Sam's Sourdough Blueberry Pancakes
 |  |  |  |  |  |
Sam’s Sourdough Blueberry Pancakes
Make a basic batter the night before you want to serve the pancakes for breakfast. Adjust this
depending upon the environment (i.e. 24 hours before serving may be appropriate in certain weather
conditions) and how sour you like it (the longer it brews the more sour it may taste). For instance,
while on my sailboat in Mexico during the hot weather season, I make up the batter about 16 to 20
hours before I plan to serve it.
Put one cup of sourdough starter in a large mixing bowl, preferably glass, ceramic or stainless steel.
Add 2 cups of warm water (up to 85 degrees F) and 2 ½ cups of white flour (not the self-rising
kind). You can experiment with different types of flour for different tastes and textures as long as
you use 2 ½ cups, i.e. replace one cup of white flour with ½ cup of whole wheat flour and ½ cup of
cornmeal. Mix batter thoroughly.
Initially the mixture will be thick and lumpy, but it will thin down during the fermentation (brewing)
process and should be lively by morning. You can cover the bowl with a dinner plate, wrap it loosely
with a towel and place it in a warm spot overnight. You may want to set the bowl on a plate if there
may be a chance of spillage (like on a sailboat at anchor or overflow during the brewing process). If
your kitchen tends to be on the cool side, place the bowl on the oven door. Avoid placing the bowl
in a drafty location. Also avoid placing it in a location where the temperature gets over 85 degrees F
as this might kill the wild yeast. Use an accurate thermometer if you are unsure.
When you are ready to make pancakes, first remove one cup of the basic batter and put it back into
your sourdough starter container (glass or ceramic with a tight fitting lid, preferably a rubber gasket).
You should be left with about 4 ½ cups of basic batter.
To this basic batter remaining in the bowl, add:
one egg
2 tablespoons cooking oil
¼ cup instant dry milk
Beat thoroughly.
Then combine in a separate small container:
one teaspoon salt
one teaspoon baking soda
2 tablespoons sugar
Blend this dry salt/soda/sugar mixture until it is smooth, eliminating any lumps. Sprinkle this mixture
over the top of the batter and fold in GENTLY. This will cause a gentle foaming and rising action.
Allow the batter to rest several minutes, then drop onto hot, lightly greased griddle. Keep the size of
the pancakes about 1 ½ inches to 2 inches in diameter for thin, fluffy and firm silver-dollar pancakes.
Or you can make larger pancakes, if you want to spend less time standing at the stove. Drop
blueberries (fresh, canned or dried) into the pancakes as they are cooking on the first side. Turn only
once and serve hot with butter and syrup. Deeeeeelicious!
If you want to make waffles with this recipe, add one additional tablespoon cooking oil. You can make
pancakes or waffles without blueberries (but they probably won’t taste quite as good).
I keep the sourdough starter in the refrigerator and make up a batch of batter once every 1-2 weeks
to keep the sourdough culture lively. I even make these pancakes on my sailboat. One batch feeds
about 4 people.
Sam Crabtree