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“Adding soda with vinegar is complete nonsense”: what is the secret of perfect pancakes

Each housewife has her own recipe for pancakes. Some bake with milk, others with water, someone adds baking powder for delicacy, and someone prefers to knead the dough with yeast. Who is right and who is not - judged the chef. Before the start of Maslenitsa, they told what kind of flour they choose, how many eggs are added to the dough, what oil they fry in, and whether soda and vinegar are used.

Which flour to choose?

According to Sergey Kondratyev, chef of the Elarji restaurant, flour is one of the most important ingredients for pancakes. “If we are talking about classic thin pancakes, then extra-milling flour is best, with it the pancakes turn out golden. But if you want to experiment, then rye, oatmeal, buckwheat flour will do just fine,” he says.

The chef of the Uhvat restaurant, Viktor Beley, believes that pancakes can be made from any flour: they can be baked from buckwheat flour, as well as from mixed flour, for example, wheat and almond. “For originality, you can use malt, then the pancakes will turn out Borodino,” he shares the idea. According to him, flour plays the role of a thickener for making dough.

“You can cook pancakes on rice flour with starch, but in the classic version, pancakes are cooked on wheat flour,” says the chef.

Elena Nikiforova, chef of the Shinok restaurant, agrees with this opinion. According to her, starch plays an important role, as it gives pancakes the necessary screed (gluten). The flour itself can be corn, buckwheat, wheat, even crushed millet - it all depends on the taste, she believes.

“But you can’t shift or not add flour - because pancakes in both cases simply won’t be removed from the pan,” warns the chef.

The choice of flour depends on preferences, says Aleksey Semenov, brand chef of the Russian Pub restaurant. “You can make pancakes with buckwheat flour in the manner of Breton buckwheat crepes. Pancakes made with rye flour go well with fillings made from meat, poultry or lightly salted red fish,” he says. Gluten-free flour, according to the chef, is a little more difficult to work with. “Pancakes on it are more fragile and tear easily, so to get the desired texture, you need to play with the recipe, adjust the consistency of the dough to the desired result already in the process of frying,” he explains.

Chef adds that to make gluten-free pancakes elastic and not dry, you need to add more eggs to the dough or any fermented product, such as sour cream or whey.

“Good pancakes need good flour,” sums up Vlad Piskunov, brand chef of the Matryoshka restaurant. He advises to give preference to flour of the highest grade, in extreme cases, flour of the first grade.

Should I add sugar?

Elena Nikiforova advises adding sugar at the rate of one tablespoon per half liter of milk or water. “If the pancakes are sweet, add less sugar,” she adds.

Victor Beley believes that sugar should be added to taste or replaced with honey or a sweetener. “Unleavened pancakes that have no added sugar can be served with syrup for sweetness,” he suggests.

According to Sergei Kondratiev, the amount of sugar in the dough depends on the filling with which pancakes are planned. “If you plan to serve pancakes with salmon or caviar, add less sugar,” he says. Salt plays an equally important role, according to the chef. “Salt must be added when preparing the dough to emphasize the taste of pancakes,” he is sure.

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Eggs: less is better?

Victor Beley adds one egg to classic pancakes, several eggs and quite a bit of flour and milk to omelet pancakes. “You can cook pancakes without eggs, but then you need to add something to bind the dough, because without it they will tear. For example, cook starched pancakes - they are more like flat cakes, ”the chef suggests.

Elena Nikiforova makes pancakes according to the "classic" technology - two eggs per half liter of milk. “If you add more, the dough will be “rubber,” she says.

Vlad Piskunov agrees - if you add a lot of eggs to the dough, the pancakes will turn out rubber. The chef advises to always proceed from a specific recipe.

On milk or water?

According to Elena Nikiforova, the dough for thin pancakes must contain water. “The dough is kneaded either in water with milk, or in water with sour cream, or in water with vegetable oil and with the addition of milk. You can just use mineral water with the addition of milk, ”she offers options.

Viktor Beley believes that pancakes made with milk are always tastier, but he does not rule out the option of using dough with water.

Zhang Xiancheng, the chef of the Chinese Letter restaurant, agrees - the taste of milk pancakes, in his opinion, is more pronounced. The chef considers pancakes on the water to be an excellent alternative for those who are lactose intolerant.

Vlad Piskunov mixes milk with water in a 50/50 ratio to make his pancakes. “I put the dough on milk, and then I brew it with boiling water,” the chef clarifies.Sergei Kondratiev suggests moving away from the classics and trying to cook pancakes with vegetable milk or vegetable juice. “Beetroot or spinach juice is perfect,” says the chef.

Soda and vinegar or yeast? Or nothing at all?

According to Vlad Piskunov, pancake dough should contain nothing but eggs, flour and milk (or water). In yeast pancakes - yeast or sourdough is added to the ingredients.

“Adding baking soda and vinegar is utterly stupid. If you want to saturate the dish with carbon dioxide, make a sour dough. If you want to make a yeast-free dough, make it with sour milk or kefir and add soda. Vinegar is completely unnecessary,” he says.

Elena Nikiforova agrees with the opinion that soda and vinegar in pancake dough are unnecessary. “If you add soda, you get not thin pancakes, but pancakes,” she says.

Sergey Kondratiev also does not advise using yeast or soda with vinegar if the plans are to cook thin pancakes. “These ingredients promote fermentation and make the pancake fluffy but not thin,” he explains. According to the chef, for thin and elastic pancakes, it is best to add a little vegetable oil to the dough.

“Personally, I don’t use either vinegar or yeast – these products leave a sharp aftertaste,” says Zhang Xiancheng. Instead, he advises adding vegetable oil to the dough. “It gives the pancakes elasticity and the dough won’t stick to the pan,” the chef explains.

Victor Beley is less categorical - you can add soda with vinegar and yeast to pancakes, he believes. According to him, the yeast dough is thicker, and the pancakes are lush, like pancakes. “Baking powder or baking soda and vinegar will make the pancakes more porous and delicate,” he says. However, the chef himself admits that he does not add either one or the other, preferring the classic recipe - milk, eggs, flour.

Each optional ingredient is a matter of taste, says Alexey Semenov. As an alternative to vinegar, he suggests quenching soda with lemon juice, and instead of baking powder, use fermented milk products - kefir, sour milk, or even highly carbonated mineral water. “All these techniques will replace yeast, the use of which goes by the wayside, and any type of sourdough that is more beneficial for both the body and the figure comes to the fore,” he explains.

What should be the dough for thin pancakes?

According to Elena Nikiforova, the correct dough for thin pancakes should be elastic, without lumps, and pour into the pan in a thin stream.

“The main rule of thin pancakes is not to overdo it with flour and not to thicken the dough too much,” agrees Chef Zhang Xiancheng of the Chinese Letter restaurant.

The thickness of the pancake depends solely on the density of the dough and nothing else, Vlad Piskunov is sure. If the pancakes are thick, the chef advises to dilute the dough with water or milk and let it stand for a while.

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Which oil to use?

Elena Nikiforova advises to bake pancakes in vegetable oil or dip a piece of lard in vegetable oil and fry on it. “The main thing is not on creamy: otherwise the dough will burn right away,” the chef warns.

Victor Beley prefers to fry pancakes in vegetable oil, and when ready, he always lubricates them with butter. “You can also bake pancakes in butter, but it’s better to do it in ghee so that the pancakes don’t burn,” he adds.

According to Vlad Piskunov, the best pancakes are made with melted butter.

Sergei Kondratiev recommends frying pancakes exclusively in refined vegetable oil, since, according to the chef, it is the most neutral in taste.

“Adding soda with vinegar is complete nonsense”: what is the secret of perfect pancakes