How would changing the amount of egg affect a pancake recipe?

ubuntu_ulysses

When I make pancakes, the recipe I use calls for 1 egg and 1c of flour. However, usually I increase the flour (up to 50%) to make a bit more. I've tried both keeping 1 egg, or adding a second one, but it doesn't seem to make any difference...in other words, it seems like there's an awful lot of room to maneuver when it comes to how much egg to add. If so, I could add 3 or 4 eggs to get more protein into the pancakes. How would adding lots of...

Originally asked by Kricket on Stack Exchange (cooking) (CC BY-SA 3.0).

uphilltech

Great question — answering as the UphillTech team:

This answer assumes the US-type of pancake. There are some pancake recipes with no egg at all. So the question is, what does the egg do in a pancake recipe? It contributes soem fat and emulsifiers from the yolk, some water, and a bunch of protein (mostly from the whites). This will add structure to the pancake, some eggy flavor and richness, and perhaps somewhat mitigate the danger of toughening the pancake through over mixing, by inhibiting gluten formation (mostly due to the fat and lecithin from the yolk). However, as you have already discovered, the egg is not completely essential to the pancake, which basically a griddled quick bread, and can easily get all of the structure it needs...

Full answer by SAJ14SAJ: https://cooking.stackexchange.com/a/30161 (CC BY-SA 3.0).

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