Ina Garten's Tip For Getting The Most Perfectly Tender Pancakes

A pancake isn't one of those breakfast foods where the texture is a matter of preference. When it comes to scrambled eggs, for example, some prefer the curds to be soft, while others like them better firm. The same can be said of bacon, as there are people who like it crispy, and others who like it tender and meaty. As for pancakes, however, it's safe to say the majority of people would rather eat a fluffy pancake over a chewy one.

Unfortunately, it's relatively easy to end up with a tough, chewy pancake. Chewiness is the result of too much gluten formation, and it usually occurs when the flour is overworked. An easy way to prevent this from happening is to err on the side of undermixing instead of focusing on getting rid of all the lumps in the batter. But according to Ina Garten, an even more foolproof approach to achieving perfectly tender pancakes is to add two extra ingredients: ricotta and cornstarch.

While Ina Garten's recipe includes traditional pancake ingredients such as buttermilk, eggs, and flour, it also calls for a more unconventional one – ricotta cheese. The fresh, fermented dairy product does pair well with the lemon juice and figs she incorporates, but Garten doesn't just add it solely because of the flavor it contributes. She also adds it because ricotta also offsets the gluten formation that's often responsible for tough pancakes.

Gluten formation in pancakes occurs when the glutenin molecules in the flour get activated by the addition of liquid and bond together. That means if you put ricotta in your batter, that bond gets disrupted. This results in pancakes that are much less dense in texture, because the ricotta prevents the glutenin molecules from being too tightly packed together. If you were to accidentally overmix the batter therefore, the pancakes will also be less likely to turn out rubbery.

Even though it already significantly improves the flavor and texture, Ina Garten doesn't just stop at ricotta. She also adds cornstarch to her pancakes. If you've ever added cornstarch to cookies in order to make them softer, well, it does the same thing in pancakes. The starch not only relaxes flour proteins, it absorbs liquids and expands to ultimately yield soft, fluffy pancakes. It also disrupts the development of gluten, much like ricotta. "It's gonna make them really tender," Garten says in the video.

Unlike ricotta however, cornstarch doesn't have much of a flavor, so if you don't want your pancakes to taste too cheesy, you can dial down on the ricotta in favor of more cornstarch for a similar effect. Just keep in mind that this will take away some of the moisture that the ricotta contributes. For best results, Garten recommends a cup of fresh whole milk ricotta and ¼ cup of cornstarch for every 1½ cups of flour. You can also add lemon juice, figs, and vanilla like Garten does, but either way your pancakes will come out light and fluffy.