Batter Up

Nearly every culture on earth has some kind of pancake (think crepes, blini, and latkes; we feature a recipe for Italian crespelle

here), and the dish appears to date back to the ancient Roman epicure Apicius, who included a pancake recipe in one of his cookbooks. The dish's ubiquity may be because it's so easy to make: The critical ingredients are flour and eggs. But sometimes the simplest dishes can be the trickiest to execute, and pancakes are no exception. Follow our tips for making the fluffiest hassle-free pancakes-whether for breakfast, a savory lunch or dinner, or a decadent dessert.

Use the best ingredients

With a recipe as basic as pancakes, your success depends on the quality of the components. For

banana buttermilk pancakes, use a blend of organic white flour and whole grain (like whole wheat, buckwheat, or flax). For a savory pancake like

wheat berry, choose whole grain flour for its rich taste and sturdy consistency. Fresh organic free-range eggs supply critical flavor and lightness, and if you're using milk, buttermilk, or yogurt, organic is the better choice.

Heat your skillet Use a nonstick skillet (or a stove-top griddle, which fits over the front and back burners, allowing you the room to cook more cakes at a time). Before you begin mixing your dry ingredients, heat the skillet to medium and allow it to warm up while you prepare your batter. Many a good pancake has lost its life because the cook failed to heat the skillet properly: Too cool and your first batch will remain a gloppy mess; too hot and the bottoms will scorch before the middles are cooked through. Drizzle some drops of water onto the skillet-if the drops dance along the surface and evaporate, you can begin cooking.

Mix your batter

Combine your dry ingredients, then your wet ingredients, and keep them separate until you're ready to cook. Always use a wire (or plastic) whisk to lightly stir your batter, and stop stirring as soon as the ingredients are combined-too much stirring causes the flour's glutens to overdevelop, which leads to tough, chewy pancakes. (Batter can be refrigerated for up to two days, and dry ingredients can be premixed and kept in a well-sealed container in your pantry for future use.)

Watch for bubbles

The only time-consuming (and occasionally nerve-racking) part of the pancake process is the actual cooking. Pour your batter onto the heated nonstick skillet (the typical pancake is about a quarter cup of batter, but you can experiment with sizes from "silver dollar" to full-pan favorites like French crepes and Korean

pa jun), then watch for bubbles to form in the center of the cooking cakes-that's your signal to flip. The flipped side will always cook faster than the top side, so check to make sure you don't overbrown. Experienced cooks will tell you there's nothing like a freshly cooked pancake plopped right on a plate, but if you're cooking for a group, you can serve perfectly good cakes that have been kept warm in a 200°F toaster oven for up to 20 minutes.

Accessorize

The pancake, while wonderful by itself, is a prime candidate for accessories. If your preferred topping is maple syrup, choose Grade B maple syrup, which is made from sap tapped in late spring and offers a more robust flavor than Grade A. (Avoid packaged "pancake syrups," which are mostly high-fructose corn syrup.) Other prized toppings include organic wild honey and fruit compote (a gently heated blend of fresh chopped fruit and sugar). Brands like Brown Family Farms in Brattleboro, Vt., have inspired blends of fruit and syrup: Their new mapleblueberry, -apple, and -cranberry "dollops" are delicious (

brownfamilyfarmmaple.com). The best way to cut sugar and extra calories from your stack is to forgo the sweet syrups and use fresh fruit and nuts instead. (For a list of the healthiest pancake toppings and batter addins, see "

Pancake Extras".)

Butter them up

When you serve pancakes at home, set a dish of warm butter on the table just before eating.