Pancakes!

Yes. Sourdough Pancakes. Intriguing? That doesn’t begin to cover it. Everytime I feed these bad boys to someone new, wild-eyed and dazed they inform that these are a ‘game changer.’ Honestly, I couldn’t agree more. Now to go along with this post I need to give a little background info on my starter. I was gifted a little jar of my starter from my dear friend Hayley. She was gifted the starter from her friend. But her friend had this starter passed down for generations. Yes, generations. Rumor has it this very colony of yeast made its way across the Oregon Trail in a wagon, tucked safely in the bosom of my friend’s friend great-great-grandmother. But with no refrigeration and no oven, how were they to make use of it? Well, sourdough pancakes are the answer my friend. The original recipe for these cakes was gifted to me right along with the over 100 year old starter itself. Now, I’m what some might call “vegan” and my kitchen is full of somewhat “abstract” ingredients, so I’ve done a little altering and experimenting. The original recipe calls for eggs, but I try not to eat those and generally don’t have any handy. Bananas are my replacement. 1 mashed banana = 1 egg, and who doesn’t like banana pancakes?? I will say though that since my partner does eat eggs, and has access to his grandma’s chickens, I have made these with eggs and found that they do combine a bit better. The difference is in the edges, I think. Without the egg they kind of flake into an edge, whereas with an egg they come to a nice rounded edge. Initially, I just followed the straight recipe. Mix it up, then fry it up. But, it just so happens that the first time I made these I didn’t have any vegetable oil. I used coconut oil instead. Coconut oil has a lower smoke temperature than most cooking oils, so it requires a lot of oil, but that just helps them crisp up and get a nice nutty aroma. My next adventure was adding spices: cinnamon of course, and nutmeg. When I added just a teeeeennny pinch of cloves, “whoa” was the general response. I also have recently begun adding a few frozen blueberries in the mix right before frying and HOT DAYUM I could eat these babies all day. I could, and I have, and I will continue to do, and I can promise you that.

But I had an issue. I was thinking small. Sourdough still seemed artisanal to me, and artisanal mistakenly meant small to me. So small batches is what I stuck to. “It’s up to the yeast,” I used to say when it came to how many pancakes were being made that day. But alas, the good old bf’s grammy helped me learn the language of the yeast. Turns out, think big and it will be big. I was just scared of transfering my starter out of its home, the well-loved liter sized bell jar. But the other night, I was convinced to pour all of my starter into a bowl, and feed it there. I asked him how much flour to put in, and he said he just knows his grandma puts as much flour as she wants pancakes. Logically, I dumped god knows how much flour into that bowl. I added what I estimated to be roughly a similar amount of water and mixed it up until I felt satisfied. I went to bed that night with a warning that if my starter dies, so does he. Turns out, I had no reason to be afraid. The starter was booming and we subsequently had STACKS of cakes.

So here’s what I do:

Giant bowl of starter! Safe to say, she is thriving—look at those bubbles!

The night before I want pancakes, transfer starter to a big bowl. Add as much flour as your excitement permits (I suggest starting with 2-3 cups), and then add roughly that same amount of water. You want the consistency to be the same as when you normally feed your starter, just a lot larger quantity. Then go to bed and dream sweet dreams of perfectly nourishing pancakes dripping with syrup. When you’re ready to get cooking, add a mashed banana (or an egg if you’d prefer to go classic), 4 (ish) tablespoons of oil (grapeseed is what I try to use, if not I’ll use olive oil. I find that I don’t mind the olive taste so much when the pancakes are already a bit sour from the yeast.), 2 (ish) tablespoons of sugar (I usually only have coconut sugar in my house, and it makes it oh so sweet and tropical), 1/2 teaspoon salt, and any spices your heart desires: cinnamon, nutmeg, clove, vanilla, go crazy. Mix it alllll up nice and good. Now, take a teaspoon of baking soda (air on the side of less if you aren’t being exact) and mix it with a tablespoon of warm water. Mix it like you mean it honey. You want that soda dissolved. Then you can add the soda to the rest of the batter and watch it come alive. It should bubble and get very light and fluffy. All there’s left to do after that is bake it up!

In summary:

2+ cups active sourdough starter

4 tbs oil +more for frying

2 tbs sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1 egg or banana

Whatever other goodies you want in your pancakes!

1 teaspoon baking soda + 1 tablespoon water

Mix and fry!!!!! But try the mix the soda in last.

Egg instead of banana, plus some frozen blueberries thrown in there with cinnamon, nutmeg, and clove. “You’re best pancakes yet”-the boyfriend

Basic Sourdough Bread