To be honest, Pancake Day is far more of an event than Valentine’s Day in our house (we’re outnumbered by kids after all!) so here’s my new favourite recipe.
If, like us, you’ve been busy baking sourdough over lockdown, you’ll be familiar with the discard dilemma – essential for a strong starter but very hard to throw away as your starter begins to feel like a member of the family. I usually use my discard to make Rye bread, but without guests at Dorset House, we don’t get through enough of that to use it all. So I’ve been experimenting with recipes using sourdough discard – here’s a timely one:
SOURDOUGH CREPES – MAKES ABOUT 12
INGREDIENTS:
FOR THE STARTER
100g sourdough discard
170g plain flour
190g water
FOR THE PANCAKES:
80g flour
2 eggs
210g milk (190ml)
40g sugar
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
40g butter – melted
How you make this will depend on when you want to make the pancakes (for breakfast or for supper) as waking up your discard by making the sponge is the part that needs preparing ahead.
For breakfast – mix the discard, flour and water in a bowl the night before you want to cook the pancakes, cover loosely and leave it out on the worktop overnight to ferment
For supper – mix the ingredients for the sponge in the morning but leave the mix somewhere warm (proving drawer if you have one / airing cupboard if not) to ferment until you are ready to make the pancakes.
When you are ready to make your crepes, simply whisk the remaining ingredients into your starter until the mixture has no lumps and has the consistency of cream – you may need to add a little more milk.
At this point the batter will be light and fluffy – more aerated than a traditional crepe batter.
Cook as you would a traditional crepe, swirling a ladle full of the batter around your crepe pan until it is thin – it should have lacy edges. Once the top of the batter has set, flip (or turn with a spatula) and cook for a few more seconds until both sides are golden.
The crepes are slightly more spongy than a traditional crepe with a much deeper flavour – and of course are far more gut friendly.
SERVING THE SOURDOUGH PANCAKES:
We like to roll ours with banana, good yogurt and crushed nuts before drizzling with Liberty Fields Apple Syrup. The Apple Syrup has a rich, deep flavour that pairs perfectly with the sourdough tang. Of course, there is always much love for the classic sugar and lemon pairing (or chocolate spread and orange…. or banana, bee pollen and honey… or fruit compote and ice cream – you get the picture!).
Do let me know how you get on – and keep your eyes open for more sourdough discard recipes…