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I want to bake pancakes in glass bowl in microwave, some kind of thick pancakes, but want to do it faster.

Instead of making one pancake at a time it would be faster to bake them all at once stacked together like one layer-pie. May be paper for baking, but not sure if it's not going to stick. May be something edible as a separator (widely available preferably)? Not sure about foil, because it's microwave, but probably would be ok, because it's going to be discharged by dough.

The process would be such: I spill the dough layer by layer into a glass bowl, separating it with something, cover with lid and put into microwave.

R S
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    I don't understand what problem you want to fix. "but probably would be ok, because it's going to be discharged by dough." I don't know what you mean by that. – Max Feb 23 '20 at 23:40
  • @Max bob1 got it: it's about electric arcs. – R S Feb 24 '20 at 00:17
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    Can you clarify what you mean by 'bake one thick pie as I usually do' especially with regard to pancakes? Pancakes are made in pans on a stove, pies are bakes in ovens so where does a microwave come in and what exactly is it you are trying to make? You can't layer up raw pancake batter because you can't float a bunch of sheets within a column of viscous liquid, the batter will all flow out of the sides in an unholy mess. – Spagirl Feb 24 '20 at 10:47
  • @Spagirl "bake one thick pie" - if pancakes would be stacked on each other, it would be 14 pancakes at a time. – R S Feb 25 '20 at 23:28
  • @RS that’s a stack of pancakes, where does pie come into it? Can you please edit the question to fully explain both your existing and proposed processes? – Spagirl Feb 25 '20 at 23:59
  • @Spagirl, done (I meant to bake them stacked like a layer-pie). – R S Feb 26 '20 at 02:33
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    Are you actually talking about making them yourself from liquid batter, or ready-made ones from the supermarket? You are really not explaining yourself very well. They'd have to be ready-made to be able to stack them, otherwise you'd need to make them in a bowl, in one solid, unappealing, block. – Tetsujin Feb 26 '20 at 07:25
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    @RS I really would like to help but cannot as I do not understand what the heck you are proposing. Please describe *what you currently do* including your recipe and cooking method being clear what the final product is. Then describe what you propose to do instead. – Spagirl Feb 26 '20 at 09:03
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    'bake them'? 'microwave'? I think there might be more important issues to address than efficiency of stacking. – OJFord Feb 26 '20 at 17:14
  • @Spagirl how does it look now? – R S Feb 26 '20 at 22:56
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    @RS but you still haven’t really explained what it is you are trying to replicate. You know, you could just say ‘I make this thing with pancakes’ and describe it. For starters, what kind of pancakes? British style, American, crepes? How thick is your batter? Etc. – Spagirl Feb 26 '20 at 23:05

3 Answers3

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Honestly, this sounds like a revolting idea at best - microwave pancakes - anyway, assuming you are determined to persevere...

Foil wouldn't work at all, ignoring the arcing problem. Foil is microwave impermeable, so it would just stay cold in the middle & burn on the outside.

I can't imagine the texture of microwaving pancake batter at a 'cake' thickness. I'm sure the outside is going to be like a car tyre by the time the inside is done, but really there's no way you are going to separate it into layers - it's simply far too runny. It would run round the edges of anything except rubber-sealed separators [which as far as I'm aware don't exist in a cooking context] & would soak into greaseproof sufficiently to still be a solid block by the end… but one with paper embedded in it at semi-regular intervals..

If you are still determined to do this in one block, then I'd do it in a rectangular container, and slice it like a loaf.

A late thought: Doing it in a single deep container, best be sure to put a lid on it. Heating a liquid which will turn to a solid in the microwave will generate hot-spots that will periodically go splut & redecorate the inside of the oven. If you get really unlucky & try to stir it every so often to redistribute the heat, Murphy's Law states that the first 'splut' will go up your arm ;)

Later thought: Buy ready-made pancakes from the supermarket. They will microwave just fine & already have a nice, pan-cooked look & feel to them. Not as good as making them yourself, but have got to be better than a solid block of unevenly nuked batter.

Tetsujin
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  • +1 for the "loaf" suggestion - as this method won't yield any crust, I don't see what advantage there would be to complicated pre-separation. Best handle it like a microwave cake, and, if then slice it the way layer cakes are sliced. Will save a lot of fiddling, and shouldn't have any negative effect on taste. – rumtscho Feb 24 '20 at 10:39
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No, it won't be faster and it won't be easy - the middle layers will still be liquid, when the outer layers are set. You would also have to find something that could act as a layering - baking paper may work, but you would run into the problem of having overflow and bits squishing out of the edges, resulting in a single cake with semi-separate layers with paper baked into the inside.

With regards to arcing discharge in the microwave, arcing occurs on sharp edges. If you used foil, to get sufficient layering you would have some sharp edges poking out of the batter all around the "cake", these would arc and potentially burn the cake in a localized manner. It doesn't sound like a good idea to me.

bob1
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  • Thanks, though disagree about "won't be faster". It takes 18 minutes for the whole pie/cake. – R S Feb 24 '20 at 00:19
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    @RS and how long will it take you to prepare the interleaving paper, cut it to size, grease it and do the layering when peel it all apart and restack them once cooked? if you want to half the time making pancakes get two pans. – Spagirl Feb 24 '20 at 10:44
  • @Spagirl you right about paper, but it would be much more than 2, it would be 14 pancakes at a time. – R S Feb 25 '20 at 23:19
  • @RS this is one of the most unusual things I have heard anybody try in the kitchen. If you go for it, it would be very interesting to hear how it went. – rumtscho Feb 28 '20 at 15:46
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The main downside not mentioned in other answers: If you do find an appropriate separator material (e.g. silicone sheets cut to size), you are going to have a significant difference in pancake thickness.

The bottom batter layers will spread much more than higher ones, due to the weight of the above layers pressing down -- while cooked pancakes have enough rigidity in structure to support a stack, your batter does not.

Erica
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  • But batter not going to go anywhere if there walls. It's all could be be in a glass bowl. – R S Mar 03 '20 at 12:35