Pancake pans: what are and how to choose them?

Pancakes are a favorite dish of many generations. Almost every family has its own recipe for pancakes. But someone and the ideal recipes do not help: pancakes are still obtained thick, stick to the pan, burn. With a high probability it is just in the pan, so it's time to buy a crepe maker, which will solve the problem of imperfect pancakes.

Three conditions under which pancakes will always get tasty and aesthetic - the quality of the dough, the quality of the pan, good care for utensils. The last two points are definitely important. Therefore, for pancakes frying, it makes sense to buy a separate frying pan and nothing more to cook on it. If you use the product for cooking meat or vegetables from time to time, it will become unusable in a short time.

Material production, shape and size of pancake pans may vary, but all have common characteristics. All crepe makers have low sides, because the cook easily turns the pancake over (it is the high sides that often interfere with turning over, which is why the pancakes do not work out perfectly).

The next feature of pancake pans is a thick bottom and thick walls. This design gives utensils a special strength and durability. Thanks to the thick walls and bottom, the dishes are more easily adapted to temperature changes. Cold dough is poured on a hot frying pan, therefore temperature adaptation should be good.

The handle of the crepe maker should be long and not heated, which will allow the cook to cook comfortably. But the round shape pancake pans is not an integral feature. If you buy a square crepe maker, you can bake pancakes, in which it is very convenient to wrap the filling.

There are housewives who don’t give a frying pan, pancakes they always get successful, and in an hour they bake a whole mountain of flour pleasure. But not everyone can boast of such a culinary gift. Therefore, it is worthwhile to rely on a technically competent approach to baking pancakes: the right frying pan is half the success.

What is different pan for frying pancakes from the usual.

• It is not universal. You will not use it to make your morning scrambled eggs, hearty omelets, or crispy potatoes. The only thing for which it is needed is frying pancakes.

• It has low sides. In some models, the sides are so low that it seems there are almost none. If you have seen professional crepe makers, you can mark them with a perfectly smooth round surface, more like a turntable than a pan. The dough is rolled on the surface, it instantly seizes. To turn such pancake very easily.

• Comfortable handle. Be sure to pay attention to the handle when choosing a pan for pancakes. If it is short, fragile, shaky, you will not be comfortable working with such utensils. The handle should be well attached to the base, to be fairly light and little heated.

• Portionality. In stores you can see portioned crepe makers. These are pans, at the base of which there are round hollows intended to be filled with dough. In one pan there can be 4 such notches. Pancakes on such a pan turn out small, but perfectly smooth.

The choice of crepe makers today is very large: there are ceramic and marbled, aluminum and cast iron. To say which is better is objectively difficult - they need a detailed description.

The coating of this product is non-stick and should be ideally suited for baking pancakes. The main thing in this dish is that the pan allows you to bake without oil (or literally with a drop of oil). It is inexpensive dishes, sold everywhere.

But Teflon pans have a significant disadvantage - they require very careful handling. If you scratch the surface, there is a risk to significantly reduce the service life of the product. Teflon with deformation when heated can release toxic substances. But not only deformed Teflon is dangerous: if you heat a Teflon pan above 220 degrees, overheating is also fraught with a toxic reaction.

Cast iron and aluminum can be the basis of a frying pan, but they are covered with ceramics, which gives utensils the right to be called ceramic dishes. Since the quality of it wins over Teflon, the price of such utensils will be higher. A huge plus ceramic pancake maker is that it is not afraid of high temperatures. And it is also safe for human health - ceramics is ecological (as part of its only stone, water, sand), toxic emissions during overheating are excluded.

Before using the ceramic pan, wash it with water, wipe dry, put on the fire, pour a drop of oil. The coating is very soon fed with oil, and within a few minutes you will be able to fry pancakes in a new skillet.

Such pans today in a trend - a beautiful dusting, something resembling cosmic pictures, looks very modern.

Pluses like utensils:

• pancakes do not stick to it and do not burn;
• the coating composition is environmentally friendly;
• Toxins "stone" pan does not emit;
• high temperature dishes are not afraid.

But there were no drawbacks - the marble frying pan costs more than Teflon and ceramic. But the product with a marble coating, according to the assurances of the manufacturer, will last longer than its cheaper counterparts. She is not afraid of metal shovels and knives, which simplifies the handling of dishes. But still you shouldn’t arrange extreme checks for her: use silicone and wooden blades as the main tools for turning pancakes over.

Ideal for conservatives. Cast iron people began to use many centuries ago. This material is universal and time-tested. In terms of durability and strength, hardly anything can compare with it.

Cast iron does not have a special non-stick coating, but if you pour oil into it, the material itself becomes non-stick. The longer the cast-iron pan served, the tastier the pancakes are made on it - this is the kitchen paradox. But an ideal cast iron skillet can be called only with the condition that nothing more you do not fry on it. It absorbs smells well, and pancakes from other dishes cooked on cast iron will taste a little strange.

Scratch the iron coating you can not. Such a frying pan is durable, durable, well-cleaned and hardly deformed. Every second mistress of the house has a frying pan “from the mother or from the grandmother”. This dish is indeed often inherited. It is noteworthy that such utensils are relatively inexpensive.

Cast iron has two drawbacks: it is prone to rust (therefore, it is impossible to leave wet utensils) and heavy. If you have just bought a cast iron skillet, calcine salt on it until the latter turns dark. Salt takes the soot, as well as oily substances that are used in the production of cast iron cookware. Calcify with salt repeat several times. After that, you can start cooking pancakes.

Copper is a valuable metal that is also used in the manufacture of kitchen utensils. But you can buy such a pancake maker only if you are ready to part with a large amount for the sake of a beautiful purchase: copper pans are very expensive. Copper utensils warms well, keeps warm for a long time, looks beautiful in the interior of the kitchen.

Those who cooked pancakes on a copper pan, say that their taste is more elegant and subtle. Perhaps this is a placebo effect, but it is possible that the noble metal really affects the taste of food.

An interesting option for those who keep up with the times. Electroblinboxes are flat pans with grooves that allow you to quickly bake perfectly flat pancakes. On one such electric crepe maker is placed from 2 to 8 grooves. Pancakes, which are baked in this way, do not stick and do not stick.

The dough is spread over the frying surface using a special spatula. Most models have a function to select the heating temperature. It is noteworthy that more and more often manufacturers of such products produce electrolliners with removable surfaces: they can change the shape and size of pancakes, make them textural, with a pattern, etc.

This adaptation makes life easier for housewives, who have not only the first pancake, but all subsequent ones do not want to succeed. First you need to knead the dough (without deviating from the recipe), then you should turn on the submerged convex crepe maker into the electrical grid. The heat indicator will say in a couple of minutes that you can start baking. The pancake maker should be dipped directly into the container with the dough for literally 2-3 seconds (thicker for pancakes - for 5-6 seconds). A minute later, the first pancake can be removed from the surface.

If pancakes are needed rosy, turn the pancake over and hold for 10 seconds on the surface. You can only flip it over with silicone paddles. When everything is cooked, the pancake maker is disconnected from the mains, cooled and wiped with a damp cloth.

In their device such pans are somewhat reminiscent of a waffle iron. They, rather, resemble a small electric stove, rather than a frying pan. Two dips for dough help to make pancakes the same size, give them smooth edges.

The pancake makers with interchangeable surfaces are in great demand: so you decide to bake two large pancakes or six small ones. Children really like pancakes with a pattern - whether it is a simple smiley or a hare. You can bake and pancakes with an interesting texture.

There is no universal option: if you like pancakes with filling, you need a large frying pan, up to 30 cm in diameter. It is easy to put the stuffing in such pancakes and twist them into tubes or envelopes. If not all pancakes are stuffed, then a diameter of 20, 22, 24 cm is quite suitable for a frying pan. Very small pancake makers are bought by those who love miniature pancakes.

Square products for pancakes even scare some buyers - they do not fit in their head, as you can do not round pancakes. Yes, it is initially round, this is standard. But many, probably, noticed that it is very convenient to wrap the stuffing in the squares of pancakes. In this case, and produce square pans, which are also functional.

Figured crepe makers can not be called unclaimed. Cute kitchen utensils in the form of piglets, chamomile or droplets muzzles - a good option for a family with small children.

The main criteria for choosing a pancake pan are as follows.

• The bottom should be thick and smooth. If the pan is completely “thin”, it is unlikely that its highly controversial strength guarantees long use. Uniform warming and heat transfer is the merit of a thick and smooth bottom.
• Low bumpers. Turning pancakes in a frying pan with high sides is very difficult.
• Non heating handle. If you purchased the product with a removable handle, the material from which it is made may melt at high temperatures.
• Diameter. It may be less than 20 cm, then the pancakes will be compact. If you like huge pancakes, which will include any filling, buy a pan of 26-30 cm in diameter.

Often, the buyer does not delve into the characteristics of the purchased product: if you like the pan externally, like its price, then the purchase will be. And when in a couple of weeks the pancake maker fails, the buyer is outraged. It is important to know that the pan is ready to become a "resident" of your kitchen, how to handle it. If it is Teflon, you must provide the product with the most delicate care: if you deform such a coating, the pancakes will stick and burn.

After the mountain of rosy pancakes is on the table, some housewives rush to quickly put the pan in the sink and pour water on it. So you can not do. The pancake maker should cool down by itself, only after that it can be washed. But leaving the pan on the stove for a few hours is also not worth it.

Care for both the base and the handle. Wash utensils and wipe dry, and only in this form put it in place. Be sure to wash and wipe the blades that you use to turn the pancakes. Well, if for this there is a separate blade. Very often pans for cooking pancakes are sold complete with paddles.

If you bake pancakes for a wet bowl, cook the bowl in another skillet. Do not use crepe maker for cooking other dishes.

Having bought a new product for cooking pancakes, carefully read the instructions for it. Do not break it, wash and dry the pancake maker in a timely manner, then you will not have to go for the next pancake pan soon.

Tips for choosing a cast iron pan for pancakes, see the following video.