Rosie Makes: Sourdough Pancakes

This coming Tuesday marks Pancake Day, Shrove Tuesday being long-awaited this year with Easter so late in the calendar. I can’t remember the last time it was in March! I came across this recipe for sourdough pancakes when looking up ways to use my discarded starter, which feels like a waste but is a necessary part of the process. This sourdough pancake recipe makes crisp, soft and slightly tangy pancakes, with a more complex flavour than your standard recipe – but if you don’t have starter to hand, you can make one of the recipes from my archive. Happy flipping! To make them, you need to start the night or morning before with the following:

Overnight sponge:
120g sourdough starter
15g sugar
225ml buttermilk
120g plain flour

In the morning:
1 egg
25g butter
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder.

First, make the overnight sponge (or you could make this in the morning if you’re eating them in the evening on pancake day). Stir your starter and remove 120g (don’t feed what you’re going to use, but you can feed the remainder at this point). Add the flour, sugar and buttermilk.

Cover and leave to stand at room temperature for 12 hours or overnight. Next, add the beaten eggs, butter, salt and baking powder to the sponge – it will start to bubble.

Heat your pan and grease with butter. Add small ladles of batter slowly into rounds and don’t touch them until the surface has wee bubbles in. Flip and cook on the other side until golden brown. Keep the pancakes warm in a low oven while you make the rest.

Continue until you’ve used up all the batter, and serve with your favourite pancake topping.

What are you baking this Shrove Tuesday?

Recipe adapted by Al from King Arthur Flour.