Sourdough Pancakes
Once you’ve tried these sourdough pancakes you’ll never want to try another pancake recipe again. Check it out below.
Fermented foods
It seems you can’t scroll through your Instagram feed these days without someone banging on about the latest thing they’ve got fermenting on their kitchen counter – I should know, I’m one of them! I’ve been pickling things for years and the top shelf is full of different veggies getting super sour and crisp in a vinegary brine. We even came back from America with not one but two scobys so that we could start making kombucha at home (a kind of fermented tea). But, it’s sourdough that I’m writing about today or, more precisely, sourdough pancakes.
Sourdough is just dough that has been made using a ‘starter’ of flour and water which is fermented by natural yeast and bacteria. It takes about a week to create a sourdough starter from scratch but it’s worth the wait as the yeast and bacteria come alive and turn these two simple ingredients into some light, bubbly and full of sour flavour. No two sourdough starters taste the same because the wild yeast and bacteria differs from place to place. Jon and I both have a start: mine is called Ryan because he was made with 100% rye flour and Jon’s is called Pelly, short for ‘pellicle’ which is the name given to the colony of microbes that form on top of sour beers as they ferment. I know, we are complete and utter nerds.
So why are fermented foods having a moment right now? Fermented foods like sourdough are great for improving digestion and helping to boost your immunity! The fact that they are also seriously tasty and packed full of tart, zingy flavours helps!
Sourdough discard
I’ve been nurturing my sourdough starter for a couple of months at this point. In the first few days I fed him 50g of rye flour and 50g of water. Once he was well established I popped him in the fridge to slow down his growth and whenever I want to use him to make bread, waffles or pancakes I just take him out of the fridge and give him another feed (50g rye, 50g water). Once I’ve used him I pop him back in the fridge.
AT NO POINT DO I SCOOP ANY OF HIM OUT AND THROW HIM IN THE BIN.
I’m one of these people who does a lot of research before they ever start learning a new hobby or skill and I kept reading about discarding sourdough starter but I couldn’t for the life of me work out why. Bloggers every where had come up with recipes that you could make instead of throwing the starter away but I don’t see why it should ever go in the bin. If you look after your starter in the same way as I do it is perfectly strong enough to make a great loaf but equally you never have excess starter. Most recipes only call for 50g or so of starter and so if you’ve just fed it 50g of rye and 50g of water you aren’t taking more than you’ve given. The net volume is roughly the same before feed and after bake. If you come across a recipe like this one where you take more than the previous feed, you might want to do one more feed before you put him back to sleep in the fridge. Either way you’re not throwing anything away!
Glad we cleared that one up…so be confident that you can enjoy these pancakes whenever, wherever and you don’t just have to save them for when you’ve got sourdough discard. Heck, you could enjoy these every weekend if you really wanted to! And seeing as sourdough is great for your gut health, why the hell not?!
The recipe
There’s no real magic to this recipe but the tart flavour of the sourdough starter takes the humble pancake from good to GREAT!
Sourdough Pancakes
A sourdough starter isn't just for making loaves of bread,
Ingredients
- 150 grams sourdough starter
- 1 large egg
- 220 grams whole milk
- 1 tbsp butter melted and cooled
- 1 vanilla pod seeds only
- 175 grams flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 50 grams sugar
Instructions
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In a large bowl, whisk the sourdough starter, egg, milk, melted butter and vanilla pod seeds until a thick but fluffy batter has formed.
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Next whisk in the flour, baking soda and sugar making sure that no lumps form.
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Brush your pan with a little oil.
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Pour roughly an eighth of the mix into your pan (see note 1) and cook for 2-3 minutes or until bubbles start to appear on the top side of the pancake and set.
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Flip and then cook for another 2 minutes or until the pancake is cooked through.
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Repeat until all of the mix has been used.
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Serve with your choice of fruit and syrup.
Recipe Notes
Wonder how I manage to get perfectly round, equally sized pancakes every time? I use an ice cream scoop! It's the perfect way to measure out your pancake batter and pour into your pan.
Sourdough everything…
A lot of people think that sourdough just applies to a rather expensive loaf of bread bought in a fancy bakery but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Jon is very much the bread man in this house (I just can’t be bothered to be stood kneading dough for 10 minutes at a time…) but I am loving how many other baked treats you can make using a sourdough starter. Keep visiting the blog for more and more ways of using your sourdough starter. But for now, let’s talk waffles…
Love Love Love the idea of sourdough pancackes! Great recipe you got there, so mouth-watering!
I make sourdough bread every week, I can’t believe I haven’t tried pancakes! Thanks so much for posting this it will be breakfast this week!
Now THESE are some tasty looking pancakes!! Can’t wait to give them a go tomorrow 🙂
How did they go Chris?
What a great way to make a healthy version of a popular breakfast dish … my kids will never know I’m making something “good for them” …. they’ll still eat a stack of these pancakes!
My nephew who is just 8 months old loved tucking into one this morning 😀
I’m new to sourdough, and the loaves that I make aren’t amazing (yet!). I have tried making pancakes once and they turned out rubbery, so I gave up. Now I’m thinking that I probably need to give sourdough pancakes another go using your recipe, as these pancakes sound and look so perfect!
These are so far from rubbery! Proper light and bouncy!
I don’t have the patience to keep and feed a starter, but these pancakes do look wonderful. Sharing them 🙂
It’s not as much effort as you think. Mine has been in the fridge for a couple of months. I get it out once in a blue moon, feed it once and it’s good to go!
Love sourdough pancakes. I remember many years ago we did a 2 day bread class and I was so excited when we made pancakes from sourdough starter, it was such a good idea! Yours look so good!
OMG! And I thought I was alone with naming my cultures! I have silly names for my yoghurt culture and recently was handed a beautiful scoby who I promptly named Denise, she currently inhabits a glass jar in my fridge while I conjure up and read up every material available about making my own Kombucha! I love the sound of your pancakes and how lovingly you take care of your sourdough starter! I have been making youghurt before I was even allowed to use the gas or chop stuff as a kid and making pickles is a huge part of my life. I will try this recipe for sure and let you know how I got along x
First time i have made American style pancakes. Made them this morning with my 11 year old granddaughter for breakfast so easy and absolutely gorgeous we had ours with blueberries and honey. Could not believe how simple and fluffy.
Made again this weekend perfect again fail safe recipe thank you so much.
In the ingredients list you call for baking powder. In the instructions you call for baking soda. Which one is it?
Hi Trevor. Baking powder 🙂 enjoy!
Just made these and they were delicious!
Just made these with my starter I normally discard. It worked perfectly left me with 2Tbs of levain for next bake.
This is an excellent recipe. Quick and eat and these pancakes are super light.
Tested with my 13 year old brother and he says they are the best he’s had! Best I’ve had, too! I wrote down this recipe and followed it to the gram – needless to say, I’ll be using it in future! It has definitely succeeded my 8 years of attempting to perfect this recipe without using sourdough starter, because the starter I used added a rich depth of flavour (10% rye, 40% bread, 50% wholemeal) like nothing I’d had before. Amazing way to use discards on the weekends!
Hi Ashley. What a fantastic review thank you so much! I’m glad you enjoyed them. They are my favourite pancakes and hope they become yours too!