In our family, I am the Saturday morning pancake king, using my own buttermilk pancake recipe with whipped egg whites and a touch of semolina. I am also a fan of Marion Cunningham’s super-light Zeppelin Pancakes, but the final frontier was always ricotta pancakes and so I began the search with a bit of history.

Cheese pancakes, fried in olive oil or butter, go back to ancient Jewish cooking and made it to Rome and much of Europe after the expulsion of Jews from Spain. Over time, ricotta was replaced with potatoes (hence latkes) but ricotta pancakes remain—even Lidia Bastianich has a recipe for Fluffy Ricotta Pancakes. I had two goals: a high-rise pancake with custardy interiors as opposed to the thin, one-texture IHOP pancake.

Some of the basics were carryovers from my standard recipe: whipped egg whites plus baking powder plus semolina flour. I have found semolina (just two tablespoons here) to be a magic pancake, waffle, and French toast ingredient—it delivers a custardy interior with a firm, often crispy, exterior. Milk and a full cup of ricotta substitute for buttermilk, and I suggest cooking pancakes with round silicone molds for extra height.

As a pancake veteran, here is some good advice. Preheat the skillet on low heat for at least 5 minutes. You want even, steady heat; otherwise the pancakes will not cook evenly or, worse, burn on the outside before the interior is cooked through. (My older kids prefer half-cooked pancakes the way I like my scrambled eggs—barely set inside.) And resist the urge to flip the pancakes until bubbles appear on the top (although you can peek underneath). A “fish” spatula with a razor-thin leading edge is my tool of choice.

Ricotta pancakes? Yes, please. And avoid Fancy Grade A syrup—go for the dark stuff—and always use room-temperature salted butter to punch up the flavor.

Chris Kimball

Christopher Kimball is founder of Milk Street, which produces Milk Street Magazine, Milk Street Television on PBS, and the weekly public radio show Milk Street Radio. He founded Cook’s Magazine in 1980 and was host and executive producer of America’s Test Kitchen until 2016. Kimball is the author of several books, including "The Yellow Farmhouse" and "Fannie’s Last Supper."