Easiest Sourdough Waffles or Pancakes

Sunday mornings are slow and easy at our house. Inevitably, there is bacon or breakfast sausages from the St. Jacobs Farmers Market to cook up... and I’ve got the time to make a fresh fruit salad and these EASY sourdough pancakes or waffles while everything is sizzling on the stovetop.

This really is the easiest process... in fact, I barely look at the recipe these days!  I just toss everything in a bowl, mix it up, and cook them up in a pan or our awesome waffle maker.

If I’m building my starter for a sourdough bread bake, I usually have some leftover sourdough starter, but using an active starter isn’t even necessary.  I’ve made these with week old starter, and it turns out just fine every time!

This was leftover starter that had been fed and used a day or two before for making sourdough bread.  I purposely made extra so it could be used for our Sunday brunch.

See how happy and bubbly my Lizzie can be if she’s ready for both bread AND waffles or pancakes?

Either way, I use @bakewithjack’s scrapings method... after using almost all the starter, I immediately toss some bread flour into my container, stir and scrape all the dried bits down, add a splash of water, and mix well before placing it back into the fridge for the next time I need it.  

Now, let’s make our waffles or pancakes!

In a bowl, pour 1-2 cups of of sourdough starter, and add:

2 eggs

1 generous teaspoon of cinnamon (to taste)

1-2 Tbsp of sugar (to taste)

1 teaspoon of baking soda

1 rounded teaspoon of baking powder

2 swirls of avocado oil or equivalent (2 Tbsp) melted butter

Mix well... adding either water/milk or a little all purpose flour to achieve the perfect consistency.

I find pancakes need a thicker texture if you want that nice puffy result... and waffles need a runnier consistency which I achieve by adding an extra tablespoon of oil or butter so it doesn’t stick and it gets a bit crispier.

This is just right for waffles, but it needs to be a bit thicker for pancakes.
Here’s a picture of a bowl of banana pancakes that needed a little bit of extra flour.

See how happy she is after mixing?  Be sure to use the batter right away, for maximum lift!

Pour into a buttered pan for pancakes.

Flip when bubbles come up and they’re browned to your liking!

Or add to a heated (and buttered) waffle maker... it’s messy (if you’re like me) but it’s totally worth the effort!

Mmmm!

Mmmm!

I stack the finished waffles (or pancakes) in the oven set to 175 degrees Fahrenheit while I finish cooking up the batter.

These are just the right thickness!

Nice and puffy!  Perfect with berries and maple syrup!

See how happy these sourdough treats can make your loved ones?

Let me know if you try this recipe!  
Tag me @mjschropp on IG or FB!

Happy cooking!

Hot Cross Buns in loaf form

Hot Cross Buns

Hot cross buns,

Hot cross buns,

One a penny, two a penny,

Hot cross buns.

Yes, the song has become a loaf in my house.  I learned how to make these buns a year or two ago, thanks to the recipe found on Laura in the Kitchen... oh, they're so so so so good. 

Anyway, our toaster oven has been replaced by a regular toaster, so toasting and reheating those icing crossed buns is no longer an option.  Enter, the hot cross bun / loaf.

Here's how to make it:

Combine 1 cup milk, slightly warmed, with

2 1/4 tsp dried baking yeast and a spoonful of sugar

Proof 5 min, or until bloomed

Melt 1/4 cup of butter and let it cool
Bring 2 eggs to room temp, I usually just run them under some warm water for a minute

In a big bowl, mix 3 3/4 cups flour

1/2 cup sugar

1 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp cloves
1/8 tsp cardamom
zest of an orange or lemon or both

Add in the cooled butter and two eggs
Also, add in a generous 1/2 cup of raisins and a small container of candied citrus peel

Stir with a wooden spoon only until a sticky dough forms and the raisins / peel are well distributed, for the most tender result.

Cover and let rise slowly in a warm place, until doubled in size
This is what it looks like about 15 minutes into the rising process

Do enjoy!!

After an hour or so, when the dough is doubled and fluffy, cut it in half, and press gently into two loaf pans lined with parchment paper.

Let rise a second time, for about 45 minutes, until each loaf is domed and ready to bake.  Brush with butter or an egg, if desired.

Bake at 375 degrees F, for about 30-35 minutes, or until golden and baked all the way through.
Let cool on a wire rack before you dig in!



Umm, yes, I confess, those are my teeth marks, eep!  I already started eating the first slice before realizing I needed to snap a picture or two... here's one with some lovely melting action.



Do enjoy!





Special thanks to #mrsvitale

Breakfast Love: Hash

I'm not a huge breakfast kind of gal, but I do love a leisurely Sunday brunch, and our Sundays almost always have some sort of cooked breakfast with bacon.

This is the first of a "breakfast series" ... where I do a simple picture dump and I include the recipe, or the process of how I make it.  I am big into improvisational cooking, so my "recipes" are less about quantities and more about playing with whatever is on hand.

The breakfast plate pictured above was from yesterday.  It was so good, I can still taste it in my mind.  What was it?  A breakfast hash.  In other words, it was a frying pan full of lovely things I found in the fridge.

I started with some bacon pieces (I like to cut them with the kitchen shears), and half of a leftover onion (chopped).  I then added two potatoes that I had quickly precooked in the microwave.  But there were only 5 chopped slices of bacon in the pan, since our nephew Matthew was here all week and he loves his bacon as much as we do!

So... I added 2 leftover baked potatoes (chopped), and a red pepper that was starting to wrinkle.  It still didn't seem like very much food, so I looked in the fridge... and found some uneaten french fries and a big chunk of chicken breast.  I chopped them roughly and threw them in.  I then added some garlic powder, a bit more salt and freshly cracked black pepper (I season as I go), and a few bits of tomato... and then snipped and added in some freshly chopped basil from the glass in our kitchen window.

Suddenly this pan of leftovers was overflowing with crispy goodness.  It was smelling amazing and I realized I didn't even need to make any eggs to go with it, because it tasted delicious!

What do you like to eat on a Sunday morning?