Wheat flour contains two proteins that, when combined with liquid, form gluten. Maximizing gluten development is imperative when making homemade bread or fresh pasta. But since gluten development creates structure and chewiness, it's something we want to avoid in cakes, cookies, pie crust, and pancakes. To minimize gluten development, mix the batter as little as possible and use butter in the pancake batter. Mix the batter with a spoon or a whisk, stirring just long enough moisten all the dry ingredients. There will be some lumps in the batter, and that is ok. In fact, it's what you want. Fat helps make these pancakes flavorful and moist, AND inhibits gluten development. Fat also breaks the gluten that is formed into shorter strands, giving these pancakes a tender texture.