How perfect pancakes are helping prevent blindness - CNET

While studying how the water escapes from the pancakes can help make better pancakes (a noble goal in its own right), it can also help understand how flexible sheets, such as the human retina, interact with fluids and vapours, such as those that occur in glaucoma.

For their delicious research, the team used 14 different recipes for pancakes from around the globe, analysing the pancake's aspect ratio, or its diameter to the power of three in relation to the volume of batter, and the baker's percentage, or ratio of liquid to flour in the batter.

For all pancakes, the team used the same pan and the same heat and no oil or fat to grease the pan. The amount of egg and flour remained constant, but the amount of milk varied between pancakes. The lowest aspect ratio of around 3 was found in thick pancakes, such as Dutch poffertjes, while thin French crepes had the highest at around 300. The lowest baker's percentage was 100, equal amounts of flour and liquid, while the highest was 200-225, a thinner batter with much more liquid.

The team found that thicker batters at 100-120 tended to trap the water vapours, causing irregular craters on the bottom of the pancake. This causes islands to form on the top of the pancake, since the thickness is no longer uniform due to the trapped vapour.

Medium batters with a baker's percentage of 175 release vapour smoothly from undeeath as they cook, creating an even colour and texture.

The higher baker's percentage pancakes at 200-225 wicked the vapour away smoothly as well, but the bottom of the pancake was speckled with dark spots, while the top surface was evenly coloured, but filled with tiny channels where the vapour had escaped.

Generally, the team found that if the pancake batter spread more smoothly and easily in the pan, it would result in a more even pancake, to a point. The really thin batter needs to be spread physically across the pan, like making crepes.