Sourdough Pancakes Recipe Using Sourdough Discard

I had no idea how much “waste” a Sourdough starter could have. 

I feed my starter every day during regular days and twice a day right before I make bread

That is a lot of discard! 

I quickly decided that I would find a way to use the discard instead of wasting it

My friend who taught me to make the starter recommended crackers

And those are great! 

But we don’t go through enough crackers to use all the discard 

So I started experimenting

This pancake recipe is one of the ways I use that discard 

You can use an active starter too 

But I use the discard first to avoid it going bad in the fridge 

Ingredients:

1 cup Sourdough discard

1 cup Flour

½ cup Maple syrup

4 tsp Baking powder

¼ tsp Baking soda

½ tsp Salt

1 ¼ cup Milk 

¼ cup Olive oil

2 tsp Vanilla extract 

1 Egg

This recipe doubles and triples great as well! So if you like to have a stash of food ready to eat in the freezer, this is a great breakfast option 

When mixing everything together, the longer you let it sit before cooking, the stronger the sourdough taste

Just wait for the baking powder and baking side until right before cooking! 

Instructions:

I like to use a stand mixer, but you can make this by hand too

Add all the ingredients to a stand mixer and start mixing on low

When the flour is mostly mixed in, mix on medium for a couple of minutes

If you want a stronger sourdough taste, don’t add in the baking powder or baking soda then let the mixture rest in the fridge overnight

Add the baking powder and baking soda when you are ready to cook the pancakes 

When all the ingredients are well combined, heat a cast iron (or whatever you have) pan and spray with olive oil

Wait for the pan and oil to be hot before during the heat down to medium

Add ¼ cup of the batter to the pan

It will spread a little bit quickly stop and hold it’s shape 

You will see bubbles forming and popping as it is cooking

When the bubbles pop and the hole slowly refills with batter, flip your pancake

It will rise a little as it is cooking on the second side

Once both sides are browned, remove the pancake and make the rest of the batch 

If I scrap the last of the batter from the bowl, I can get 20 pancakes from this recipe

Serve hot with your favorite toppings like syrup and peanut butter 

Or you can freeze them for easy breakfasts throughout the week

If you add some parchment paper between each pancake, they are super easy to separate after freezing

Can you freeze sourdough pancakes?

Yes! 

You can freeze the sourdough pancakes and have really fast breakfasts throughout the week

You can reheat them in a toaster or microwave in a couple of minutes 

There are three options for freezing: 

1. Just stack them in a bag and freeze them. Sometimes they stick together badly when you want to separate them later 
2. Make a single layer on a cooking sheet to freeze then add frozen pancakes to a bag. This takes a lot of space
3. Add parchment paper between the layers when stacking and freeze. The only downside is using the parchment paper. This is what I usually do

Can I make the pancake batter ahead of time?

I like to set myself up for success in the mornings

One way to do this is by making breakfast ahead of time and rehearing it

But sometimes fresh pancakes are nice

Yes, you can make the pancake batter ahead of time and keep it in the fridge

This will make the sourdough taste a little stronger

I do recommend waiting to add the baking powder and baking soda until right before you cook it