Make Sourdough Pancakes

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Real sourdough, unlike what most supermarkets carry, has the wheat starches broken down not primarily with yeast, but with lactobacillus and other natural bacteria. It may also have some wild yeasts, but with pancakes it doesn't really matter that much – these come out good every time.

Ingredients

Starter:

  • 2 tablespoons whole wheat flour (non-GM, preferably organic)
  • 1/4 cup unchlorinated water (distilled is fine)

Then:

  • 2 cups water
  • Whole wheat flour (enough to make a gooey mix)

Pancakes:

  • The sourdough batter (made from above ingredients)
  • 1/4 cup of sugar (optional)
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 egg (optional)
  • 1 tablespoon oil
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda (optional)

Steps

Making the sourdough starter

  1. Put the two tablespoons of whole wheat flour in the 1/4 cup of water, in a plastic or glass cup. Mix with a non-metal utensil. Leave it on a windowsill, covered but not airtight for three days.
    • You may have better luck if you add a little more water and flour each day.
  2. On the third day, sniff it. If it smells sour, you have a good starter! If it stinks, dump it out, wash that glass, and try again, maybe in a different part of the house.

Making the sourdough batter

  1. When you get a good starter, get a large glass, glazed ceramic, or plastic bowl, and with a wooden or plastic (non-metal) spoon, mix 2 cups of water with enough flour to make a gooey mix. If it's too stiff to stir easily, add more water. Then stir in a tablespoon or more of your sourdough starter (adding all of it is OK too). Leave this in a warm but not hot place.
  2. Check your Make Sourdough Starter daily. When it smells good and sour, and gets more gooey in consistency, you're ready. This will happen overnight in warm areas, and it takes up to 3 days in a cold house.
  3. Add more water if necessary to make it a good consistency for pancakes. If you've never made pancakes before, don't worry, you'll get the hang of it after a few tries and you can't really go wrong.

Making the pancakes

  1. Put the batter you will use for pancakes in a separate bowl. Set aside the original container to feed later (with flour and water) so you will have starter for your pancakes tomorrow. Take the batch you will use for pancakes and add 1/4 cup sugar, a teaspoon of salt, one egg, and a tablespoon of oil (none of these extra ingredients are necessary, but the salt and oil are recommended).
  2. Put some oil (if preferred, non-virgin olive oil) in a cast iron or non-stick griddle or pan, and heat on medium flame to where dropping a drop of water on it makes it spatter.
  3. Add 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda to your batter and mix vigorously for about 15 seconds. Your batter will rise as the baking soda reacts with the acetic acid in the sourdough (this is also optional).
    • For very sour pancakes, add less baking soda.
    • For less sour pancakes, add more baking soda. Also realize that adding less soda will make your pancakes rise less, while adding more will make them very fluffy.
  4. Dump out some of your sourdough "batter" into the pan. Let it pan fry for a minute or two. Hopefully it will flatten out nicely, like a pancake! If not, thin your batter some more before you try the next one... but continue with this one, all is not lost.
  5. When the top is bubbling, flip the pancake with a spatula. This takes some practice. If you're really talented, you can flip the pan up with the handle, and catch the inverted pancake. Be ready to clean up the mess if you miss. If, and when, you get the pancake flipped and back in the pan, keep cooking. If it was a messy flip, and the uncooked batter spread out, it won't be pretty but it will still taste good!
    • If it's too thick to cook completely through after a couple more minutes, take it out and put it in another pan in the oven or microwave, and let it finish cooking there. Go back to the step in which you add oil and more batter, and start again with a new one

Tips

  • You can try bread-making with this sourdough too.
  • You can keep your starter in the freezer if you won't be making pancakes for a while.
  • You can always buy a starter if you have no luck making your own. But it's so cheap to experiment, keep trying again and again till it comes out right.
  • None of the amounts above are cast in stone. This is a very simple and error-tolerant process; it's hard to go wrong once you have a good starter.

Warnings

  • Because sourdough is acidic, it can corrode your metal containers & utensils. While there is a lot of discussion on both sides of the stainless steel argument, why risk your bowls & spoons? Acid & metal don't mix!
  • If you leave your sourdough too long and it gets moldy, it's recommended to throw it out and start over. You might try salvaging some starter from the bottom of the bowl, but if it has any mycelia in it, you will probably have a bad batch.

Things You'll Need

  • Plastic or glass cup
  • Large glass
  • Glazed ceramic or plastic bowl x 2
  • Non-metal stirring spoon
  • Cast iron or non-stick griddle or pan
  • Spatula
  • about 4 cups

Related Articles

Sources and Citations

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