Why Pancakes Turn Into Rubber Frisbees + Kimchi Pancake Recipe

Gluten.

This chemical reaction that turns anything from cakes, pastries to pancakes into messes with the wrong texture.

When you use flour (and most dessert recipes use flour) it's sometimes a bad thing to over-kneed or handle dough too much. Of course, you can never handle it too much with things like bread or pizza bases because they need to be kneeded and for the gluten to develop and expand.

But for example, gluten in pancakes and some cakes turn it rubbery, chewy and not at all fluffy and soft like they should be.

When making pancakes, you have this tendency to want to mix away all the lumps. You want the mixture to be even and not taste clumps of flour in the middle of your pancake. However, you run the risk of your pancake becoming flat because you've knocked too much air out of the mixture and the gluten has started developing and turning your pancake mix into something hard and gooey, not runny.

The next time you make pancakes, don't mix it for more than 30 seconds. The less you handle it, the better. Don't let the gluten develop! If your pancake mix starts coming together and giving you resistance, you've already taken it over to gluten-land.

Instead, to get rid of the flour lumps you can use a spoon and smoosh the lumps on the sides of the bowl and gently stir it in.

Another alternative is to use gluten-free flour, but why bother when you can stop mixing and take less time to make a pancake with regular flour?

This is all based on my experiences making pancakes and cakes throughout the years. If you don't believe me, read this link on making the perfect pancakes.

Kimchi Pancake (Serves 2)

Ingredients:
1 cup plain flour
2 eggs
1 tbsp minced garlic
2 tbsp sesame oil
2 tsp mirin or sugar
2 tbsp soy sauce

1/2 onion
1/2 spring onion or chives
1 cup kimchi
1/2 cup Spam ham or bacon or pancetta
Kimchi water (as needed)



1. Crack eggs into a large mixing bowl and scrambled lightly with garlic. Season with sesame oil, soy sauce and mirin.

2. Dice up kimchi, ham, onion and spring onion. Mix into the egg mixture. Pour the juice from your kimchi container to give the batter an orange colour.

3. Add flour and combine the mixture until even, being careful not to beat or whip it. Just use gentle strokes.

4. Depending on how much ham or bacon you put in, you can omit the salt as the meat will already be salty. Try not to use raw meats as the pancake cooks quite fast and raw meat will be undercooked. You're better off using beef rather than pork and chicken which takes longer.

If the batter is too thick to mix, add a little milk, water or kimchi water from the container. If the batter is too runny, add more flour, vegetables and ham. The batter should be chunky but wet. This is when you adjust the batter to your tastes.

5. Heat up a pan on medium-low with butter or oil. Dollop the pancake mix and spread as thinly as possible. Cook on both sides until brown, up to 2 minutes on either side depending on how thick. It usually takes less than a minute on each side.

6. Repeat, adding more oil and another dollop of batter.

7. Cut into bit sized quarters and serve best with some sort of salad or a dipping sauce like sweet chili.

The pancakes make for a very good meal with some salad greens. You've got your carbs from the flour, protein from meat and vegetables with an extra helping of more vegetables from the salad. Sounds like a nutritionally well-rounded, healthy meal, no?


Recipe adapted from http://korean-cuisine.blogspot.com/2008/08/kimchi-jun-korean-style-kimchi-pancakes.html