Sourdough Pancakes

I was over at a friend's house a few weeks ago and scored some sourdough starter. Now, of course any good sourdough starter originated with a Sourdough. Matt informed me that this sourdough was started by a Sourdough in Juneau in 1949. Now to those of you who don't believe everything you hear you might not buy it, but it sounded fun and perfectly reasonable to me.

Anyway, Matt made some very yummy blueberry sourdough pancakes for breakfast. Yes, again with the blueberries. He did this while teaching me how to can salmon (i.e. not blow myself up with a pressure cooker). He then sent me home with some sourdough starter and his pancake recipe so that I could attempt to make such tasty pancakes on my own.

For information on how to start your own sourdough starter, and/or keep your sourdough starter going once you get it, go to Sourdough Baking. A couple nots: Be sure to keep your starter in a plastic or glass container and mix it with a plastic or wooden spoon. Do not use metal. Also, Matt mixes in a tbsp of sugar, along with the flour and water, when feeding the sourdough.

Lastly, for some helpful tips on making the perfect pancake check out Smitten Kitchen's Pancake 101.

Matt's Sourdough Pancakes

2 cups sourdough starter*, room temperature
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 egg
4 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tbsp warm water

Preheat oven to 175. In a large bowl, add sourdough starter, sugar, egg, olive oil, and salt; mix well. In a small bowl, dilute 1 tsp baking soda in 1 tbsp of warm water. Fold the baking soda/water mixture gently into the prepared pancake batter (do not beat). This will cause a gentle foaming and rising action. Let mixture stand a minute or two.

Heat a lightly-greased griddle on low-medium heat. For each pancake, pour 1/4 to 1/2 cup batter onto griddle. Wait until batter begins to cook and add blueberries or other additions*. Cook about 2 minutes on each side or until golden brown. Remove from heat and place on a baking sheet in the oven until all pancakes are ready to serve. (Do not leave pancakes in oven for more than 30 minutes.) Serve with maple syrup and other toppings*.

*For a lighter, sweeter pancake with less of a tangy sourdough taste substitute 2 cups of sourdough starter with 1 cup sourdough starter and 1 cup unbleached all purpose flour.

*Optional additions: Blueberries (frozen or fresh), chopped walnuts, chocolate chips.

*Toppings: Sliced banana or other fresh/frozen fruit, jelly/jam, yogurt, confectioner sugar.

Winter Spice Blueberry Jam

This recipie comes via Margaret and is a hybrid of recipies found at Blueberry-Recipe.com. It has a distinct spiced flavor to it. When I tasted it I found myself craving winter so I can snuggle up on the couch with a book, this jam on toast, and a cup of tea while snow falls softly outside. (If you are looking for a more simple blueberry recipe Stacy made this recipe and it was yummy. More light and summery in taste.)

Spiced Blueberry Jam
4 cups blueberries
2 tbsp lemon juice
4 cups sugar
1 package fruit pectin
scant 1/4 tsp each of cinnamon, cloves and allspice

Prepare jars* by boiling them for 10 minutes. Crush blueberries and poor into a large pan on the stove. Stir sugar, lemon, and spices into fruit. Mix well and bring to full boil for 5 minutes over high heat; stir constantly.

Pour fruit pectin (I used Certo) into fruit and cointue to boil for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and skim off foam. Ladle into jars, wipe rims of jam. Turn jars upside down for 5 minutes and then turn upright. Let set for 1 hour.

*I made 12 4 oz jars of jam with this recipe. I did not fill the jars completly and probably could have gotten the mixture into 9 or 10 jars if I had filled them more fully.