Pancakes are an ancient Roman recipe that were used to symbolize religion. Pancake Day, or Shrove Tuesday, is forty days before Lent, which is a forty day and night festival when dairy products are traditionally banned from the diet. This represents the time Jesus spent in the wilderness. During this era, pancakes were a convenient way to use leftover milk, butter, and eggs in the house before the fast started. For the Romans, the eggs represented creation, the salt represented wholesomeness, the milk for purity, and the flour was the staff of life.
The use of a nonstick frying pan is essential in order to not to have to use butter. If a regular saute pan is used, butter it and wipe out as much as possible. Too much butter on the surface of the pan will prevent parts of the pancake from reaching temperatures hot enough for Maillard reactions. A Maillard reaction occurs above 120 degree Celsius and is a chemical reaction of a carbohydrate molecule and an amino acid. A brown coloration and full, intense flavor result. Different than a caramelization, Maillard flavors tend to be more complex due to the addition of nitrogen and sulfur atoms from the amino acids to the mix of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. This results in the new aromatic dimensions such as pyridines, pyrazines, thiophenes, thiazoles, pyrroles, and oxazoles which contribute to a range of flavors.
The liquid batter formed when whisking together the ingredients in this recipe are made of long chains of sugar. Once milk is added to the dry mixture the starch (flour) begins to adsorb milk. The diffusion of milk increases as it is exposed to heat. The heat increases movement of atoms and collisions and increases the density of starch. As the starch expands the sugar molecules break off and create the batter to become sticky.
This recipe will demonstrate the process of going from a liquid to a solid using heat. Also it will show a Maillard reaction.
Materials:
1 1/2 cup flour
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons butter
1 1/4 cups milk
1 large egg
2 large bowl
1 whisk
1 nonstick frying pan
1 stove
Procedure:
1. Whisk in large mixing bowl the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt
2. In separate bowl melt butter
3. Add milk and egg to butter and whisk
4. Pour dry ingredients into liquid ingredients and whisk
5. Place frying pan on a burner set to medium high
6. Pour 1/2 cup of batter onto pan
7. Flip pancake after bubbles start to form on batter
8. After two minutes remove pancake from pan and serve
Results:
1. Whisk 1 1/2 cup flour, 2 tablespoons sugar, 2 teaspoons baking powder, and 1/2 teaspoon salt.
3. Add milk and egg to butter and whisk.
4. Add dry ingredients into the liquid ingredients with a whisk until just incorporated. Batter is a creamy color. The consistency is smooth and runny.
5. Place frying pan on a burner set to medium high
6. Pour 1/2 cup of batter onto pan
8. After two minutes remove pancake from pan and serve. Pancakes are flaky and have turned brown.
Discussion:
The purpose of this recipe was to demonstrate the process of going from a liquid to a solid using heat. Also this recipe shows a Maillard reaction. This recipe successfully turned liquid batter into a solid pancake. The recipe was created very easy pancakes in a short amount of time. Creating small pancakes and flipping the pancake when bubbles began to form allowed for the pancakes to cook perfectly. Rather than relying on time, each pancake was able to be flipped at the appropriate time. Once larger pancakes were made, it was more difficult to flip and to cook the entire pancake evenly. The pancakes produced an aroma due to the Maillard reactions occurring inside the batter.
Next time, would experiment with different flavors of pancakes and try adding chocolate chips or bananas to determine how extra sugars affect the Maillard reactions. I would also determine how a caramelization would affect the Maillard reaction and the overall pancake.
Citation:
Potter, Jeff. Cooking for Geeks. Sebastopol: O'Reilly, 2010. Print.
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