My sourdough starter, Robert Breadford, has made one decent loaf in his short lifetime. It’s not his fault, Mr Breadford is bubbly and lively when the time requires, but I let him down every time. Although I love making bread, sourdough is proving to be my white whale – my number one baking challenge.
Unfortunately, it’s been far too warm to bake anything recently, so I’ve had to suspend my sourdough challenge for a short while. In the meantime, I still feed my starter with flour and water around once a week, which gives me some discard (you remove some of the starter before each feeding) to use in different ways. Up until now, I’ve been whipping up a batch of flatbreads with it, but today I thought I’d give the traditional sourdough pancakes a go.
Coming from the UK, the only pancakes I’ve been used to come once a year on Pancake Day. We make them flat, like a crepe, and cover in lemon and sugar. It’s probably the best day of the year. But, that means I’ve never made the fluffy American-style pancake. After last week’s torrijas adventure I was really looking forward to having another indulgent weekend breakfast.
These were so quick and easy to make, I wouldn’t hesitate to make them again. I was amazed how quickly they magically turned from a thick liquid to fluffy, puffy pancakes in the pan. I halved this recipe from The Clever Carrot, and there was more than plenty of food for the two of us. We added fruit, flaxseed, nut, and drizzled honey over the whole thing: it was heaven.
Although I’m disappointed not to be in the kitchen making sourdough bread, I can console myself that Robert Breadford is still being put to good use. Almost every sourdough discard recipe I’ve made has been delicious, which makes the disappointing bread loaves even more frustrating!
New Day, New Thing 