Author Elena Ogarkova asked a question in the section Desserts, Sweets, Baking

ARE pancakes BAKED or FRIED?! and got the best answer

Answer from Natalya Troshina[guru]
– Why is it customary to say “bake pancakes”, although in reality pancakes are not baked, but fried? It may have been a long time ago, when there were no gas or electric stoves, pancakes were baked in the oven. And now no one is doing this. I’m just curious as a housewife...
– The stable phrase “bake pancakes” has actually long ago lost its literal meaning and is used simply out of habit. However, in the old days they actually baked pancakes. In the ovens where the pancakes were cooked, the dough poured heat from all sides, and there was no need to turn the pancakes, as modern housewives do. In addition, cooking pancakes in the oven gave them more aroma and taste. These pancakes turned out fluffy and full of holes. Due to the fact that pancakes were cooked in ovens, the word “oven” is still used instead of the word “fry” in relation to pancakes, experts explain on the reference site “Why. RU".

Answer from Maryana[newbie]
fry

Answer from VirtulSheremetyev[master]
Bake

Answer from AdMIR[active]
bake)

Answer from Anton Ivanov[newbie]
fried!

Answer from Andrey RU[guru]
everyone decides for themselves individually - democracy

Answer from Starik[guru]
Unleavened ones are fried and yeasted ones are baked.

Answer from I'm Yana[guru]
They wrap them...with tea))

Answer from Mad Monkey[guru]
if they bake in an oven. If it's in a frying pan, then it's fried.))

Answer from Inna[guru]
What's the difference? Whether you fry it or bake it (if you want, you can even boil it - just kidding) - the main thing is that it tastes good!

Answer from Yashid Gabbasov[guru]
Pancakes are made from yeast dough and are quite thick and are baked. Lenten pancakes are fried. They are thin.

Answer from Yotrekosa[guru]
On this holiday, Sunday,
I bake pancakes for a treat,
I'm waiting for you to visit today,
Ask for forgiveness for everything.

If you think that such a delicious flour dish as pancakes is the property of only Russian cooking, you are mistaken! English pancakes, Ethiopian injera, French crisps, East Slavic palanchinki, Indian dosa, German pfannkuchen, Mexican tortillas and many others are all national types of pancakes.

We will not understand the nuances of other languages, but will try to figure out how to speak Russian correctly: bake pancakes or fry. In order to understand why we fry them, but say we bake them, let’s take a short trip to ancient times.

And what is it?

You will be surprised, but it is quite difficult to explain to a person who has never seen pancakes what they are. According to encyclopedias, “pancakes are a culinary product prepared from liquid dough poured onto a hot round frying pan.” Let us add on our own that modern pancakes can be of very different shapes and thicknesses: from thin lacy ones to “solid” and thick ones. In addition, this is a fairly economical dish, for the preparation of which a minimum of flour and a maximum of liquid - milk or water - are used.

There are a huge number of pancake recipes: lean and rich, yeast and custard, buckwheat and millet, rice and oatmeal, with fillings and sauces. In addition, modern chefs use them to create pies and cakes.

When did pancakes appear?

Scientists are still debating where and when pancakes appeared. Some researchers consider their homeland to be China, while others insist that they appeared in Egypt. Archaeological excavations have shown that the very first pancakes were baked over an open fire in small or hot stones. Five thousand years ago, the Egyptians did not think about whether to bake pancakes or fry them, since they could only bake flat cakes in ovens, prototypes of pancakes, mixed with sour milk. The ancient Greeks enjoyed making tagenitas, as they called pancakes, from sour milk, wheat flour, honey and olive oil. Mentions of this dish have been preserved in poetic works dating back to the 5th century BC. e.

Slavic history of pancakes

Understanding whether to bake pancakes or fry pancakes, let's turn to pagan times. Some Russian historians believe that it was in the 1000s AD that pancakes appeared in Rus'. There is such a version of their origin: the hostess while warming up got distracted and forgot about him. The excess liquid evaporated, the jelly browned - and that’s how the first pancake accidentally turned out.

Until the adoption of Christianity, pancakes were baked all year round, and they were sacrificial bread brought as a gift to the Slavic gods, as well as a ritual funeral dish.

How did the name come about?

It doesn’t matter whether you are going to bake pancakes or fry, you will knead the dough from different products, but always with flour. According to a famous researcher of gastronomic history and cooking, the word “pancake” itself comes from the distorted “mlin” or “melin”, which meant to grind. That is, a pancake is a dish made from ground flour.

Despite the huge variety of national recipes and the fact that in different countries whether pancakes are fried or baked, the classic yeast sponge pancake described by Pushkin and Chekhov is a national Russian treasure.

Why were they baked?

To answer this question, let us remember that only at the very beginning of the 20th century was the industrial production of gas stoves established and centralized gas supply began. In 1925, there were only 10,000 gas stoves in St. Petersburg. In other houses they cooked in a Russian oven or on wood or coal stoves. That is why the question “bake pancakes or fry - which is correct” did not arise. You could bake in a Russian oven, but not fry.

Old Russian "pizza"

Indeed, this can be called traditional Russian. What is it? These are pancakes baked with some filling, for example, fried mushrooms, fish fillet or chopped boiled eggs. They are prepared as follows:

• pour a thin layer of pancake dough onto a cast iron frying pan;
• As soon as the pancake is browned, the prepared filling is placed on top of it - baked;
• Carefully turn the pancake over with the filling.

If you are still thinking about whether pancakes need to be baked or fried, we offer you another option for preparing pancakes with baked goods: in a heated frying pan, brown the first pancake, on which they spread the filling - “bake”, and then fill everything with dough. The bake is thus located between two pancakes. To prevent the bottom layer from burning, such pancakes are baked in an oven or oven at a lower temperature than usual.

Pancake pan

When trying to figure out whether pancakes are fried or baked, as it should be said correctly, it is worth remembering the item without which it is impossible to prepare this dish - a pancake frying pan. The fact is that until the twenties of the last century, a frying pan for baking pancakes was more a symbol of the wealth and success of the family than a kitchen utensil. It was the one that was bought first by wealthy peasants and townsfolk when they began to collect a dowry for their daughter. A special place was reserved for the pancake frying pan in the kitchen and it was used only for preparing one dish - pancakes. If for some reason something else was cooked on it, then the frying pan was considered spoiled and was simply thrown away.

Can you fry them?

Today, when choosing between baking pancakes or frying them, most of us will choose the latter. Indeed, baking this dish in the oven will require more effort and time, which is always in short supply. Frying pancakes on the stove is faster and easier, but even for this you need a frying pan, even if not cast iron, but a high-quality aluminum pan with pancake batter, butter or vegetable oil for greasing and a spatula for turning. Some will argue that pancakes can be turned over simply by tossing them out of the pan.

Yes, you can, if you have rehearsed this trick for a long time and persistently or graduated from a circus school with a degree in juggler. So, the sequence of actions so that the first, and all subsequent pancakes do not come out lumpy:

Pancakes are fried or baked - which is correct?

If you answer this question from the point of view of a historian or linguist, then, of course, they bake pancakes. After all, the expression “bake pancakes” appeared in those days when they could only be baked in a wood-burning oven. So it’s correct to say exactly that.

But on the other hand, any technologist will say that pancakes are fried, since the cooking process involves direct contact heating using hydrocarbon lubricants.

Thus, in essence, we fry pancakes, but in words we bake them. But it’s probably not very important whether to bake pancakes or fry them. How to talk about this process correctly is a secondary matter, the most important thing is that they are tasty!

Why do they say this?

Cooking pancakes came to us from ancient times, and Rus' is not their homeland. Even in Ancient Egypt, these pancakes, or rather flat cakes, served to butter the gods, and in particular, they were intended for Perun.

And so, during the times of paganism, Rus' was engulfed in blinopicking. On March days, when everyone was welcoming spring, pancakes were one of the main dishes. They were treated to everyone, they were guests with pancakes, and pancakes with yeast were considered the most authentic. They were obligatory on Maslenitsa, although on ordinary days you could bake from any dough.

So how did you bake the pancakes?

• It’s very simple - they were baked in the oven, the heat covered such a pancake from all sides, so there was no need to turn it over.

This is when they take the filling for baking, but they don’t just wrap it in a pancake, but put it in a frying pan and fill it with pancake batter. It turned out something like modern pizza.

And the fillings for the pancakes were delicious and varied - fish, ham, eggs with green onions, mushrooms, and many others.

• The pancake frying pan occupied a special place in Russian cuisine; it was the first thing that was given as a dowry to a girl. It was impossible to cook anything on it except pancakes, and if this suddenly happened, then such a frying pan was simply thrown away.