Einkorn Sourdough Pancake Recipe | Easy to Make With Sourdough Discard.

Using whole grain einkorn and leftover sourdough starter, these sourdough pancakes are a delicious and nutritious recipe for any day of the week! Top with your favourite nut butter or jam for an easy grab-and-go breakfast, or keep it traditional with a pat of butter and a drizzle of real maple syrup.

We Love Sourdough Pancakes!

Since the day my daughter was able to help in the kitchen, this sourdough pancake recipe has become a staple in our kitchen. This recipe is adapted from Anne Willan’s La Varenne Pratique and I have been making it for over a decade. These sourdough pancakes can be topped with whatever you please, but our household favourite is fresh berries or peaches finished with some whipped cream and real Canadian maple syrup.

While we typically make these on the weekend, we almost always double the recipe and freeze what we don’t eat. It is so easy to reheat them during the week for the morning rush– just pop them in the toaster or microwave and you’re good to go! For this recipe, I am using einkorn from flourist but you could use any einkorn or even sub in other whole grains like spelt or emmer.

Saving Sourdough Discard

While I try to do smaller feeds to reduce the waste I often find myself with a little bit of extra starter. Throughout the week I add it all to a jar that is kept in the fridge. When you want to use your sourdough discard for baking, remove it from the fridge 1-2 hours before using. While we often use our discard for pancakes and waffles we have added a few more of our favourites in the sourdough discard section of the site.

Tips For Light Sourdough Pancakes

• Do not overmix the pancake batter. You don’t want a strong gluten development so the pancakes stay light and not flat.
• Let the batter rest for 30-45 minutes before cooking. Resting the batter will help the dough hydrate and reduce lumps in the batter. It will also allow the gluten time to relax resulting in a lighter pancake.
• Allow the pancakes to bubble and just pop before flipping. If the bottom is getting too dark before they are ready to flip reduce the heat.
• Flip the pancakes only once.

What You’ll Need:

You don’t need much to make this sourdough pancake recipe but in my experience, the best way to cook them is on a griddle top or heavy cast iron pan.

• Cast iron pan or griddle
• Stainless steel mixing bowls
• Measuring cups and spoons
• Whisk
• Ladle
• Metal spatula to flip the pancakes

Sourdough Pancake Recipe Variations

While this sourdough pancake recipe never gets old, it can be fun to switch it up sometimes. Here are a few of our favourite variations.

• Blueberry Sourdough Pancakes – Add one cup of blueberries at the end of mixing the batter. if you’d like to prevent the blueberries from smearing the pancakes simply roll them in a small amount of flour before adding them to the batter
• Vegan Sourdough Pancakes – Replace the milk with non-dairy milk, the butter with olive oil and the egg with a flax egg. For the flax egg, mix one tbsp flax seeds with three tbsp water and let stand for 15 minutes.
• Whole Wheat Sourdough Pancakes – Replace the einkorn flour with whole wheat flour.
• Banana Pancakes – Add 1 sliced banana to the batter at the end of mixing.
• Buckwheat Pancakes – Substitute 1/2 the total flour for buckwheat flour.
• Buttermilk Pancakes – Substitute all of the milk for buttermilk. Buttermilk is very acidic and baking soda is a base. The two react together and make an even lighter and fluffier pancake.
• Non-Sourdough Pancakes – If you don’t have a sourdough starter you can make these without. Remove the sourdough discard and reduce the flour to 150 grams/1 cup. If you don’t have a sourdough starter I recommend checking out my guide on how you can create your own.
• Mini Sourdough Pancakes – Pour the sourdough pancake batter into a small squeeze bottle. Carefully let the batter pour into the pan in small circles from the squeeze bottle and cook them the same way.

Einkorn Sourdough Pancake Recipe Specs:

Yield	8-10 medium-sized pancakes

Ingredients:

Weight		Volume	Ingredient
200 grams		1.5 cups	Whole-grain einkorn
125 grams		1/2 cup	Sourdough discard
3 grams		1/2 tsp	Salt
40 grams		2 tbsp	Maple syrup
5 grams		1 tsp	Baking powder
4 grams		3/4 tsp	Baking soda
50 grams		1	Whole egg
5 grams		1 tsp	vanilla paste or extract
30 grams		2 tbsp	Melted butter
250 grams		2 cups	Whole milk or almond milk
45 grams		3 tbsp	Butter for frying
30 grams		2 tbsp	Neutral oil for cooking

Sourdough Pancake Recipe Method:

1. In a mixing bowl add all of the dry ingredients and whisk them lightly to combine.
2. Add the sourdough discard, egg, vanilla extract, maple syrup and milk to a mixing bowl. Whisk the ingredients together to combine.
3. Whisking slowly combine the wet and the dry ingredients. The batter should be mixed thoroughly but have some small lumps remaining. Be careful not to overmix.
4. Allow the pancake batter to rest for 30-45 minutes.
5. Preheat a cast iron skillet or griddle to medium heat. Wipe the pan lightly leaving enough oil to prevent the pancakes from sticking. Using a ladle, spoon or pitcher pour the batter into the pan. Once the pancakes have started to cook add a small amount of butter.
6. The batter will bubble and start to pop (about 2 minutes). Flip the pancakes and allow them to cook through (another 2-3 minutes).
7. Cook the remaining pancakes the same way and pile them directly on top of the first batch to help them stay warm.

More Whole Grain Recipes

We love baking with whole grains and hope you do too! For more whole grain recipes check out our recipe for whole wheat pitas or our decadent chocolate cake with rye,

Sourdough Pancake Recipe Card

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