I disagree with the person stating it requires gluten for the rise (in part). I have successfully created a beautiful German pancake replacing 1/2 c white flour with a gluten free mix of 50g fine almond flour and 40g tapioca starch. This, mixed with 3 ex large or jumbo eggs, 1/2 c milk, 1/4 tsp salt, cooked in 2-4 Tbsp butter in A rectangular 9x7 pan at 425 for 18-20 produces a beautiful product.
German pancakes rise for two reasons. First, the proteins in egss, and second protein in flour. If you do not beat your flour mixture to create gluten your pancake will not rise. No matter what you add or subtract it will not rise without gluten. The more gluten the puffier and higher it will rise. Thus beat the flour in with the egss before adding milk or sny liquid. Adding liquid hinders the ability for flour to produce gluten. It needs to be added last.
jelly...after seeing your recipe, the only thing i can think of is how you add the eggs. from what it looks like above.... you crack your eggs into the flour and first mix this way. both my recipe and amandas specifically call for the eggs to be lightly pre-beaten before mixed with any of the other ingredients. not sure if your recipe has this.
its also possible that the batter gets a little overmixed before it gets to the pan... and so any air bubbles you did have were popped when whisking it together. as amanda's recipe suggests... its almost better for the pancake if there are some lumpsin the batter before it goes into the pan.
apart from these two things... everything else looks good.
By German pancakes do you mean the kind cooked in a skillet in the oven? If so, could be that your oven wasn't fully heated or your pan wasn't greased well enough. Can you send a link to your recipe?
Yes, skillet or round cake pan German pancake. Melt 1/4 c butter in skillet or pan in oven at 425. Mix 2 eggs, 1/2 c flour until almost smooth, then add 1/2 c milk and blend well. Pour into hot butter skillet and bake 15-20 minutes until risen and golden brown. Top with yogurt, strawberries or just syrup and powdered sugar.
jelly, there are a couple things that could be causing your pancakes not to rise.
#1 - type of flour used. its necessary to use white flour...whole wheat flour doesn't produce a fluffy pancake in the same way.
#2 actual eggs. while it is common to use eggbeaters or egg-replacers when cooking now, the rising is dependent on the chemistry of a whole egg...so there is not any way to get out of this one. lightly beating the eggs adds air...and you'd notice a much different pancake from eggs that didn't get some air beaten into them.
#3 the pan and the fat. for some reason, not all pans allow the egg to rise the same way. Amanda swears by the iron skillet, where as i prefer a round cake pan. However, when I make it, i stick the pan and the butter in the oven while it preheats so it melts and warms the pan. make sure the pan you cook in in is hot first. Then, when I take it out to put the batter in it , i make sure the butter coats a little of the wall of the pan. my logic is that if i was making a soufflé, if i don't butter/sugar the sides of the pan, the soufflé will stick to it and not rise properly....and maybe that also helps the pancake not stick to the sides so it can rise up.
anyway, i hope this helps. i have amanda's recipe down below if you want to check it against yours to see if anything is any different. she has much more experience in this department than me, so hopefully she sees this and can think of something i forgot. best of luck with your future pancakes!
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its also possible that the batter gets a little overmixed before it gets to the pan... and so any air bubbles you did have were popped when whisking it together. as amanda's recipe suggests... its almost better for the pancake if there are some lumpsin the batter before it goes into the pan.
apart from these two things... everything else looks good.
#1 - type of flour used. its necessary to use white flour...whole wheat flour doesn't produce a fluffy pancake in the same way.
#2 actual eggs. while it is common to use eggbeaters or egg-replacers when cooking now, the rising is dependent on the chemistry of a whole egg...so there is not any way to get out of this one. lightly beating the eggs adds air...and you'd notice a much different pancake from eggs that didn't get some air beaten into them.
#3 the pan and the fat. for some reason, not all pans allow the egg to rise the same way. Amanda swears by the iron skillet, where as i prefer a round cake pan. However, when I make it, i stick the pan and the butter in the oven while it preheats so it melts and warms the pan. make sure the pan you cook in in is hot first. Then, when I take it out to put the batter in it , i make sure the butter coats a little of the wall of the pan. my logic is that if i was making a soufflé, if i don't butter/sugar the sides of the pan, the soufflé will stick to it and not rise properly....and maybe that also helps the pancake not stick to the sides so it can rise up.
anyway, i hope this helps. i have amanda's recipe down below if you want to check it against yours to see if anything is any different. she has much more experience in this department than me, so hopefully she sees this and can think of something i forgot. best of luck with your future pancakes!
http://www.food52.com/recipes/7645_david_eyres_pancake