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OVER the holidays, I went to visit my brother-in-law, who wowed us with some exceptional American-style pancakes. Thick and fluffy, airy and nicely browned, they were a triumph, after which my children have never looked at my own pancakes the same way.

Usually, I mix up a batch of dry ingredients – flour, sugar, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda – and store until a pancake emergency arises. I then whisk in the wet ingredients: an egg, milk and some melted butter, and off to the pan we go. They taste good enough, but are flat compared with my brother-in-law’s big fat pillows. So I asked him his secret.

It turns out that much of my problem came down to my raising agent. Somewhat embarrassingly for someone who loves to bake, I realised I have never fully understood the difference between the ones I keep in my cupboard: baking powder, bicarbonate of soda (or baking soda) and cream of tartar.

Bicarb is made of sodium bicarbonate and is a pure raising agent. It is used in recipes that involve acidic ingredients (think lemon juice or buttermilk). When dissolved in a liquid, the bicarb reacts with acid to create sodium, water and carbon dioxide. When heated, CO₂ bubbles expand, causing the bake to rise.

Baking powder bypasses the need for an acid in the recipe by combining bicarb with powdered acid. When dissolved in a liquid, the acid and the bicarb react to form those essential CO₂ bubbles. As for cream of tartar, it is basically just a powdered acid and can be mixed with bicarb to make baking powder.

In my old recipe, the only acid is that in the baking powder, which explains the minimal rise. My brother-in-law found his recipe in a book called The Food Lab: Better cooking through science by J. Kenji López-Alt. Crucially, it uses buttermilk, which contains acidic bacteria. With more acid to react to the bicarb, you get more CO₂ and a better rise.

López-Alt points out that the bicarb also helps achieve the Maillard reaction, which produces aromatic compounds and a browning effect. This gives his pancakes more colour and flavour. Helpfully, he has carried out a rigorous test to find the right amount of bicarb to pull this off (see ingredients list).

Finally, if you really want a good rise to your batter, don’t just chuck in the eggs like I have been doing. Separate them and whisk the whites into stiff peaks. As you whisk, the proteins in the egg form new configurations, trapping air as they go. The yolks help the batter set during cooking. Whisk them up in another bowl with the wet ingredients before carefully folding in the whites. Then fold this mix into your dry ingredients.

Dollop onto a pan heated over a medium heat, and cook for 2 minutes on each side. Add your choice of toppings, and enjoy.