Leave the Pancake Dough Lumpy
If your goal is not to make crepe, a flat pancake will be sad. The perfect pancake is tall and fluffy, and the secret to getting it up to a great height is to do less. (By “do less” I mean “don’t mix so much.”)
This is not entirely a secret. Every pancake recipe or box of mixture contains vague instructions “don’t stir too much,” but beyond that, no help is offered. Luckily, Cook’s Illustrated has posted this handy drawing actually showing what your dough should look like before it’s in the pan.
As you can see, you want the dough to be moist, without huge dry spots, but without breaking any lumps or bumps. The coarser consistency helps the batter trap the gases released during sourdough, allowing the pancakes to rise to the proper height. I tried this last Saturday and can confirm that while it goes against some of my neurotic motives, it definitely resulted in better, fluffier pancakes, which in turn resulted in a better Saturday.
Leave the pancake dough lumpy | Cook’s Illustrated Instagram