Making pancakes in school!!

This week, we had our most hands-on activity thus far, and that was (as the header suggests), making pancakes from scratch in school! I was extremely pumped up for it because who would have imagined making pancakes in a university library, right? Also, I do have a sweet tooth so I was also looking forward to eating them afterwards (:

My group attempted to make japanese souffle pancakes. Gosh, we failed… Unfortunately… I’ll list out a few possible reasons why we didn’t succeed and also some of the challenges that we faced, without which maybe we could have gotten better results (hopefully?).

Challenges/Mistakes
  1. There was a limited number of weighing scales available, and knowing that japanese souffle pancakes will take a longer time to make, we eyeballed most of the ingredients. (Whoops)
  2. Manually whisking egg whites until stiff without a handmixer was definitely a workout. I used to bake at home so I know how much effort it takes to whisk egg whites until they form stiff peaks, even with a handmixer. Let alone with a manual whisk! We definitely did not achieve the right consistency, even though we took turns and tried our best to whisk as fast as we could.

    This is me whisking and wishing I had brought the hand mixer from home T.T

  3. We weren’t sure if we added sugar in too early into the whisked egg whites. Maybe that’s why it didn’t form stiff peaks?
  4. Mistaking a cup of egg white for oil and adding it into a mixture that was not supposed to contain egg white… Yep, it happened.

Our pancake turned out to be… honestly, not fluffy at all! It was rather dense and dry, which is completely not what japanese souffles are supposed to be like! Although we didn’t succeed, I still did enjoy the process!

All smiles!!

The end product… hahaha

So what next?

Later the same day, I came across this video on how to make japanese souffle pancakes. There were quite a few valuable takeaways I got from it!

  1. Adding sugar into the meringue foam makes the foam finer but slows down the foaming process. Referring back to challenge #3, I guess this answered my question!
  2. They added water onto the pan while cooking the pancakes. My guess would be that this reduces the water loss from the pancakes (so that it doesn’t turn out dry). And it might also help to prevent the temperature from going up too high since water would absorb some of the heat.
  3. Using a mold while cooking pancakes to achieve the shape and thickness of the pancake.
  4. Adding cornstarch to the batter to make the pancake tougher. Although japanese souffle pancakes are supposed to be fluffy and light, one downside is that they flatten easily. Adding a small amount of cornstarch will result in a firmer pancake that doesn’t flatten as easily.

Link is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3SktcOL4ko

I really want to give this another shot at home (especially with a hand mixer and not adding in the wrong ingredients) but I haven’t had the time to do so yet. I’ll definitely try it again as soon as I can find time to!

Some science behind japanese souffle pancakes!

Following up on challenge #3, I wanted to know why sugar slows down the foaming process. And here’s what I’ve found!

What happens during the whisking of egg whites is that the proteins will unfold and cross-link to form a network, which contains and stabilises air bubbles. When sugar is added to the egg white, it dissolves in water (from the egg) to increase the viscosity to further stabilise the structure.

When sugar is added too early (before the egg whites are whisked thoroughly enough), the sugar granules will interfere with the unfolding process of the proteins. This results in a weak network and thus the egg whites will not be able to stabilise air bubbles. On the other hand, if sugar is added too late, 2 things can happen. First, the sugar draws water out of the foam, which weakens the structure. Secondly, the sugar might not dissolve completely. It is therefore important to add sugar at the right time! It is recommended to add sugar after the egg whites get foamy but before they start to form peaks. This sweet spot would definitely take a lot of experience and practice!

Main takeaways from readings

If I had to choose 1 thing that peaked my interest the most in the readings, it would be the purpose of each ingredient in baked products such as bread/cakes/cookies etc. The table on page 524 of the book by Harold McGee summarises these information rather effectively. There are 11 types of ingredients listed in the table, all with different purposes and effects on the structure of the product. Some examples include:

  1. Sugar is a carbohydrate that weakens the gluten network and absorbs moisture, thus tenderizing the product and preserving moisture.
  2. Salt is a purified mineral that tightens the gluten network and makes dough more elastic.
  3. Eggs contain proteins, fats and emulsifiers (in the yolk only). The proteins will coagulate during cooking, supplementing the gluten network. On the other hand, fats and emulsifiers weaken the gluten network. Emulsifiers also help to stabilise bubbles and starch.

I used to bake from time to time a few years ago. I’d bake things like cookies, cakes, brownies and pancakes! I always came across this phrase – add a pinch of salt – in recipes and wondered why, but never took the extra step to figure it out then. I was curious about it because I never saw the purpose of adding salt into cookies since cookies aren’t meant to taste salty, right? I could understand why we would add sugar, but salt? Now I finally have the answer!