Better-Than-The-Box Pancake Mix

The convenience of boxed pancake mix comes at a cost—fake-tasting, even bitter pancakes. We set out to create our own homemade mix, one that delivers store-bought ease and from- scratch taste. Here’s what we discovered:

Test Kitchen Discoveries

• All-purpose flour made for tough pancakes. Replacing half the all-purpose flour with cake flour yielded the sturdy yet tender cakes we wanted.
• To give our pancakes complexity and depth, we added an unusual ingredient: malted milk powder, which imparted a sweet, nutty flavor that tasters loved.
• Tasters also preferred the flavor of butter to vegetable shortening. And using butter means that the mix needs to be stored in the refrigerator or freezer for up to 2 months.
• For higher-rising pancakes, we use fresh buttermilk instead of milk when mixing up the batter. The acid of the buttermilk reacts with the baking soda, causing the batter to bubble.
• Mix the batter minimally. Stop stirring when there are still streaks of flour visible.