If you want moist, fluffy pancakes? Don't use butter.
In testing pancakes recipes for my “How to make Pancakes out of (almost) Anything” video, there was one pancake that had a moister and luxurious feel compared to the others. It was the one without butter or milk, which shocked me.
Being curious, I did some searching in Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat by Samin Nosrat and found that oil efficiently coats flour proteins and prevents strong gluten networks from forming. Since gluten development requires water the oil barrier provides a tender texture instead of a chewy one. Fewer gluten networks also mean more water in the batter leaving us with moister pancakes.
It’s the same reason why if you have ever had a really moist chocolate cake, the recipe almost certainly used oil as the fat source.
Wet Ingredients
(metric & imperial):
113 g plain yogurt + 113 g water (8 oz total / 226 g) - 2 parts LIQUID
2 large eggs (~113 g) - 1 part EGG
56 g vegetable oil - 1/2 part FAT
3 g vanilla (optional)
Dry Ingredients
(metric & imperial):
226 g all purpose flour - 2 parts FLOUR
30 g white sugar
12 g baking powder
5 g salt
1 g ground cinnamon - optional
1 g fresh ground nutmeg - optional
Method:
Combine and whisk the wet ingredients in a bowl until thoroughly combined.
In a separate bowl, combine the dry ingredients. Sift out any big clumps.
Combine the wet and dry ingredients together and stir until the batter is smooth and light, do not over mix it or the batter can become tough.
Adjust the batter, if you want it thinner, add a little more water.
Add any whole ingredients like nuts, chocolate, or fruit at this stage.
Cook the pancakes on an oiled griddle over medium heat.