I love to use my Kitchenaid mixer and I use it for a lot of recipes. However, recently I stumbled on a blog that was giving some advice for a recipe. In my opinion the recipe was pretty good but there was a problem that the author did not address. The recipe was for pancakes and it called for them being mixed up with an electric mixer which I think is not a very good option.

If you like to have gummy or chewy pancakes, then by all means, go ahead and use an electric mixer. But I really like to have soft and fluffy pancakes that really soak up the syrup. So, for me having dense lifeless pancakes is not the way to start my morning.

You should always treat pancake batter delicately because of a special protein called gluten. This 2 part protein, made up of glutenin and gliadin, is created when you mix up flour and any liquid. This is perfectly ok when you are making bread because gluten adds body and density to your dough. But if you over mix your pancake batter, instead of light fluffy wonders you get tough and chewy results.

So, the next time you want to enjoy some pan fried goodness for breakfast, leave your mixer tucked neatly away. Instead, follow this basic cooking process.

Now any basic recipe that you like for making pancakes will do. But you need to take extra care when you start mixing the dry and wet ingredients together. You should first start by mixing the wet ingredients and dry ingredients in separate bowls.

Before you can start mixing you need to plan ahead a little. You can cook them with either an electric griddle or a pan on the stove, the choice is yours. An electric griddle is a preferred choice because it has excellent heat control and it has a large surface which means more pancakes can be cooked at once. Regardless of the method you choose you can keep cooked pancakes in the oven wrapped in a clean towel before serving.

With your cooking appliance hot and ready to go it is safe to make the batter. I prefer what is affectionately called the dump and stir method. The idea is to mix the wet and dry ingredients in about 12 seconds or less. So take the wet and dump them on top of the dry. Mix with a large spatula for a count of 12 and then immediately stop. Sometimes the batter does not get completely incorporated but that is ok because the cooking process will smooth things out.

You are now in a position to cook the pancakes. With your pan preheated place a large dollop of batter on it and wait for the bubbles to form around the edge. This normally takes about 2 minutes. The bubbles tells you that you can safely flip the pancake. It should be brown on the bottom and not pale. If it is not dark enough it usually means your heat is too low. Next carefully flip your pancake and cook the second side until it too is browned nicely.

I always use real maple syrup on my pancakes. It tastes so much better than the 'other' stuff you find in your supermarkets which are often made from high fructose corn syrup, etc. And since I put all the effort into keep the pancakes light and fluffy I think they deserve to be 'dressed' properly.

There you have it. Next time you get a craving for some flapjacks, keep the KitchenAid mixer covered and instead use the dump and fold method for the lightest and fluffiest pancakes you can make at home.