The Quest For The Perfect Sourdough Pancake

I've always been convinced I was born in the wrong time period, and this time period has inched closer to the present as I've grown. During my "I want to live in the 1800s on the prairie" phase, my grandma and I made the best sourdough pancakes out of some sort of Laura Ingalls Wilder cookbook. They were delicious and if I remember correctly, shaped like lumpy men. I have wanted to recreate this deliciousness for a long time but a good sourdough starter alluded me.

I love the way ingredients come together

But, after my adventures in baking bread (that post is coming soon - really), with help and encouragement from Cb at Choice Sustenance as well as from here, I made my own - yay! And today, I decided to make my dreams a reality:

Look at that delicious shine!

I will give you the recipe (which I did tweak a little) but first - some helpful pancake tips:

• The more you flip them, the tougher they will be. Resist the urge to flip more than once! When there are bubbles throughout the pancake and the edges start to look slightly cooked, it's time to turn.
  
• Make sure your pan is hot! Like, really hot (400 degrees hot). SMALL water drips of water dropped on pan should sizzle like whoa.
• From what I've learned, the thicker the batter, the thicker the pancake - but the longer it needs to cook (no one likes a soggy pancake).
  
• I love the crispiness you get from using shortening. Yes, it makes something already unhealthy a little more unhealthy (okay, a lot more) but it's sooo delicious in my opinion. If you don't like shortening, using something else, like butter or bacon grease (teehee).
• I don't want to start a war here, but fruit tastes much better in/on pancakes than chocolate. :)

Dig that golden brown color...

I got the recipe here.

Sourdough Pancakes:

1 1/2 C of sourdough starter
1 egg , slightly beaten
1 T of butter (melted - but let it cool a little; don't cook your batter!)
3/4 t salt
1/2 t (heaping) of baking soda
2 T milk

Heat griddle to 400 degrees F; mix ingredients together and you're good to go! You don't have to make them into lumpy men shapes if you do not want. I opted not to for my first time, haha.

The recipe called for 1 T of sugar which I totally missed somehow and didn't put in (I'm sweet enough, right?). I thought they tasted great without it, but I did eat them with raspberries so you might want to add it. The first few I made were too thin so I added about 1/8 C of flour. I probably could have added more. The recipe suggests that you use ingredients at room temperature. My milk and egg were slightly chilled, but everything turned out fine.

Pancakes are Shippo's fourth favorite food, after cereal, icing and toast.

Even the pups liked them. There isn't much he doesn't like, true, but there were pancakes in his bowl until about a second before I took that picture. While I am glad I do not live on the prairie, I am glad for Laura Ingalls, my grandma and sourdough pancakes.

So good...too full...can't clean up....