Sourdough Pancakes

/

My family loves pancakes! It is a meal that is not served in the mornings unless it is a Saturday and we don't sleep in too late.  Usually, pancakes and sausage are served at suppertime so we all can relax and enjoy each and every yummy bite. The first recipe I tried making with my sourdough starter was pancakes.

SOURDOUGH PANCAKES are out of this world, I tell you no lie.

Sourdough Pancakes

Sourdough Pancakes

While sourdough is not the quickest method in making these tasty little cakes, they have been voted by my son the best tasting pancakes in the world! JUST A WARNING FOR YA - It does take several hours for the sponge to do its sponging.  If you are serving pancakes for breakfast, make your sponge at night, store it covered with plastic wrap in the oven with the light on. In the morning it will be all ready to add the other ingredients.  Since I made this recipe for supper, I mixed up the sponge around 9:30 this the morning and it sat in the oven until I was ready for it.

Sourdough Pancakes

Active Sourdough Sponge after 7 hours.

While most pancake recipes call for oil, I find that melted butter in its place gives the pancakes a better taste. You can't have enough butter on pancakes, just my opinion.   I did melt my butter ahead of time and let it cool back down before pouring into the sponge. I'm not sure if it would have mattered, but I wasn't taking any chances.

Sourdough Pancakes

I cook pancakes on a round cast iron griddle. Yeah, I think I would love to have another electric griddle, but I'm really wanting a reversible griddle and grill combo. The Lodge griddle will be a lot easier to store instead of a bulky electric appliance.

I would like to note, that sourdough pancakes are NOT like other pancakes. They are fragile and will not rise up like the big fluffy pancakes if you don't add the baking soda. Look at the picture below... I forgot to add the soda to this batch.  Making them plate size is not going to happen, you'll need to go the "silver dollar" size; about four inches. Another thing, experiment with the heat setting; I cook my pancakes on a medium heat.

Sourdough Pancakes

Just because the word sourdough sounds scary, don't let it scare you away from making a starter and having sourdough pancakes.  You'll thank me when you have an active starter and using it for your pancakes.

If you like your pancakes covered in syrup, you may want to cut back on the sugar in this recipe. I love the pancake sweet, so we don't have to add a lot, if any, syrup to them. If you cut out the sugar, don't cut it out of the sponge, leave the ¼ cup out when mixing in the morning.

Sourdough Pancakes

Ingredients:

Sponge:

  • 1 cup sourdough starter, fed and at room temperature

  • 1 cup warm water

  • ⅛ cup sugar

  • 1 ½ cups all purpose flour

In the morning add to your sponge:

  • ¼ cup melted butter, cooled

  • ¼ cup sugar

  • 1 tsp salt

  • 2 eggs

Mix together and set aside:

  • 1 TBSP water

  • 2 tsp baking soda

Directions:

The night before, in a large bowl mix the sponge together. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the oven with the light on. In the morning, mix the water and baking soda and set a side.  In the sponge bowl, add the butter, sugar, salt, and eggs mixing well. Add the soda water. Heat the griddle to medium heat (about 300 degrees). Pour 1/4 cup of batter per pancake on to hot griddle. Cook until holes appear before trying to flip.

Sourdough Pancakes

Did you miss my adventures in sourdough starter making? You can read about it in The Making of Sourdough. I even included a few links that helped me get started.