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German Pancakes

A light, fluffy pancake made with flour, eggs, milk, baking powder, salt, and fried in butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

German Pancakes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the batter

  1. Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt.

  2. In a bowl, beat the eggs and milk together.

  3. Combine the wet and dry ingredients until well mixed, but do not make it too thin.

Fry

  1. Heat a small frying pan and add butter.

  2. Pour batter into the pan and fry until golden brown on both sides.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  2. Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Flour + milktop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Flour
Provides the structure that holds the pancake together as it sets.
Eggs
Bind the batter and help it set firm while adding richness and structure.
Baking powder
Releases gas in the batter, giving the pancakes lift and a lighter texture.
Milk
Hydrates the flour and loosens the batter to a pourable consistency.
Butter
Fat in the pan that promotes browning and adds flavor to the pancake surface.

The step that matters

Keep the batter from getting too thin. Thin batter spreads too far and cooks flat and tender rather than holding its shape. Flour that is well mixed but not overworked keeps the batter thick enough to set, while still letting the pancake brown evenly.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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