Sourdough Adventures - Whole Wheat Sourdough Pancakes with Dates Syrup

2 years ago

AJ was mesmerized by the stream of people carrying bowls seemingly made of  bread and filled with some steaming hot liquid at Fisherman's Pier. Hot soup seemed like a great idea on a cold, wet day. Trying hard to not to be obvious, she began searching for the 'source' of those bread bowls. She found herself at the display of Boudin Bakery  in San Francisco, completely taken by the different shapes the bread (think - alligators, tortoises, bears!). AJ soon discovered she was unwittingly standing at the door of Boudin Bakery - the birth place for San Francisco sourdough. It had an unusual tangy taste from the fermentation of wheat. AJ was hooked. 

Fast forward to 1 week ago

AJ willed herself to complete the conference review despite this being among the top five boring things in the world to do. 15 more minutes and then you can go exploring the internet, she told herself. 

15 minutes later...

 Meandering through the daily news, AJ accidently clicked on a website and it opened a page on sourdough. Intrigued, AJ began browsing through. After getting home, she started her research. Before she knew it, it was already 1:00 am before she decided to go to sleep.

5 days ago...

After much research and postponing, AJ decided to take the plunge and initiate the sourdough starter.

5 days. That's exactly how many days it took for these pancakes to be made. I did goof up and didn't follow instructions, but warm weather makes it easy to correct mistakes and contributed to the 5 days. Stay tuned for my next post for the actual sourdough starter recipe.

Let me explain how I ended up with sourdough pancakes. Sourdough starter process requires half of the starter to be discarded every 12 hours. I didn't realize how quickly it all added up which sent me flying to my laptop for recipes. The pancakes came at a convenient time - it was breakfast time on a lazy vacation day.

And I made a happy accidental discovery. Dates Syrup. It totally works. A very good replacement for the super expensive maple syrup. It has a rich, deep flavor which works very well with the tangy sourdough.

So, without much ado, let me present the recipe for sourdough.

Sourdough Pancakes with Dates Syrup

Adapted from WildYeast
Makes about 6 pancakes

Ingredients

1 cup mature 100%-hydration sourdough starter

1/4 cup milk

1 tbsp sugar

2 tbsp vegetable oil

1 egg

1/2 tsp salt

1&1/2 tsp baking soda

Directions 

Heat non-stick girdle/tawa on a medium-high flame. Melt butter.

Whisk all ingredients till well mixed. Pour 2 tbsp of batter on the griddle and cook on one till bubbles appear.  Flip and cook till well browned. 

Serve with generous amounts of dates syrup.