perfect for you. Want to delve deeper into the ins and outs of perfect pancake making? Check out our Buttermilk Pancake Parametric Analysis! https://chfstps.co/3vO9s2B

Equipment:

The new Control Freak™ Home from Breville, is now exclusively available through ChefSteps!

Buy now! https://breville.oie8.net/jrd105

Buttermilk Pancakes: A Parametric Analysis: https://chfstps.co/3vO9s2B

[Time codes]
0:00 – How to Make the Perfect Buttermilk Pancakes
0:42 – How to Choose Your Pancake Formula
2:35 – How to Pick Your Pan
3:42 – How to Dial in Your Cooking Temperature
5:35 – How to Make Grant’s Favorite Pancakes

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ChefSteps 101: Through science, entertainment, and industry experience, we strive to help every home cook reach their full potential. With more than 1,000 recipes developed in our kitchen, there’s something for everyone. To find out more, visit our website: https://www.chefsteps.com/

[Music]
we’re going to go after the perfect
buttermilk pancake not just the formula
we’re going to dig into which pan to use
every degree of temperature to get the
exact golden you want and at the end I’m
going to show you my favorite
pancakes this is something else I’m
learning it’s Bulletproof
[Music]
the team’s been working on the pancake
parametric everything from the flattest
French buttermilk crepe to the fluffiest
Japanese pancake but the whole point is
you can choose you can dial it
in I’m going to start with making a few
different pancakes all three of the
formulas have identical ingredients just
different ratios the big key difference
is how much baking powder there is in
them the baking powder is what fluffs it
the buttermilk is what reacts with the
baking powder I’ve got one that’s really
fluffy one that’s a little bit flatter
and one that’s in between let’s cook all
three look at them and then dive into
everything else there is to make a great
pancake I’m going to cook all of them
the same temperature 320 I’m going to
start with the flatter
one I’ve gotten three control freaks
that one’s funky it looks like like a
spatula in the grill in The Simpsons or
something I don’t know I can’t I just
can’t take it seriously you can see the
batter here but it’s starting to fluff
and Rise already that’s all the baking
powder reacting to the buttermilk and
this is the flattest one to the that’s a
nice color okay here we go my favorite
pancake of the pancake parametric the
right amount of fluff when was the last
time you went to a diner and got a
buttermilk pancake that looks like that
I’m going to make the fluffy one wo look
at that that’s all the baking powder
doing its
[Music]
work I’m going to make a box mix real
quick just to look at it and
compare I got to give it fluffy points
for sure there’s less natural proteins
in here that we’re getting this is like
this beautiful yellow color that we get
from our yolks and our butter and the
aroma of these pancakes is amazing and
they’re also just tender and fluffy
that’s the flat the Fluffy and the
favorite the same recipe slightly
different formula and again we’ve got
everything to the left and the right
that’s a little bit flatter and a little
bit fluffier but it’s not just the
formula
it’s what pan you cook it in and what
temperature as well that’s what we’re
going to get to the bottom of
next got a bunch of pans I’m going to
cook the exact same formula I’m going to
cook it in every different pan and
you’re going to see how it looks a
little bit different depending on what
pan you
[Music]
have I’ve never cooked so many pancakes
in so many different places think I can
handle four pans and four pancakes and
four control freak comes at once every
pan surface has like a different surface
tension depending on how smooth polished
grippy it is I’ve never cooked a pancake
on ceramic it’s like been running like a
matte color to it this one I don’t know
what’s going to happen different pans
different pancake finishes kind of makes
sense you know it’s a cake and a pan a
big part of it is the pan I think it’s
going to work it’s going to work which
one looks the best to me I really like
this one holy smokes this one’s pretty
I’m surprised at this I kind of like
that enamel I thought some of them were
going to stick maybe Scorch you just run
into that especially with a I would say
stainless or an enamel but I’m
pleasantly surprised this formula works
pretty well across all the different
pans these control-f free Combs are like
amazing at very consistent energy per
square
inch got my formula I’ve Got My Pan now
I’m going to dial in my temperature heat
is more about the dness and how quickly
a pancake Cooks the temperature is what
determines the color if you’re cooking
pancakes at home you’re going to go to
your stove and you’re going to be
dialing with low medium and high and you
might even think your pan on the stove
and medium you’re like this is going to
be a good start you put it on medium but
then you put a pancake in and it burns
the pancake you go what the heck it’s
because it was too hot and then you’re
going to dial it up or down try another
pancake and it’s going to take some
fiddling I’m going to do here is cook
our really amazing fluffy pancake
formula three different temperatures
I’ve got the control freak home here I
can choose the exact temperature and
heat I always thought pancakes were like
Fast cooking food until until we had to
cook hundreds of them in one day they
feel like they take forever
[Music]
it’s
beautiful this pancake I’m going to cook
lower we’re going to have a pancake but
it’s going to be barely Brown this
pancake’s been cooking forever but we’re
here look at that that’s the palest
pancake ever all right everybody wait
five more minutes all right check it out
no color I’m going to cook one more
pancake 440 don’t turn away that is a
hot pan I think this is another example
of like cranking up the heat doesn’t
cook your pancake faster it just burns
them faster right off the bat I’ve got
this darker color coming and that’s when
it starts to go from like myard and
caramelization to these carbon chemical
reactions same formula same pan
different temperature
230°
320° 440° if you go too hot you’re going
to burn you’re still going to have like
a Raj pancake you’re going have that
scorchy flavor and if you go too low
you’re just going be waiting around all
day and it’s not going to have any
flavor at all we’re going a whole range
your temperatures in between but with
the control freak you get to choose the
color you want with the temperature you
want we’ve been on a pancake journey I
have my favorite formula my favorite pan
and my favorite temperature now I need
five Control Freaks and five pans so I
can make five pancakes at once oh
baby that’s a nice pancake this is
everything I’ve been wanting in a
pancake it’s super super
fluffy I like crisp on the outside too
the flavor is insane you can’t go wrong
here now I just have to make more of
them he’s been doing all the work on
this now we’re here all right
Matthew tunder flavorful super
[Music]
fluffy go check out the pancake
parametric everything from buttermilk
French crepe all the way to buttermilk
fluffy Japanese pancake and then you get
to dial in your temperature the pan
whatever else you want from there so
check it out go to chefsteps and get
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