Last Tuesday I finished my career as a part-time
graduate student. I sat around my
professor’s dining room table for six with nine other people in sticky, humid air
and listened to ethnobotanical presentations and ate wild green pie, filled
with lamb’s-quarters and wood sorrel from the lawn outback.
At one point someone’s homemade kombucha exploded and
my professor used white linen napkins that were once Julia Child’s to clean up
the fermented tea. Then we ate peanut
cake with salted chocolate icing made using a family heirloom recipe born from
life on a Mississippi legume farm. I
talked about the cultural thorniness of the black raspberry and of Dr. Oz and
scientific hubris.
It was a very odd, very appropriate, ending to the
past five years. A time that has deeply
tested the limits of my sanity, has limited my social capacities and back
account, and has forever broadened my view of food and society.
I am grateful to have this perspective and am looking forward to reacquainting with my kitchen. Most recently this has included pancakes. The past few years have left me perpetually
searching for recipes that incorporate spent sourdough starter and also for
pancakes that puff up like the kind served by someone who calls everyone honey.
My Life in Sourdough has that version.
The ingredient list is admittedly a bit limiting, as it requires you
know someone who regularly maintains a starter.
My brother has killed at least three.
And I’m hoping these pancakes might motivate him to put an end to his microbial
massacres once and for all.
If you regularly feed a starter, you are in luck. This will aid in creating thick, fluffy saucer-sized
shapes that take to maple syrup far better than any other breakfast food. (Even better than the waffles of insane greatness.) I have made the recipe at least three times in the past month. That alone should come through loud and
clear.
Because if I have learned anything over the past five
years, it’s that it is sometimes better to let the food do the talking. As Mel Brooks once joked, listen to your
broccoli, and your broccoli will tell you how to eat it. Something tells me that pancakes can speak
even louder.
Sourdough Blueberry Brown Butter Pancakes
Adapted from My Life in Sourdough
Ingredients:
½ to ¾ cup sourdough starter (not fed)
½ cup all-purpose flour
½ cup whole wheat flour
1 cup whole milk
1 tbsp sugar
1 egg
¼ tsp salt
½ tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp butter
1 scant cup frozen or fresh blueberries
zest of one lemon (optional)
Instructions:
The night before
In a large bowl, mix the starter, flours, milk, and
sugar until well combined; cover and place in the fridge overnight (ideally 10
to 20 hours ahead, see note below).
The day of
In a medium or large sauté pan, melt the butter over
medium heat; continue to cook until it turns a light caramel and starts to
smell nutty; set aside to cool slightly.
To the starter mixture, add the egg, salt, baking soda, and vanilla
extract. Slowly add in the melted butter
and then fold in the blueberries and lemon zest (if using).
Wipe out the sauté pan to remove any dark bits and
butter the pan again; set the heat to medium.
Scoop about 1/3 cup heaping batter into the pan and then cook until it
starts to bubble and turn golden on the underside. Flip and cook about 1 minute more or until
cooked throughout. Repeat with remaining
batter, buttering the pan after every pancake.
Makes about six to eight 4 to 5-inch diameter pancakes
Notes:
-The whole wheat adds a nice nuttiness and I’d
definitely encourage it. The milk can be
swapped depending on your preference.
-If the starter mixture rests in the fridge about 10
hours, it benefits from being left on the countertop an hour or two to let the
microbes warm up; this helps the pancakes rise better. The longer it is left in the fridge the less
time it needs on the countertop. (But
this is a living product and may need some individual tweaking.)
