Yummy Breakfast Sourdough Pancakes

Sourdough pancakes are what you make when you’ve been keeping a sourdough starter alive and want to put it to work somewhere besides bread. The overnight ferment is what sets these apart from quick weekend pancakes: starter, flour, and lukewarm water sit together overnight, developing the tangy depth and complex flavor that no buttermilk shortcut can replicate.

Morning is when the real lift happens. Sugar, salt, oil, and eggs go in to enrich the now-bubbly batter, and a teaspoon of baking soda dissolved in water gets folded in last. The soda neutralizes the lactic acid the starter produced overnight, releasing carbon dioxide for instant lift. Critical detail: don’t stir after the soda goes in. Folding preserves those bubbles for towering, lacy-edged pancakes.

Pro Tips

• Feed your starter 6 to 8 hours before mixing the overnight sponge. Active starter ferments better than sluggish refrigerator starter pulled straight from cold.
• Cook on a moderate, not blazing, griddle. Sourdough batter browns faster than regular pancake batter due to the developed flavors and acidity.
• Flip when bubbles form on the surface and the edges look dry. Sourdough pancakes can be deceiving since the batter holds bubbles longer than buttermilk batter.
• Use leftover starter discard if it’s no more than a few days old. Older discard turns the batter unpleasantly funky.

Variations

• Stir in fresh blueberries, chopped pecans, or chocolate chips after folding in the soda.
• Add a quarter teaspoon of cinnamon and a splash of vanilla for a warm-spice version.
• Use whole wheat flour for half the all-purpose for a heartier, nuttier pancake.