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For those of us who aren’t bakers but still want to enjoy fluffy pancakes at home, store-bought pancake mix is the most convenient way to make our flapjack dreams come true. We’ve even made a list of our favorite pancake mixes to pick up at the grocery store. While there are plenty of additional ingredients to elevate boxed pancake mix, there’s one technique that doesn’t require any extras. Sifting is a simple yet important step to ensure your store-bought pancake mix renders the fluffiest results.
Whether you have a wind-up sifter like this one from Nordic Ware or simply a fine metallic mesh sieve, running pancake mix through will effectively aerate the mixture. The longer flour sits on the shelves, the more compact it gets, which results in a denser crumb for baked goods. The same applies to pancake mix that has been sitting on grocery shelves for who knows how long. Plus, if any humidity seeps in as the mix sits on the shelves, it will also start to clump. Sifting will smooth out the clumps while also introducing air into the flour, making it, on average, 25% lighter than an unsifted mix. The lighter the mix, the fluffier the pancakes. Since pancake mix contains all the dry ingredients, sifting also evenly distributes all the dry ingredients and makes it easier to blend them in with the wet ingredients. The minute it’ll take you to sift pancake matter is certainly worth spending to get those extra fluffy pancakes.
More tips for pancake upgrades
In addition to sifting pancake mix, there are other methods and ingredients that you can use to further ensure the fluffiest, lightest results. For example, you can swap the water or milk you add to traditional pancake mix for buttermilk. Buttermilk’s acidity reacts with the baking soda or powder most pancake mixes already have to further augment leavening. Some recipes assert letting the batter rest for 10 minutes before pouring it onto the griddle because it fully hydrates the flour and gives the leavening agents time to activate. If you want to make the ultimate, fluffy, giggly pancakes, try folding whisked egg whites into the batter before spooning the mix onto the griddle; apparently, older egg whites are easier to whip.
For flavor upgrades, you can up your pancake game with a few dashes of vanilla extract. Giada de Laurentis swaps vanilla extract for almond extract in a recipe shared with Food Network and stirs in almond paste to boot. Mix-ins make any plain pancake even tastier. But whether you’re using fruit, nuts, chocolate chips, or a mixture of all three, add them with care. If you pile on too many additional ingredients, you’ll risk sabotaging the fluffy pancake crumb. If you want the best of both worlds, you could convert mix-ins to pancake toppings.
