Perfect Sourdough Pancakes Recipe (2024)

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Perfect Sourdough Pancakes Recipe (1)

These perfect buttermilk sourdough pancakes are mixed up the night before and ready to be cooked in the morning for a lazy weekend breakfast. They are very easyto make once you have your sourdough starter going andI believe they arethe most delicious pancakes you’ll ever taste.

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Even if you aren’t interested in baking sourdough bread from scratch, these pancakes and the sourdough biscuits that I shared last week are more than enough reason to keep a sourdough starter in the refrigerator.

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Whether you get some from a friend, buy it online, or make your own (it’s really not that hard!), maintaining a sourdough starter is easy. And once you have a jar of starter bubbling away on the counter or tucked away in the refrigerator, you can use it to start making these delicious pancakes that everyone will love.

In my experience, even people who don’t normally care much about pancakes will rave about these!

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Making the batter is simple. The night before, stir together flour, buttermilk, and sourdough starter. Cover the bowl and let it sit out at cool room temperature overnight. By the way, if you don’t have buttermilk, regular milk works just fine in this recipe.

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The next morning, the batter will be nice and bubbly and ready for the rest of the ingredients.

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Stir in an eggthathas been beaten with salt and baking soda. I mix the soda and salt into the egg just to help everything get distributed into the thick batter a little easier.

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Stir it all together until the egg is completely mixed in.

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Next, stir in the melted butter. I add the butter separately so that the melted butter doesn’t doesn’t harden from being mixed with the cold egg.

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That’s it! Your pancake batter is ready to go.

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I cook my pancakes on a cast iron griddle that came with my stove. Because it’s cast iron and takes a while to heat, I turn it on before the final mixing of the batter. Then when I’m ready to cook, I brush it lightly with either butter or oil using a silicone pastry brush. This time I used coconut oil.

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Sometimes I make big pancakes, sometimes I make small ones. It just depends on my mood and who I’m feeding. These were for my husband, so they are on the large side.

This is a pretty thick batter so the pancakes will cook upthick and fluffy. Because of that, you want to make sure your griddle isn’t too hot or the pancakes will burn before they are cooked through. You’ll know it’s time to flip them when edges of the pancakes are starting to look dry.

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It may take a little trial and error to get the griddle to the perfect temperature, but once you get the hang of it, you’ll be rewarded with perfect, golden, fluffy sourdough pancakes.

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Don’t forget the butter and maple syrup!

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This pancake recipe is adapted from the recipe that came with the original sourdough starter I purchased from King Arthur Flour about 10 years ago.

Kitchen equipment used for this recipe:
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Related Recipes:

  • How to Make Sourdough Starter
  • Easy Pumpkin Maple Sourdough Cake
  • Buttery Sourdough Biscuits
  • Sourdough Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

Around the Web:

Perfect Sourdough Pancakes Recipe (15)

Yield: 10–12 4-inch pancakes

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Additional Time: 8 hours

Total Time: 8 hours 35 minutes

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
  • 1/2 cup all purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup sourdough starter
  • 1 cup buttermilk
  • 1 tablespoon sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 2 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled

Instructions

  1. The night before you want to make pancakes, combine the flours and sugar in a mixing bowl. Add buttermilk and sourdough starter and stir to combine. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap. Let sit out at cool room temperature overnight (up to 12 hours is fine).
  2. The following morning, melt butter and set aside to cool a bit. In a separate bowl, whisk together egg, baking soda, and salt. Stir egg mixture into the pancake batter until well combined then stir in melted butter.
  3. Drop by spoonful (as large or small as you want) onto a moderately hot, lightly greased skillet or griddle. Cook pancakes until bubbly and starting to dry out on the edges then flip and and continue cooking until browned to your liking on the other side.

Notes

This recipe feeds about 3-4 people. Recipe can easily be doubled or tripled for a larger family.

You can use all purpose flour in place of whole wheat if desired, but the whole flour tastes great in this recipe.

Regular milk can be used in place of buttermilk if that's all you have. I do this quite often and the pancakes still have a great flavor because of the sourdough starter.

If the batter seems way too thick, you can thin it with a bit more buttermilk or milk. Just be careful not to add too much or your pancakes will turn out very thin.

Nutrition Information:

Yield: 4Serving Size: 1
Amount Per Serving:Calories: 267Total Fat: 8gSaturated Fat: 5gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 3gCholesterol: 64mgSodium: 603mgCarbohydrates: 40gFiber: 3gSugar: 6gProtein: 9g

Perfect Sourdough Pancakes Recipe (2024)

FAQs

Why are my sourdough pancakes gummy? ›

Gummy sourdough pancakes are usually due to cooking issues. Be sure to fully cook the pancakes all the way through.

What should sourdough starter look like pancake batter? ›

It should look like thick pancake batter. After mixing, I mark the jar with a whiteboard marker or a rubber band and cover loosely. Your starter is ready to bake with once it has at least doubled in size, active and bubbly and slightly tangy aroma.

Will sourdough pancake batter keep in the fridge? ›

Step 2: In the morning, add the eggs, salt, baking powder and baking soda to the batter and stir to incorporate. Let the batter rest for about 20 minutes before cooking. The pancake batter can stay in the fridge for up to 2 days before using it to make the waffles and pancakes.

What is the secret to light fluffy pancakes? ›

The secret is in the egg whites!

To give your pancakes that fluffy text, beat only the egg whites for 3 minutes on medium speed. They'll start turning creamy, which means it's time to add them to the pancake mixture. Use a wooden spatula to incorporate everything. There you have it!

What makes fluffier pancakes milk or water? ›

Milk helps make pancakes fluffier than water. Since milk is thicker than water, it creates a thicker batter. Further, if you use whole milk or low fat milk, the fat content helps yield tender, fluffy results.

How do you make sourdough less gummy? ›

Try less water with your flour. Uneven heat in your oven can be the culprit – if you loaf is nicely golden on the outside but gummy or moist in the inside, it's baking too quickly on the outside. Trying reducing the temperature you're baking at and bake for a bit longer.

Why is my sourdough dense and chewy? ›

One of the most common mistakes is having a dough temperature that's too low for the starter to feed on all the flour in the dough, resulting in a crumb that's dense, with fewer openings. "Starter is happiest and most active at around 75 degrees. If it's a lot colder, the process will be much slower.

Do you have to discard sourdough starter? ›

If you don't get rid of the excess, eventually you'll have more starter than your feedings can sustain. After a few days, your daily 1/4 cup flour and water won't be enough to sustain your entire jar of starter, and your starter will be slow and sluggish, not much better than discard itself.

Is sourdough discard good for you? ›

Yes, there are actually several health benefits to using sourdough discard in your cooking and baking. Sourdough discard is rich in probiotics, which can help promote a healthy gut microbiome and improve digestion.

What to do with throw away sourdough starter? ›

You can always use this discard by directly mixing it into a dough for baking. Your discard, as long as it's in good shape, will leaven any bread dough just as well. The discard is just like a levain you would make for a recipe. The only difference is it's the same makeup as your starter.

What are the warning signs of sourdough starter? ›

Typical signs of food spoilage and mold include pink, orange, or green colors, white fuzzy spots, or sometimes areas that are darker with white areas on top. If you see any of these signs, I would recommend throwing your starter away and creating a new one.

Why should you not refrigerate sourdough bread? ›

The most important thing to know is that you should never store sourdough in your fridge. The inside of a fridge is a very harsh environment that's much too cold and dry to store bread in. Your sourdough will get hard and stale much faster in the fridge than if you leave it out.

What do sourdough pancakes taste like? ›

TASTE: Just a word to the wise, these taste like pancakes from your favorite restaurant. Thick, fluffy, soft, and delicious! They do NOT have a sour flavor, and most likely no one would know you used your sourdough starter when making them!

Can you reheat sourdough pancakes? ›

You can reheat pancakes that have cooled off, have been kept in the fridge, or have been frozen. You can reheat them in the oven, the toaster, the toaster oven, the microwave, or a frying pan. Just don't overcook them when reheating. Use just enough heat and time to warm them up.

What makes restaurant pancakes taste so good? ›

Restaurants use better quality ingredients

Restaurants tend to use real, farm-fresh eggs and real milk when making their pancakes, which as you might guess, adds to a richer, higher-quality eating experience.

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