The Best Fluffy Sourdough Pancakes Made with Whole Grain.

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, these sourdough pancakes have 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 seasonal fruit 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, and 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 and Fluffy 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. Be patient! If the bottom is getting too dark before they are ready to flip reduce the heat.

Tools 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. Using a cast iron pan for cooking sourdough discard pancakes is a game-changer. Not only do these durable pans last a lifetime, but they also provide even heat distribution, resulting in perfectly cooked and beautifully golden pancakes. If the surface of your pan is properly seasoned you get an amazing non-stick cooking experience, allowing you to effortlessly flip and slide the pancakes onto your plate.

• Cast iron pan or griddle – We LOVE our Smithey pan. We have had it for over 5 years and use it almost every day.
• 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 3 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.

Sourdough Pancakes 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		1 cup	Whole milk or almond milk
45 grams		3 tbsp	Butter for frying
30 grams		2 tbsp	Neutral oil for cooking

Loved This Recipe? Try More of Our Sourdough 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 Pancakes Recipe Card:

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