A few weeks ago I was researching the KitchenAid stand mixer and I came across a blog post by someone that I thought was not the best advice. The post was all about making pancakes with your mixer (or any stand mixer really). Now the recipe was probably pretty good but the process is what was flawed in my opinion.

If you like to have gummy or chewy pancakes, then by all means, go ahead and use an electric mixer. But I really like to have soft and fluffy pancakes that really soak up the syrup. So, for me having dense lifeless pancakes is not the way to start my morning.

For me pancakes need to be handled with care and attention. The reason is gluten. Now for a bit of food science. Gluten is a protein, actually it is a composition of 2 proteins named gliadin and glutenin. When water is added to wheat flour and then mechanically mixed, gluten forms. And it is this wonderful gluten that gives bread dough and pasta their chewy and elastic characteristics. But since the gluten content is increased by mechanical mixing or kneading, it is not something we ever want to do if we desire to have light and fluffy pancakes.

So if you want your breakfast pancakes to be light and airy consider unplugging that mixer and instead follow this 'manual' process.

To start, take your favorite recipe for pancakes. But this time, be careful at the stage when you mix the wet ingredients with the dry. Make sure to use separate bowls for the wet and dry ingredients.

Like all good recipes, preparation helps the recipe turn out better. For pancakes, make sure you have a hot pan or electric griddle ready for cooking before you mix the wet and dry together. I use a pan on the stove and if I had one I would use an electric griddle. They control the heat better and you can cook a lot more pancakes at one time. You can also wrap your cooked pancakes in a towl and place them in a 200 degree oven while you cook the rest and serve them.

With your cooking appliance hot and ready to go it is safe to make the batter. I prefer what is affectionately called the dump and stir method. The idea is to mix the wet and dry ingredients in about 12 seconds or less. So take the wet and dump them on top of the dry. Mix with a large spatula for a count of 12 and then immediately stop. Sometimes the batter does not get completely incorporated but that is ok because the cooking process will smooth things out.

Next, place some batter on the griddle or in the frying pan and wait. You want to see the bubbles forming all around the outside of the pancake. That is the sign of a flapjack that is ready to be flipped. If the heat is high enough the bottom will be nice and brown. If it is too low it will be pale in color and conversely if it is too hot the bottom will be very dark. So as gently as possible flip the flapjack and continue cooking the opposite side. Normally the second side will cook in half the time as the first.

Now please promise me you will use real maple syrup on your pancakes. The taste is 100 times better than the corn syrup gunk you find on your store shelves. The cost is a bit more but a large bottle will last a long time (unless you eat pancakes every weekend). You just made some great pancakes so you really should treat them to the best topping too.

This is my secret to making the most fluffy and light pancakes you can at home. So remember to leave your KitchenAid mixer for the really tough jobs like kneading bread and you will be fine.

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Marcy Givens is a baking enthusiast who decided to learn how to bake by watching shows and reading books about cooking. She has learned some important lessons and secrets for selecting ideal KitchenAid stand mixers which she encourages you to read.