Recipes / Sourdough & baking

Sourdough buttermilk pancakes

Fluffy buttermilk pancakes made with sourdough discard, from PJ Hamel’s recipe. Mix the sponge the night before, then finish the batter in the morning.

Recipe author: PJ Hamel · King Arthur Baking

12 hours and 42 minutes total, including 42 minutes prep and cookingMakes: About 2 dozen medium pancakes
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Sourdough buttermilk pancakes · Serving suggestion
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Instructions

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  1. Mix the overnight sponge

    Mix the starter, buttermilk, flour and sugar in a large bowl. Cover and leave for about 12 hours, or overnight, at cool room temperature, about 18–21°C (65–70°F).

  2. Finish the batter

    Beat the eggs with the oil or melted butter. Stir into the sponge just until combined. Add the bicarbonate of soda and salt and stir again. The batter will expand and may start to bubble.

  3. Cook the pancakes

    Heat and lightly grease a frying pan or griddle. Add batter in portions of about 59 ml (¼ US cup). When bubbles appear and pop on the surface, turn the pancakes and cook the other side until golden.

  4. Serve

    Serve straight away with your favourite toppings, or keep in a warm oven until needed.

Tips

Melted butter can replace the oil in the amount listed in the ingredients.

Storage

Refrigerate leftover pancakes for 1–2 days. Freeze for longer storage.

How to serve

Serve hot with your favourite toppings.

Ingredients / history / science

Discover the ingredients and their stories

What goes into the jar? Where does the flavour come from? Open a topic and explore its sources.

About the ingredientsTwo stages, two kinds of bubbles

The overnight mixture of starter, flour and buttermilk develops flavour before it reaches the pan. Baking soda added in the morning helps aerate the acidic batter, creating more bubbles. Fermentation and baking soda work together to make pancakes that are both lightly tangy and fluffy.

History on a plateBreakfast on the trail to gold

Parks Canada describes sourdough bread and pancakes as common meals during the gold rushes in western North America. The Chilkoot Trail commemorates the Klondike Gold Rush of 1896–1899. Today, the National Park Service demonstrates these pancakes in its historical gold-rush cooking series.

A closer lookTwo stages, two sources of bubbles

The overnight sponge develops through fermentation. In the morning, baking soda reacts with acids from the starter and buttermilk, releasing carbon dioxide that lightens the pancakes. Those new bubbles come from an acid–base reaction as well as the fermentation already present in the sponge.

Recipe sources

This recipe is based on the sources listed above.

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