Even atheists and people who believe “in general”, pancakes are always baked on Shrovetide. And at any other moment it’s nice to treat them to yourself and your family. And for some, unsuccessful instances become the main disappointment, since it is not always possible to turn a pancake over. In this article we will consider the tricks and secrets of pancake business: knowing them, you will never have to be upset about this. In addition, you can choose the method of "coup" that you find most convenient. So, what needs to be done so that the pancake is not lumpy?
Pan secrets
If you regularly cannot turn over pancakes, you should think about what you are doing wrong. Success depends on two components: dough and pans. The recipes of the first are a great many; if you choose and follow the same thing with constant failure, you will have to look for some other. As for the pan, you need to pay attention to the following points:
- It is advisable to have a special pancake. However, any other ones are quite suitable - cast iron (almost ideal for baking pancakes), Teflon, steel - but not aluminum, since it is almost impossible to turn a pancake on it without harming it.
- Never use new dishes: sticking will be required! The pan, as the culinary experts say, should be “fried”.
- To guarantee the result, any pan (except, perhaps, Teflon), before frying pancakes, should be calcined with large non-iodized salt. Never wash! Shake off the salt and start baking. Of course, the first pancake will turn out to be salty, but the rest will be easy to turn over And one more tip: when choosing dishes, pay attention to the sides. They should be low, as it is extremely inconvenient to turn pancakes in a pan with high edges. And in the absence of experience, it is better to dwell on containers of small diameter.
What to smear
The pan must be lubricated - at least before the first pancake. This should be done with any vegetable oil, and in a small amount (for example, I use half a potato chopped on a fork or a piece of salsa). You can take ghee or lard, but not the usual butter or margarine: they chad and stick the dough to the bottom of the pan. And then you will not care about the question of how to turn pancakes correctly, but the desire to at least tear them away from the dishes. The most competent way is to add a little oil to the dough - then the pan does not have to be greased at all, especially if there is not a lot of sugar in the base.
Additional tricks
On the first two or three pancakes, you will have to experiment, choosing the baking temperature. The fire under the pan should be medium: if it is too large, the bottom will burn, and the top will remain liquid - accordingly, the pancake will tear. If the temperature is low, the dough will begin to soften and stick. On old stoves, uneven heating of the burner is possible; in this case, the pancake will be ready on the one hand, and not on the other - that’s guaranteed adhesion. To “defeat” such an oven, you will have to constantly turn the pan.
If the product does not stick very well, before turning the pancake, the pan should be removed and twisted in a horizontal plane, after which it will be returned to the fire for another half minute.
If the pancake breaks or cracks when prying - the dough is too dry, you need to add milk (or other liquid on which you prepared it) with vegetable oil.
Method No. 1: scapular
You could say this is the most used way of turning pancakes in a pan. Most successful pancakes use it. The technology is simple to disgust, but it also has its secrets. The step-by-step process will look like this:
- Wait for the appearance of bubbles on the surface of the test and browning of the edges.
- Put a scapula under the pancake and raise it (not high, only so that the hanging sides do not cling to the pan).
- Quickly slap it back with its raw side.
With a very delicate structure of the dough, it happens that the product is wrinkled by prying. In this case, before turning the pancake over, the very edge of the blade is lifted with a spatula, holds for a couple of seconds to cool, and stretches until a gap forms, where the "tool" is pushed.
You can buy any spatula - from wood, metal (if the pan is not Teflon) or plastic. The main thing is that it be thin and wide: then it will not tear pancakes when prying.
Method 2: Forklift
A spatula is not the only way to turn pancakes. Somewhat less often, but forks are also used - usually two: they are used like the way American housewives mix salad. Damn is hooked on two sides and quickly flips over. There is another way, how to turn the pancake with a fork, this time one: poke the edge of the product on it and, turning it with your hand, turn it over. In order to use the fork method, some skill is needed, since the hands are dangerously close to the hot pan, and the fork tears the product much easier than a spatula. Nevertheless, many prefer it.
Method 3: Manual
In this case, fork grips are used, but many do without a fork. The bottom line is to grab the hardened edge of the pancake (it cools down pretty quickly, so the chance of getting burned is minimal) and quickly turn it over to the unroasted side. Especially often this method is used if pancakes are baked in a large frying pan, and at the same time they are also very thin, lace. A manual coup rarely tears such a culinary masterpiece.
Method 4: Air
Without a doubt, this is the most spectacular way to turn a pancake: throw it so that it flips over in flight, and deftly catch it with a frying pan. However, it is also the most costly: while you learn not to miss, the mass of blanks will be on the floor or hang on the vessel. The theory, it would seem, is simple: to make sure that the pancake freely crawls around the bowl, toss it gently and substitute it under the falling “cake” in the pan. However, training will take a long time, almost for years. People learn this technique not only in order to amaze the observers: if you get the hang of it, the speed of baking pancakes increases significantly. But many rarely cook them precisely because of the need to stand at the stove for a long time.
Knowing how to properly turn pancakes, and eliminating technical errors in the test and other preparatory work, you can easily cook a mountain of such goodies.