♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ -Today on "America's Test Kitchen," Alex makes Julia biscuit breakfast sandwiches, Lan shares techniques to make perfectly brown pancakes, and Aran makes Bridget spiced pear, buckwheat, and almond pancakes.

It's all coming up right here on "America's Test Kitchen."

"America's Test Kitchen" is brought to you by the following.

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Plugrà -- from professional kitchens to your home.

-On an American Cruise Lines journey, you can explore the Columbia and Snake Rivers.

Our boats journey through the breathtaking Pacific Northwest, where towering cliffs and cascading waterfalls line your path.

You'll follow Lewis and Clark's trail and explore historic towns, all from a modern American riverboat, where you can experience local customs and cuisine.

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♪♪ -Breakfast sandwiches are a choice option for people on the go, and they can be very easy to make at home if you have a good recipe, which is why Alex is here.

-I love a good breakfast sandwich, but sometimes it can be clunky and messy.

-Mm-hmm.

-We're going to use a biscuit recipe for our buns that is specifically designed for these sandwiches.

-Oh, so they don't fall apart as you eat?

-Exactly.

It really focuses on the structure without compromising on any texture or flavor.

-Oh, great.

-So here in the bowl I have 1 2/3 cup of all-purpose flour.

And to that I'm going to add 1 1/2 teaspoons of sugar, 1 1/4 teaspoon of baking powder.

-Mm-hmm.

-1/4 teaspoon of baking soda, and 1 teaspoon of table salt.

We're gonna whisk these all together just to make sure all those ingredients are evenly distributed.

Now let's move on to our wet ingredients.

So I have 1 cup of buttermilk that's chilled right out of the fridge.

And I have 5 tablespoons of melted butter that's been cooled slightly, unsalted.

We're going to add our melted butter into our cold buttermilk here.

-Mm-hmm.

-I'm going to stir this around.

You can see these small clumps start to form in here.

Now, normally when we make biscuits, we work our cold butter into our dry flour and get those pea-sized pieces.

I'm sure you've done this.

That can be time-consuming and really, really messy.

-Yeah, and it makes really flaky biscuits which taste good on the side of a bowl of soup, but not great for a sandwich because it just crumbles apart.

-Exactly.

So by adding our butter into our cold buttermilk, we get these small pea-sized pieces that emulate when we work that cold butter into that flour without all the mess, and this is going to provide a little bit better structure as well.

Now we're going to go ahead and incorporate our wet ingredients into our dry ingredients here.

So I'm going to work this all together.

It's going to turn out to be a pretty wet dough which is by design.

-Mm-hmm.

-By working it a little bit extra than we might work standard biscuits, we're going to get a little extra structure out of these.

We're going to go ahead and add our biscuit dough to an 8x8-inch cake pan that's already been greased.

Now, this is a little bit different here.

-Sure is.

-We're baking these all together in this pan, and that's going to give it nice crusty edges which will further contribute to that structure.

-Okay.

Square biscuits.

-Exactly.

Which makes for really even sandwiches in the end.

-Ah.

-We're going to add it into here.

I'm going to go ahead and press these down.

-Mm-hmm.

-I want to grease my hands just to make sure they don't stick.

Try to get these into one thin even layer here.

Get into all those corners.

Now, we don't want one giant biscuit, so I'm going to use our bench scraper to divvy these up.

Want to make sure this is greased as well so it doesn't stick.

So I'm going to make one cut right down the center here.

-Okay.

-As even as I can.

I'm going to turn this 90 degrees, and as even as possible, I'm going to make two equidistant cuts, cutting it into thirds this way, so we end up with six even biscuits.

We're going to pop these in the oven at 450 degrees on the middle rack for 20 minutes, until they're nice and golden brown on the top.

-Okay.

Oh, Alex, those smell good.

-Oh, they look even better.

Wow.

Mm.

Delicious.

We're gonna let these cool on this rack for five minutes till they're cool enough to handle somewhat.

Now let's focus on our sausages here.

So we're going to use breakfast links for our sandwiches.

So we're going to actually cut these and form them into rectangles.

We're going to start by butterflying these open with a paring knife.

So I'm cutting through the side but not cutting all the way through.

I'm going to leave it hinged at the edge there.

Now we're going to take these and invert them into a 12-inch nonstick skillet.

So we're going to take our breakfast sausages and kind of press them down into here.

-Aha.

-So, we're looking for about a 4 1/2- by 2 1/2-inch rectangle here, which is about the size of our biscuits.

From here I'm going to go ahead and peel off the casing.

This is totally optional.

It's just my personal preference.

We're just going to keep going until we have all six of our sausages in our pan.

We're going to get our sausages cooking over a medium-high heat on that first side for one to two minutes.

Our biscuits should be cool enough to flip now, so I'm going to invert these onto another wire rack.

Really important to have a rack so they don't steam.

-Mm-hmm.

[ Sizzling ] -I can kind of smell that caramelization going on, so that's a good indicator.

-This is just so cool.

-It is.

-I've never seen this done.

And it's nice to have a nice thin layer to put on a sandwich.

-Absolutely.

It makes it so much more convenient to eat.

I'm going to flip these over and we want to see some good browning here.

Alright.

We're going to let these cook for another one to two minutes or until they're firm to the touch.

We're going to transfer these over to a plate lined with some paper towel.

I'm going to wipe out our skillet and then we can start cooking our eggs.

-Okay.

-We have six eggs that we're going to cook in two batches, so three at a time.

-Okay.

-And we're opting for more of an omelet here.

It gets really nice even pieces.

And it doesn't crumble apart like scrambled eggs might.

To our three eggs I'm going to add 1/8 teaspoon of table salt.

And we're going to whisk these together.

Alright.

Perfect.

I'm going to go ahead and add 1 teaspoon of butter into our skillet here.

I'm going to get our butter melting over a medium-high heat to start.

Alright.

Perfect.

We're going to go ahead and add in our eggs.

I'm going to give it a swirl, make it nice and even.

-Mm-hmm.

-We're going to go ahead and drop our heat to low.

We're going to pop our lid on.

We're going to let this cook for 45 seconds.

Now it's just kind of gently steaming so it stays nice and tender.

We don't end up with rubbery eggs.

It's been 45 seconds.

I'm going to remove our lid here.

-You can see they're just starting to set around the outside.

-Exactly.

So we just need to give it one final little swirl.

Alright.

I like to scrape down the side a little bit, too, just so we don't end up with that kind of papery egg consistency.

-Mm-hmm.

-We're going to put the lid back on still on low heat and continue cooking for 45 to 60 seconds until they're just set.

-Okay.

-It's been about 60 seconds.

We're going to take the lid off here.

It's just set.

It's not hardcooked or anything.

So here's where things get pretty fun.

There's going to be a little bit of geometry involved here.

-Well, you got rectangular sandwiches and you got a big round piece of egg.

-Exactly.

So I just ran my rubber spatula around just to make sure everything is loosened.

-Mm-hmm.

-I'm going to take the edges of our egg here and just fold them inward slightly.

Give those a press down.

And we should have about an 8-inch square here.

We're going to fold this square over into a rectangle.

So this should be around 8 by 4 inches.

And you can already see the vision here.

-Yep.

-So now we're going to take our rectangle and divide this into three even pieces.

It was three eggs, three pieces.

So it's about one egg per piece.

We're going to slide this out onto the other side of the plate that our sausages are on.

Alright.

Now we're just going to do the same thing with these other three eggs.

-Okay.

-Alright.

We're going to go ahead and transfer all this back into this pan just to keep it warm while we cut our biscuits.

-Lid on?

-Perfect.

-Okay.

-Thank you.

We have six slices of pepper Jack cheese.

It's our cheese of choice for these sandwiches.

Works great because it has a little kick of heat and also an awesome melting ability, which is going to glue everything together.

-Mm-hmm.

This recipe is really easy to vary based on your favorite flavors.

You could use a different cheese.

You could throw some herbs into the biscuits.

It's really easy to make it your own.

-Exactly.

And breakfast sandwiches are -- It's a very personal thing, so it's a very great part of this recipe.

We're going to go ahead and cut our biscuits here.

We're going to cut these in half.

We're going to stand them up and saw through the side here with a nice back-and-forth motion.

-Boy, that biscuit's holding together.

-It is but it's still so tender.

Alright.

To each of our biscuits we're going to add a half slice of our pepper Jack.

Alright.

We're going to top that off with an egg patty on each.

On top of that each one gets a sausage.

Our other half of our pepper Jack on top of that.

-Oh!

-This is where that gluing factor comes into place.

-Mm-hmm.

-Then just to add our lids, so the other part of our biscuit.

We're going to put these back in the oven, which should still be pretty warm when we cooked the biscuits in, which was at 450 degrees for five minutes or up to 20 minutes just to melt the cheese.

Thank you.

-Oh, that cheese looks good and melted.

-Amazing.

-Now, that is a very good-looking platter of breakfast sandwiches.

Look at how tidy those are.

-I almost don't want to eat them because they're almost too perfect.

But I can't help it.

So good.

-I'm diving in.

-Me too.

-Mm!

That is a perfect sandwich.

-It really is.

-The biscuit has really good flavor.

It's holding together.

But you're right.

It's not chewy or bready.

Still tastes like a biscuit.

The egg is cooked perfectly, not dried out.

The little bit of sausage and the cheese -- it's just the right amount.

Not one element overpowers another.

-Mm-hmm.

That's what I love about this.

And even with each bite, you can just see the clean bite you get out of it.

-Mm-hmm.

Oh, and a good cup of coffee.

-You just can't beat this for breakfast.

-Oh, man!

This is a breakfast of champions.

Alex, thank you for showing me how to make this.

-It's my pleasure, Julia.

-If you want to make the perfect breakfast sandwich, start by making a wet biscuit dough and bake it in a square pan.

Cook breakfast sausage and eggs into tidy rectangles, then assemble the sandwiches and warm them in the oven before serving.

From "America's Test Kitchen," the perfect biscuit breakfast sandwich.

♪♪ -Did you know that the difference between textured pancakes and perfectly browned pancakes is the fat?

If you heat the pan with a little oil -- I've got 1 teaspoon here -- you'll see that even as you push it around, that fat -- it tends to bead up.

Let's get some batter in there and see what happens.

These spots right here, they were where the oil was.

And this happens because oil conducts heat more slowly than the metal surface of the pan.

If you were to just eat that portion right there, you'd find that it's softer and less flavorful.

But honestly, this issue is mostly cosmetic.

Still, if you want picture-perfect pancakes, here's what you need to do.

You want to wipe out the pan really well so that you can't see the oil anymore.

There's still enough left behind to help with release, but the film is really thin and even, so you won't get the spotting.

Look at how uniform that is.

It's like something you'd see on a box of pancake mix or a cooking show.

Now, on the other hand, if you're looking for pancakes with texture, you're going to want to use a generous amount of butter -- about 1/2 a tablespoon for a 12-inch skillet.

I want to let this melt and spread it out.

[ Sizzling ] And while it's bubbling and sizzling, I want to add the batter.

This pancake -- It's gently frying in that butter.

And what we get is gorgeous browning, this beautiful nutty flavor from the butter.

And its edges?

They're going to be a little crispy too.

Next time you make pancakes, remember, for something tender and delicate, use as little oil as possible.

And if you're after something well-browned and a little crispy, butter that pan generously.

The choice is yours.

♪♪ -There are a million different ways that you can make pancakes, making them the perfect blank canvas for breakfast.

But lucky for me and you, we get to make buckwheat pancakes with Aran, and you developed this recipe.

-I sure did, and I'm going to teach you how to make these spiced pear, buckwheat, and almond pancakes that are naturally gluten free and fluffy.

But I'm also going to teach you how to make your own buckwheat flour.

-That's exciting.

-And the reason why we're going to make our own buckwheat flour is because most of the buckwheat flours that you find in the supermarket tend to be a little bit darker.

It has extra hull in it, which makes it a little bit earthy and, in my opinion, a little bitter.

-Okay.

-So we're going to take our buckwheat groats and grind them in a blender.

And I'm going to show you the difference.

-Great.

-That is 1 cup of buckwheat groats.

And these are raw buckwheat groats.

It's not toasted kasha.

We're going to start on low and slowly increase speed until we go full force.

-Okay.

-Okay.

Our buckwheat flour is ready.

Okay.

I want to compare.

Here's buckwheat flour that we bought in the store compared to the buckwheat flour that we just ground.

-It's a subtle difference, but this is definitely lighter.

-Yes.

And you will also be able to tell it in flavor.

-Okay.

-Also another thing I failed to mention earlier is that despite its name, it's gluten free.

-Right.

-There's no wheat in it.

-Right.

-It's actually not even a grain.

It's a seed.

It's a pseudograin, they call it, but it's a seed.

And it's actually related to rhubarb, even though it doesn't taste anything like it.

But it's the same family as rhubarb.

-Amazing.

-Yes.

So now we have 1 cup of almond flour.

Super rich.

A little bit of texture.

-Sure.

-And it's also gluten free.

And then we have 1 tablespoon of baking powder.

It's going to make it really fluffy.

-Okay.

-And then we have 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt, regular table salt.

And then my favorite part -- 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon.

-Mm.

-And then ginger.

-Hm.

-This is 3/4 teaspoon of ground ginger.

And then the best part for the pears is cardamom, in my opinion.

So this is 1/2 a teaspoon.

Oh, it smells amazing.

1/2 a teaspoon of ground cardamom.

-It's got that beautiful floral scent to it.

-Yes.

And so we're just going to give this a quick whisk.

And sometimes almond flour can be a little clumpy.

So I'm actually going to go in with my fingers and break up any lumps that we have.

We're going to move on to our pears.

These pancakes not only have pear topping but there's pear inside.

We have already peeled this pear and now I'm just going to grate it in this box grater.

Pear is grated.

-Juicy pear.

-It's very juicy, and you see there's quite a bit of juice pooling at the bottom.

I am going to remove some of that because I don't want the pancakes to be too watery.

-Yeah, this was a very juicy pear.

-Very juicy pear.

This is 3/4 of a cup of grated pear.

-Okay.

-Next we're going to separate our eggs.

The easiest way for me is always to just use the shell itself to separate them.

Some people like to use their hands, but I find this easiest.

And we're going to add our yolks directly into our grated pear.

-Okay.

-And we have our pear, our egg yolks.

We're going to add 2/3 of a cup of milk.

This is whole milk.

We can use dairy-free milk, almond milk, oat milk if you have a dairy allergy in your family.

1/4 cup of maple syrup.

This is going to make it really crispy on the outside.

And this is 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract.

I'm going to give it a quick whisk.

-Okay.

-And we're going to move on to folding the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, right?

So let's move on to our egg whites.

-Okay.

-We're just whisking these until they're frothy.

And it's just one minute.

I think we're there.

You see how there's some little, very soft peaks?

And now we're going to fold these in.

And as the baking powder activates the batter, it gets a little bit more set.

It's a little bit drier than before.

-Yeah.

-And that's just the baking powder doing its thing.

-Right.

-And then now adding the whites.

It's going to make it a little bit more spreadable and also fluffier.

-Yes.

You can see actually even the color is turning lighter.

-Yes, and you see how it has mousse-like texture.

And we just fold until we don't see any more streaks of egg white.

Before we cook our pancakes, let's just do a test batch.

-Okay.

-We have nonstick skillet with 1/2 a tablespoon of butter melting over medium-high heat.

And the thing with pancakes sometimes is that you really have to control the temperature so they don't burn or they take too long and dry out.

So that's why we're testing 1 tablespoon just to see where our pan temperature needs to be.

and we're just going to let it cook for about a minute.

-Okay, great.

-Okay.

Let's check the bottom.

You see that's perfect.

Golden brown.

-Mm!

-It had a tiny bit of bubbles.

-Yes.

-So that's when we know it's ready.

Okay.

So we have our test.

And as you see, the butter has burnt a little bit.

It's a little brown.

So I'm going to wipe the pan.

Our pan is wiped down and we're going to cook the actual pancakes.

Okay.

-We're going to add another 1/2 a tablespoon of unsalted butter melting over medium heat.

And then we're going to use a 1/4 cup measuring cup to add three dollops of batter into the pan.

Okay, and this batter is actually spreading really nicely.

So we're going to cook them for about one to two minutes until we have some bubbles on the surface.

This one's already getting some bubbles here.

And then until it's golden brown like that one.

-Okay.

-I think they're ready.

We had to lower the heat a little bit.

I'm going to flip them.

There we go.

Perfect color.

-Oh, beautiful!

-Our pancakes are ready, I think.

Let's check the bottom to make sure that they're also golden brown and delicious.

-Oh, yeah!

-They are.

We're going to transfer them to this baking sheet with a wire rack.

I see the butter is browning a little bit, so I'm going to wipe the pan lightly.

-Okay.

-And we're going to add another 1/2 tablespoon of butter to the pan.

And then we're going to continue cooking the batter.

Once done, we're going to put this tray in a 200-degree oven just to keep them warm while we cook our topping.

-Great.

-Pancakes are in the oven and we're just going to cook the pear topping.

-Okay.

-And for that we have one pear that's already prepped.

And we're going to peel the second one.

Okay.

We're going to cut it in quarters.

And then core it.

And then we're going to cut each quarter in half again.

So we have eight pieces.

Okay.

We have two pears that are peeled, cored, and cut into eight pieces.

-Okay.

-And we're actually going to caramelize these pears.

-Mm!

-And to do that we're going to melt 2 tablespoons of butter over medium-high heat.

And then we're going to add 2 tablespoons of maple syrup.

And then this is just 1/8 of a teaspoon of salt.

And we're going to wait for all this... ...to come to like a light boil.

We're almost making like a little maple syrup butter caramel here.

Smells delicious.

-That smells amazing.

-So we're going to add our pears.

-Okay.

-And we're going to cook the pears for about three to four minutes.

Turning them halfway point until they're light golden brown.

-Okay.

-Let's look at these pears.

I'm going to flip them.

They're lightly caramelized.

-Oh, yeah.

There we go.

-That one's perfect.

We're going to keep cooking these for a couple more minutes.

And then we're going to bring out the pancakes.

-Okay.

-Our pears are ready.

-They are beautiful!

-They smell amazing.

We're going to pour them into a bowl.

-And then we're going to pour that bowl directly into my mouth.

-[ Laughs ] Too hot.

-A little too hot.

Yes.

-And we have our pancakes.

So you think three pancakes?

-I'm doing whatever you're doing.

-Yes.

They're gorgeous.

-Mm!

-Top with the caramelized pears.

And then a little bit of toasted almonds.

Just because you need a little bit of crunch.

And then to finish, we need extra maple syrup.

-Yes, we need it.

-Don't we?

She said we need it.

We need it.

Oh, yeah, we need it.

-Are you ready to taste?

-I just need a moment here.

This is the best-looking breakfast good I think I've ever seen in my life.

I would eat these for breakfast, lunch, and dinner if they look like that.

-And they're healthy-ish.

-Yeah.

-I would say they're healthy.

-I'd say they're healthy.

-Yes.

Alright.

The spices?

-I didn't even get any of the pear.

The pancake itself, you could eat that alone.

But let's get a little bit of that pear.

Oh, that is so beautiful, that pancake.

Mm.

The pears.

They're just wobbling just a little bit.

They're giving up the ghost completely.

Gorgeous little browning on the outside, buttery on the inside.

And then you pair it with the spiced pancake, those warm spices, the vanilla and the maple syrup in the pancake.

-And there's that texture from the almond flour, the buckwheat flour that we ground.

And the almonds also kind of give it that crunch.

-It does not get any better than this.

You are a breakfast genius.

-I'm so pleased you like them.

-Oh!

If you'd like to make these beautiful pancakes at home, it starts with making your own flour using buckwheat groats.

Add warm spices and grated pear to the batter.

Then, after cooking the pancakes, top with a warm caramelized pear and maple topping.

So, from "America's Test Kitchen," spiced pear, buckwheat, and almond pancakes.

You can get this tremendous recipe and all the recipes from this season, along with product reviews and select episodes, and you'll find them on our website, americastestkitchen.com/tv.

Alright.

Going in for a big thing of pear here.

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Plugrà -- from professional kitchens to your home.

-On an American Cruise Lines journey, you can explore the Columbia and Snake Rivers.

Our boats journey through the breathtaking Pacific Northwest, where towering cliffs and cascading waterfalls line your path.

You'll follow Lewis and Clark's trail and explore historic towns, all from a modern American riverboat, where you can experience local customs and cuisine.

American Cruise Lines -- proud sponsor of "America's Test Kitchen."

-GreenPan Frost, the frozen treat maker that makes ice cream, sorbet, slushies, and more, with a built-in chiller that goes from fresh to frozen.

GreenPan Frost.

-Hungryroot delivers groceries designed for your taste, budget, and health goals with a collection of recipes that come together in minutes.

We are a personal shopper, meal planner, and chef all in one.

-Smithey Ironware -- polished for performance, naturally nonstick, clear of chemical coatings.

Made in America.

Made to be passed down for generations.

Smithey -- Use it well.

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