Can I Save My Leftover Pancake Batter?

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Can You Save Leftover Pancake Batter?

If you’re like me, you’re not very good at guessing how much pancake batter you’re going to need for the crew. So, you’re likely to have leftover batter.

What do you do with your leftover batter?

You can save your leftover pancake batter in the refrigerator and use it the next morning. But most of the bubbles that made your pancakes light will be gone. Instead of being light and fluffy, your pancakes will be flat.

You can fix that. Stir in a little baking powder. Add about one teaspoon of baking powder for every 1 ½ cups of leftover pancake batter. Your pancakes should be as fluffy as they were the day before.

Baking powder contains both an acid and a base. When the two are mixed with water, it causes a chemical reaction and carbon dioxide bubbles. Those bubbles make your pancakes light and airy. But they dissipate if the batter sits overnight.

Most baking powder is “double-acting.” Besides the initial chemical reaction, the baking powder creates bubbles when heated. This will give your pancakes a little rise but not enough to make your pancakes light and fluffy. Hence the need to add the baking powder the next morning.

What’s the Difference Between Baking Powder and Baking Soda in Pancake Batter?

Baking soda is a base that must be mixed with an acid to create a chemical reaction. The buttermilk in buttermilk pancakes provides that acid. When the baking soda comes in contact with the buttermilk, it bubbles. That is an instant reaction so by morning, the bubbles are gone.

If the amount of soda is balanced with the buttermilk, there is no more acid, and adding more soda will do no good.

Furthermore, there is a change in flavor when baking soda reacts with buttermilk. Buttermilk, on its own, has a sour, acidic taste. But the reaction neutralizes the acid and the sour taste is gone. Once neutralized, the buttermilk provides a sweet, mellow flavor.

If all the buttermilk is neutralized, there is no acid to react with the base in the soda and thus no bubbles. But you’ll be able to taste the baking soda in your pancakes and that is unpleasant.

If there is buttermilk remaining in your batter, you will get a chemical reaction when you add soda. But the taste changes. It will no longer have the sour taste that the recipe designer intended.

Baking powder avoids both those problems.

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Another Option: Save Extra Pancakes Instead

My daughter, Debbie, when she had two girls still in school, made more pancakes than what she needed for breakfast.

She stored the extra pancakes in a pancake and tortilla keeper in the refrigerator. When the kids got home from school, she heated them with the syrup in the microwave. That was their after-school snack.

Their favorite? Mayan Chocolate Pancakes with chocolate chips and coconut syrup. (Yes, it’s easier than making a batch of cookies.)

If you do this, plan to use up the leftover pancakes within three or four days.

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Raspberry Sour Cream Pancake Recipe

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
2/3 cup sour cream
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon raspberry flavor
1/2 teaspoon lemon flavor
2/3 cup Raspberry Tidbits Baking Chips

Instructions

Whisk the flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt together.
In another bowl, whisk the eggs, sour cream, milk, and flavors together.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. Add the raspberry tidbits. Stir only until combined. Some lumps will remain.
Cook as for other pancakes, a couple minutes on each side on a hot griddle. Serve hot.