Make Buttermilk Pancakes from Scratch

Your Challenge: Make super fluffy delicious pancakes from scratch! 

Materials: 

1 cup flour

1 tablespoon sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Dash of salt

1 cup buttermilk

1 egg

3 tablespoons melted butter

Add a cup of blueberries or sliced banana to your batter for even more fun!

Here’s How:

1.In a large bowl combine flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt

2.Use a whisk or large fork to stir in egg and buttermilk until smooth

3.Melt butter and then stir in

4.Place a non-stick pan, skillet, or griddle on stove over medium heat (add small amount of butter to pan if not non-stick)

5. Pour about ¼ cup of batter on to pan

6.Flip pancake over when side is golden brown

How It Works:

So what makes buttermilk pancakes different from other pancakes? They’re delicious like other pancakes and the maple syrup all goes on the same, but buttermilk pancakes tend to be more fluffy and soft than regular or instant pancakes. Why is that? To figure that out we have to look at the chemistry going on inside our pancakes. We are creating a chemical reaction between ingredients when we are making our pancakes. The type of reaction occurring in our pancakes is called an acid base reaction. In this reaction the buttermilk is our acid and the baking soda is our base. When buttermilk and baking soda react they produce bubbles of carbon dioxide (CO2) gas, water, and salt. The bubbles of carbon dioxide gas are what make buttermilk pancakes so fluffy! Regular pancakes do not have the acidic buttermilk or baking soda base reaction in them, so they quite literally fall flat against our science powdered buttermilk pancakes!

Fun Facts:

• Before baking soda was invented, fresh snow was often used in pancakes to make them fluffy and soft! This is because of the ammonia present in the snow.   [Resource]

• Did you know French people like to wish on their pancakes before flipping them? They use one hand to flip their pancake while holding a coin in the other. Make a wish!   [Resource]

• The Guinness World Record for largest pancakes comes in at 15.01 m (49 ft 3 in) in diameter and 2.5 cm (1 in) thick. The massive pancake weighed 3 tonnes (6,614 lb) that’s as heavy as two adult hippopotamuses!  [Resource]

Resource

Related Careers: 

Chemist, Food Scientist