Japanese Fluffy Pancake Recipe

If you follow food trends as much as I do, you’ve probably come across at least one video of a jiggly, thick, Japanese pancake. The fluffy Japanese pancakes are so pretty so I’ve been wanting to try to make my own or just order them whenever I found them on the menu. To order Japanese pancakes in Pittsburgh, Scratch F & B featured the thick pancakes before COVID19. (Now they have a few menu items but mostly they are selling grocery items during the crisis.)

With limited access to fluffy pancakes and plenty of free time on our hands during self-isolation, what better time to try to recreate this recipe.

There are very important items you need to make this recipe.

Hot tip 1: Use a hand mixer to beat your eggs. It will make your life so much easier. I tried whipping the eggs by hand, and after 20 minutes, I barely saw any results and barely made any stiff peaks.

Hot tip 2: Buying the molds specified on the FoodNetwork’s recipe, would be ideal. With the Amazon delivery delays for nonessential items, you’ll probably need to craft your own molds.

Hot tip 3: Before you mix the melted butter with the egg yolk, COOL THE BUTTER. The yolk will start to cook if you skip that step – trust me, I made that mistake.

How to make the foil rings:

In this video, you can watch how to make molds with foil rings. For the Japanese pancakes, you’ll want the ring to be 3-inch-wide-by-2 1/2-inch-high.

What You’ll Need for the Pancakes

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (I used bread flour)
• 3 tbls confectioners’ sugar
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt 
• 1 1/4 cups milk 
• 4 tbls unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 large egg yolk plus 3 large egg whites
• 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
• Nonstick cooking spray
• Loads of maple syrup! (For serving)
• 3-inch-wide-by-2 1/2-inch-high ring molds (the more you make, the less time you’ll need to wait for more pancakes to cook!)

Fluffy Pancake Instructions

1. Whisk the flour, confectioners’ sugar, baking powder and salt in a large bowl.
2. Whisk the milk, melted butter, vanilla and egg yolk in a medium bowl until combined. 
3. Beat the egg whites and cream of tartar in another large bowl with an electric mixer on medium-high speed until stiff peaks form, about 2 minutes. (Absolutely use an electric mixer. Don’t be crazy and try to whisk by hand, it takes a long time.)
4. Add the milk mixture to the dry ingredients and stir till combined. Stir one-third of the beaten egg whites into the flour-milk mixture. Then gently fold in the remaining egg whites until just combined (careful not to overmix!)
5. Coat a large nonstick skillet with nonstick cooking spray and heat over medium-low heat. Place the ring molds in the middle of the skillet and fill each with 1/2 cup of batter (it should fill each ring mold about halfway).
6. Cover the skillet with the lid and cook until the batter rises to the tops of the ring molds and is golden on the bottom, about 5 minutes. The next step takes a lot of grace, use a spatula to flip the pancake while using tongs on the ring mold to flip the pancake to the other side. (Some people may be able to do this as a one person job, but I needed my boyfriend to help stabilize the ring molds to flip these cakes.) Cover again and cook until golden on the other side for another five minutes.
7. If you have more batter, continue flipping cakes until you’re out.
8. Transfer to a plate and remove the mold. Serve with butter and maple syrup. Enjoy before the pancakes deflate!