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Delicious Sourdough pancakes with maple syrup and raw butter

The Amazing Cookbook by The New York Times Food Writer and Minimalist Mark Bittman

Today is the first REAL day of summer because yesterday was the last of the finals and everyone did something fun today! We ended the day at a local amusement park, but the morning was extra special too, because I cooked pancakes in honor of summer!

I have to be completely honest with you and tell you that for me, IHOP pancakes were a hard habit to break. To me, if I couldn’t have those light fluffy buttermilk pancakes (no matter what they contained!) I didn’t have pancakes! I have been trying to work in whole wheat flour and traditional cooking methods into any baked goods or breakfast goodies, so, I thought it was time for me to do it with pancakes.

How To Cook Everything has a great breakfast section that focuses on all the basics starting on page 789. Mark works his way through eggs, quiche, souffle and finally sweeter fare. I had actually been looking for a muffin recipe because my kids adore them, but I didn’t get that far.  There is a smaller section dedicated to pancakes and includes his six tips for making perfect pancakes, and an entire page of substitutions for any of the basic recipes he describes.

I found his recipe for Everyday Pancakes with a Sourdough Pancake alternative and I figured I would give it a try.  I was even feeling rather adventurous and thought to “traditionalize” it a bit more.  His regular recipe calls for all purpose flour, but I completely replaced that with whole wheat, and my starter is whole wheat as well. I soaked the flour portion overnight in the milk and added a dash of whey. After mixing up the whole batch and getting ready to cook it, my daughter stirred it and said that she wanted me to add vanilla, so I added in 1 tsp. to make her happy! After a bit of finagling, the recipe looks like this.

Every Day Pancakes- Sourdough Variation page 811-812

Serves 4 (3 pancakes each)

1 Cup freshened sourdough starter (close to 100% hydration)

1 Cup whole wheat flour

1 Cup raw milk or whole unhomogenized milk

2 Tbs. fresh raw milk or yogurt whey

1/4 Tsp. salt

1 Pastured egg

2 Tbs. raw butter heated to melting and then cooled

Raw butter, ghee, lard or coconut oil for the griddle

1 Tbs. raw sugar or maple sugar

1/2 Tsp. aluminum free baking powder (I upped this when the first batch was too flat to a full Tsp.)

Maple syrup, butter, apple sauce, bananas and fruit compote for toppings.

In a large bowl mix 1 cup whole wheat flour with the milk and whey. Cover with a damp cloth and allow to soak overnight.  Feed your room temperature sourdough starter to make sure you will have 1 full cup of starter by morning. If you are storing your starter in the fridge, make sure to remove it the day before so it is very active and give it a feeding according to your regular habits every 8 hours to bring it up to speed (I usually add 1/2 cup flour and 1/2 cup water).

In the morning, remove the cloth from the bowl and stir the mixture. Add in the sourdough starter and allow to sit for 1 hour. In a small saucepan melt the 2 Tbs. butter over low heat and add in the salt and sugar. Stir to mix well and dissolve the crystals and then put to the side to cool, but not to set.  You can do this during the 1 hour sit time.

Beat the egg in a small bowl and mix together with the cooled liquid butter. Sprinkle the baking powder across the top of the flour and starter mixture and then stir in the butter/egg mixture.

Heat more butter in a large cast iron skillet or your favorite pancake making pan. The pan is ready when a few drops of water skitter across it before evaporating. Melt the butter but do not allow to burn or it will over brown your pancakes.

Dip out scant 1/4 cup of batter for each pancake, allowing room for flipping.  You will need to adjust the temperature as the pan becomes well heated. You want the edges to set and bubbles to appear and pop in the middle before flipping them. Turn when ready and brown on the other side. Transfer to a warm cookie sheet in a 200 degree oven. DO NOT stack them, but lay flat.

When complete, stack 3 pancakes and slip a little butter between the pancakes to melt. Top with sweetness of your choice and enjoy warm! These pancakes turned out delicious, but they were not without their trials.  First, I had never cooked pancakes in my cast iron skillet and since I have an electric range, the heat can be a bit tricky. I kept getting a nice browning on the side of the pancake close to the middle and a bit under done towards the outside of the pan. I finally figured out the hot spots and turned the pan every few minutes to even it out.  I also felt that Bittman dropped the baking powder too low (the original Everyday Pancake recipe calls for 2 Tsp., and I am assuming for a white flour and white flour sourdough starter 1/2 Tsp would be enough). I think when using whole wheat you could probably keep the 2 tsp baking powder to create a fluffier pancake. Using a mixture of white flour and whole wheat would also create a lighter pancake, but for me, this was not an option.

I would rate this “traditionalized” version of the Mark Bittman Everyday Sourdough Pancake a 50 MPH speed limit. It was delicious, but it was different from what I consider to be a pancake. This is what we all deal with when switching to a real food diet. We can create many amazing dishes, but some are just not going to be the same when you replace the white junk with wholesome soaked whole wheat!

I just got another GREAT cookbook when I was down visiting the Stoltzfus farm this weekend and it is called Wholesome Home Cooking not suprisingly it has some great pancake recipes that are already “traditionalized” and I plan on trying them out in the near future because I am sure they are tried and true and all the kinks have been worked out!

Anyway, my kids loved the pancakes because they were made with love and they had a nice tangy sourdough taste which worked well with the sweet butter and maple syrup. They both said they would eat them again!

I highly recommend this book for ease of use and variety. Even the most traditional cook will get some amazing ideas from it. You can view more information on all Mark Bittman’s terrific cook books at my Stuff I Like on Amazon store, or by clicking the Amazon Banner at the bottom of this page. You can also find great information and more recipes from Mark at his website Mark Bittman, and of course, the New York Times.

This article has been a part of  Fight Back Friday, Vegetarian Foodie Friday, Wholesome Whole Foods, My Meatless Mondays and summer lovin Bittman linkup at the I Heart Cooking Clubs.

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