What Is Pancake flour and How Can I Use It?
Here's everything worth knowing about pancake flour and how to pick it, what it is, how to store it, and what to use instead, plus 2 recipes to cook tonight.
Key Points
- Pancake flour is a just-add-liquid mix with leavening, sugar, and salt already in it.
- Plain flour is only the grain; the mix saves measuring but limits your control.
- Whisk to a lumpy batter; overmixing makes pancakes rubbery and flat.
- Mix close to cooking, since the leavening starts working as soon as it gets wet.
- To fake it, add about 1½ tsp baking powder and ¼ tsp salt per cup of flour.
What is pancake flour?
Pancake flour is a ready-made baking mix, not a flour milled from a single grain. It is the just-add-liquid base sold for quick pancakes and waffles, with the leavening already built in.
That is the key difference from plain flour. A typical pancake mix is flour and baking powder, sweetened and salted, with dried buttermilk or egg sometimes added, so all you do is pour in water or milk. Plain flour is only the grain; you supply everything else.
Because the rising agent is premeasured, the mix trades flexibility for speed. It makes a reliable weekday breakfast, but it gives you less control over how sweet, salty, or tender the result turns out. See the flour hub for plain flour and its relatives.
How to Use Pancake Flour
For pancakes and waffles, whisk the mix with liquid until just combined and lumpy. Overmixing is the classic error: it develops gluten and beats out air, turning tender cakes rubbery and flat. A few lumps are fine and bake out.
Let the batter rest five to ten minutes before cooking so the leavening activates and the flour hydrates. Cook on a medium griddle, around 375°F (190°C), and flip when the surface bubbles and the edges look set.
Because it is self-rising and lightly seasoned, the mix also works as a fast batter for fritters or a coating for pan-frying. The Sauted Chicken Livers with Onions & Mushrooms uses it as a quick dredge before the livers go in the pan.
Pairing and Common Mistakes
The mild, slightly sweet base takes well to vanilla, cinnamon, berries, banana, and chocolate chips stirred straight into the batter.
The biggest mistake is overmixing.
It is worth repeating because it is so easy to do: stir until the dry streaks just vanish, then stop.
The second is mixing the batter too far ahead. The leavening starts working the moment it gets wet, so a batter left sitting an hour goes flat. Mix it close to cooking time.
Substitutes
To replace pancake flour with plain flour, add the missing leavening: roughly 1½ teaspoons of baking powder and ¼ teaspoon of salt per cup of all-purpose flour, plus a teaspoon of sugar. That turns ordinary flour into a working pancake base.
Self-rising flour gets you most of the way, since it already has baking powder and salt; just add a little sugar. Going the other way, do not use pancake flour where a recipe calls for plain flour, since the built-in leavening and salt will throw off the result.
Buying and Storage
Pancake mix sits in the baking aisle, sometimes labeled pancake and waffle mix. Complete mixes need only water; others ask for egg and oil, so check the box before you shop.
Keep it sealed in a cool, dry cupboard and mind the date. The baking powder loses strength over time, and stale mix bakes flat and dense, so buy a size you will finish within a few months.
Quick facts
- In Chinese
- 煎饼粉
- British (UK) term
- Pancake flour
- en français
- farine de crêpes
- en español
- harina para panqueques
Recipes using pancake flour
There are 2 recipes that contain this ingredient.
Sauted Chicken Livers with Onions & Mushrooms
Sautéed chicken livers with onions and mushrooms in garlicky butter, dredged in pancake flour for a crisp crust. An old-school appetizer or budget dinner over rice pilaf.
Saute Chicken Livers with Onions & Mushrooms
Sauteed chicken livers coated in seasoned pancake flour with garlic and basil, pan-fried golden with onions and mushrooms. Serve over rice pilaf or as a rich appetizer.
