The Best Fluffy Sourdough Pancakes
Why We Love These Sourdough Pancakes
Fluffy sourdough pancakes sounds like such a great idea, especially with all the discard that you keep wasting by throwing it away. You want to put the beauty to work and not just let it die in your garbage can. So you look up a recipe and try the first one you find, but its just ehh. The cakes flavor is ok. The texture is way off. You almost wonder why everyone loves sourdough pancake discard recipes in the first place. “Is it just because they aren’t wasting discard anymore, or is it because people love anything with the word (sourdough) in it”???
Hey, if you’ve lived this, then I feel you my friend.
I was so sick of feeling like I had keep making these to not be wasteful, when really I just hoped my kids would love them enough so I didn’t have to eat them… But lets give the recipes the benefit of the doubt, maybe I was doing something wrong..? Who knows? I’m just glad I never settled for less, because if I did, then I would’ve never have stumbled across these.
One day, after I had enough, I decided to look for another glimmer of hope in the sourdough pancake realm. I went on Pinterest and looked for another contender in the worlds worst pancakes competition 😉 Soon I stumbled across a recipe that seemed like it actually had a shot at being a good pancake! But me, feeling skeptical and all, I decided to be adventurous! I switched some things up and made it my own recipe. Little did I know that I just made the best pancakes I had ever had in my life!
Now I probably sound dramatic, but seriously, these were so good my three year old couldn’t stop eating them!!! I ended up having to tell her she needed to wait until tomorrow, and mind you, this little gal is in the stage of not being able to take more than five bites of her food before she’s wondering off to make another blanket fort in the living room.
But it wasn’t just her, my husband also adored them.
He normally tries to avoid carbs if he can, but he could smell the goodness wafting from the kitchen and decided to scope out the culprit.. Indeed they were my new pancake recipe. Immediately he asked “are these the protein pancakes” because he only like to eat protein pancakes to protect his physique. But once he got a look at them, he couldn’t resit trying one, so he grabbed a cake and took a bite and ashamedly snuck away 🙂 haha, I got him!!!
Just kidding haha, but I was glad that he liked them too. I love making food that my family not only enjoys, bit looks forward too. Its one of my greatest joys to see the faces of my kids light up when I make something delicious and nutritious and hearing them ask for more. Here at cultivating in the waiting, we care about the amazing quality of real food. Real food is energizing and keeps us going throughout the day. Real food is something we can look forward to and not regret eating later. Real food inspires us to desire what is good for our bodies and to flee from unsustainable alternatives. Lets continue to make real food together!!
I’m so glad these fluffy sourdough pancakes are now apart of my sourdough recipe arsenal. I hope these may come to be apart of yours someday too. 🙂 Happy pancake eating!! Cheers!
Ingredients
- 1/4 Cup Sourdough Starter
- 1/2 Cup of homemade Buttermilk (or store bought)
- 2 Tablespoons of Honey
- 1/2 tsp of Vanilla Extract or Almond Extract
- 1 Cup of All Purpose Flour
- 1/2 tsp of Salt
If making overnight pancakes, add these 20 mins before cooking!
- 1 Egg
- 1/2 teaspoon of Baking Powder
- 1/2 teaspoon of Baking Soda
Tips for Extra Fluffy Sourdough Pancakes
- Don’t over-mix batter. When you over-mix the batter, you have a higher chance of making the pancakes more chewy/rubbery.
- Let it sit. Don’t pour batter on griddle if you haven’t let the batter sit for a least 15 mins. I recommend a full 20 mins to get the full risen effect! This will give you extra fluffy pancakes.
- Pan type? Grease type? I recommend using a griddle of some sort and some butter just because it is so much easier to slide the pancakes off the pan once they are finished cooking. Butter also tastes better!
- Make sure the temperature of your pan is not too hot or too low. I like to have my gas flame at a medium to medium low flame size. For electric and induction users, I’d put it at medium low just to be safe at first and try a little bit of batter. If it just spreads then move the heat up to medium. If the batter then spreads a little bit but then starts to bubble, then its at the right temp.
- Knowing when to flip a pancake is the best kept secret of good pancake making. Once you have poured about 1/4 cup of batter on the griddle, wait and watch for bubbles to rise to the top, and for the edges of the pancake to look almost done. If you see bubbles rising to the top of the pancake all throughout and the bubbles are popping then it means its time to flip the pancake.
- Don’t over flip pancakes. The more you flip the pancake the more you are compressing the bubbles inside of the cake. The perfect pancake should only need to be flipped once. If you have to flip it more than that, you are flipping the pancake at the wrong time.
All the Questions, but Answered!
Can fluffy sourdough pancakes be made overnight??
Simple answer, yes! Not so simple answer, these pancakes are great overnight as well, but they definitely aren’t as fluffy. I like making them both ways!! The overnight ones have a more distinct sour dough flavor because it has the time to ferment, but the day of pancakes are in no way “lacking” when it comes to flavor, but they are more fluffy.
If you decide to make these overnight, you must omit the baking powder, baking soda, and egg until the next day. These need to be added 20 minutes before being ladled on a griddle. The reason for waiting on these ingredients is because if they are added the night before, then the pancakes will rise too much because of the baking powder and baking soda. Holding off on the egg helps aid in moistening the batter because it gets REALLY thick overnight. I also like to add a splash or about 2 Tablespoons more of either milk or butter milk as well as needed if the batter refuses to loosen.
Beware, when I said this batter gets thick overnight, I meant it!! You will put the (day of) ingredients in and think “oh goodness there is something really wrong with this”. But trust me, just keep mixing. I know the batter seems like it won’t come together but it will. It just needs a good mixin’ to be able to pour from a 1/4 cup.
Can I Substitute Maple Syrup for Honey?
Yes! I personally like the contrast of the sweetness from the honey and then adding maple syrup afterwards, but its totally up to you!
Why are my Pancakes Rubbery?
The pancakes will be rubbery if the pan has not had enough time to heat up. Its important to heat the pan completely before pouring batter on. The trick I use to tell if my pan is ready is when the pan seems warm I place a slim pad of butter on the pan and if the butter starts to melt and foam within a matter of seconds, that tells me the pan is just the right temp. If the butter doesn’t foam and just slides around then it isn’t hot enough and if the butter starts to burn (becomes brown/black) then your pan is too hot and you should not use it until it has cooled and burnt butter is removed.
Fluffy Sourdough Pancakes
Equipment
- 1 Medium-Large mixing bowl
- 1 Fork
- 1 Measuring cups
- 1 measuring spoons
- 1 Bowl cover Beeswax wrap, reusable bowl cover, or plastic wrap.
- 1 Griddle Or nonstick pan
- 1 Flipper Something to turn pancakes
- 1 1/4 Cup Measuring Cup
Ingredients
- 1/4 Cup Sourdough Discard
- 1/2 Cup Homemade Buttermilk
- 2 Tbsp Honey
- 1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract or Almond Extract
- 1 Cup All Purpose Flour
- 1 Egg
- 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
- 1/2 tsp Baking Soda
- 1/2 tsp Salt
- 2 Tbsp Butter or Coconut Oil for greasing pan.
Instructions
Day of fluffy sourdough pancakes
- In a large mixing bowl pour all ingredients and mix with a fork until mostly combined. (No need to overmix lumps. Overmixed batter will make rubbery pancakes).
- Let batter sit for at least 20 minutes.
- Heat griddle pan on medium low heat 5 minutes before you begin cooking pancakes.
- Once pan is hot take a Tablespoon of butter and coat griddle pan so that the pancake batter won't stick.
- After the batter has sat for 20 minutes, use 1/4 measuring cup to scoop batter onto griddle. Watch pancakes and look for bubbles that are rising to the top of the pancake and edges that look fully heated through. Once you see this, flip pancakes and cook until the other side is golden brown. This should only take about 30 seconds to a minute. (Remember to only flip the pancakes once. If you over-flip the pancakes it will flatten them.)
- Lastly, serve fluffy pancakes with real maple syrup and fresh berries! Enjoy!!
Instructions for overnight pancakes:
- In a large mixing bowl pour in sourdough discard, buttermilk, honey, vanilla extract, salt and all purpose flour and mix until mostly combined. Cover bowl with bowl cover and let sit overnight in refrigerator.
- The next day, mix in one egg, baking powder and baking soda. Then Let sit for at least 20 mins to let the batter fully rise.
- Heat griddle pan on medium low heat 5 minutes before you begin cooking pancakes.
- Once pan is hot take a Tablespoon of butter and coat griddle pan so that the pancake batter won't stick.
- Once batter has risen or looks bubbly, take 1/4 mesuring cup and pour batter onto hot griddle. Watch pancakes and look for bubbles that are rising to the top of the pancake and edges that look fully heated through. Once you see this, flip pancakes and cook until the other side is golden brown. This should only take about 30 seconds to a minute. (Remember to only flip the pancakes once. If you over-flip the pancakes it will flatten them.)
- Lastly, serve fluffy pancakes with real maple syrup and fresh berries! Enjoy!!
Notes
- The batter will be THICK!! A thick batter makes fluffy pancakes. If you feel like its just too thick, then add one Tablespoon at a time of buttermilk to loosen it. Just know if you add too much it will make thin pancakes.
- You can make these overnight. Just don’t mix in egg, baking soda, and baking powder until the next day. Once you have mixed these ingredients in, let the batter sit for 20 minutes before you cook them.
I hope you enjoyed these fluffy sourdough sourdough pancakes as much a we do!!
Bonjoir!!
Emma