These light and fluffy sourdough discard pancakes are sure to become a family favorite!

Does your family love pancakes for breakfast? Are you looking for new sourdough recipes to make with your leftover discard? If so, then you are going to love our family’s sourdough discard pancakes! These delicious and moist pancakes quickly became a family favorite and we make them almost every week.

During COVID I started making homemade sourdough bread like so many others who were stuck at home. I quickly discovered that I had more sourdough discard (this is the excess sourdough starter that you don’t immediately use) than I knew what to do with. That’s when I started experimenting with recipes to use my leftover starter. I love the taste of sourdough so I started thinking about foods that would be good with some added sourdough. These sourdough discard pancakes were actually one of the first recipes I created with my discard along with my Sourdough Crepes Recipe.

Sourdough Starter Rising On The Kitchen Counter

Do you want to know the secret ingredient in these pancakes that makes them the best pancakes ever? It’s not just the sourdough discard, but the sour cream. I actually started out by trying to make buttermilk pancakes with my leftover discard. One morning I found myself out of buttermilk and wondered what would happen if I modified my recipe and added sour cream instead. The result? Incredibly tasty and fluffy sourdough pancakes. We’ve been making these sourdough discard pancakes with sour cream ever since!

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Equipment Needed To Make Pancakes

How To Make Sourdough Discard Pancakes

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This recipe is best made the night prior to cooking, but you can also mix the pancake batter up and eat them in the same morning! I will just take my leftover sourdough starter discard out of the fridge in the morning and let it come to room temperature before making my pancakes. When I have extra time and really want fluffy pancakes, I’ll use my excess sourdough starter in the evening to prepare the batter to sit overnight. I find that I get the fluffiest sourdough pancakes when I mix the batter and put it in the fridge overnight. This gives the starter time to develop more and the sourdough taste really intensifies nicely.

To make this sourdough pancake recipe, you will need the following ingredients:

Ingredients

2 Cups of All Purpose Flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
2 Tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups milk
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs lightly beaten
1 tsp vanilla
100 grams sourdough discard
Butter or Coconut Oil for greasing griddle

Recipe Instructions

Grab your large mixing bowl and combine your 2 cups of flour, 1 tbsp of baking powder, 2 tsps of baking soda, and 1 tsp of salt. Whisk the dry ingredients together in the large bowl and set aside.

Next, using your medium sized mixing bowl and combine 1 1/2 cups milk, 1/2 cup sour cream, 1/2 cup vegetable oil, 1/4 cup granulated sugar, 2 eggs lightly beaten, and 1 tsp of vanilla. I then place my medium sized bowl with the wet ingredients on top of my kitchen scale and zero out the scale so I can measure my sourdough starter. Measure 100 grams of sourdough starter into your wet ingredients. Whisk all wet ingredients together.

Pour your wet ingredients from the medium sized bowl slowly into the large bowl of dry ingredients. Gently stir or whisk all ingredients together. You want to make sure that all clumps are out of your batter, but you don’t want to over stir. Set aside and let your batter rest for about 20-30 minutes. If you are using the overnight method, cover your sourdough discard pancake mixture with plastic wrap and place in the fridge overnight. In the morning, be sure to pull your batter out of the fridge and let it come to room temperature before cooking.

While your batter is resting, heat your griddle on medium heat. On my griddle, I heat it to just below 350 degrees. I’ve found that this makes for a nice and golden colored pancake. Oil your skillet with either butter or coconut oil. Once your griddle is heated, it’s time to cook your pancakes!

Pour about 1/4 cup of batter per pancake onto the griddle, making sure the pancakes don’t run together. After about 2-3 minutes, you should notice bubbles starting to appear on your pancakes. When those bubbles start to pop, it’s time to flip your pancakes. Flip your pancakes and let them cook for another 1-2 minutes on the other side.

Transfer your cooked pancakes into your pancake warmer while you make the rest of the batter. I use a pancake warmer lined with a flour sack towel to keep the ready pancakes nice and warm until I’m ready to serve. It used to be that we were always eating one at a time as our griddle only cooks 4 pancakes at a time. With this pancake warmer, I’m able to cook all the pancakes and then we can sit down together and enjoy our sourdough discard pancakes.

Once your pancakes are cooked, serve hot with your favorite toppings (see suggestions below). Of course butter and maple syrup are our favorite way to eat these sourdough discard pancakes.

Favorite Pancake Toppings & Filling Ideas For Sourdough Discard Pancakes

Of course a little bit of melted butter and maple syrup tastes absolutely delicious on top of these sourdough discard pancakes. However, if you are looking for some fun alternatives, you can try any of these pancake topping ideas:

Yummy Pancake Topping Ideas

Sprinkle chocolate chips on top of pancake batter while it’s cooking on the griddle.
Before flipping, place thinly sliced apples and sprinkle cinnamon while the pancakes are cooking on the griddle.
Top with Fresh Berries or sliced Bananas.
Top with Strawberry Rhubarb Syrup.
Sprinkle fresh blueberries on top of pancake batter while it’s cooking on the griddle.
Spread peanut butter on top of cooked pancakes.
Top pancakes with greek yogurt and berries.

How To Store Sourdough Discard Pancakes

You can store your left over pancakes in an airtight container in the fridge for up to five days.
If you are not going to eat your left-over pancakes right away, you can freeze the left over pancakes in a zip-lock freezer bag. I will usually write the date on the outside of the bag so I know when I made the pancakes. Also, it’s important that you make sure the pancakes are completely cooled before closing up in the zip-lock bag. Otherwise, too much moisture will accumulate in the bag and cause ice crystals to form.

How To Reheat Leftover Sourdough Discard Pancakes

It’s easy to reheat leftover sourdough pancakes! In our house we have a Breville Smart Oven which has a warming feature. When the leftover pancakes have been stored in the fridge, I place the leftovers in the smart oven on the warm setting at 250 degrees for about 10 minutes.

If the pancakes are frozen, I’ll typically place them in the smart oven on the warm setting at 250 for about 20-30 minutes, flipping them about half way through. I often find myself making more pancakes than we need to purposely have leftovers. This is a great way to have an easy school morning breakfast for my daughter.

Delicious Sourdough Discard Pancakes

The Flowering Farmhouse

Our family loves sourdough pancakes for breakfast! These delicious and moist pancakes quickly became a family favorite and we make them almost every week. This is the perfect recipe for when you have extra sourdough starter and you want to make something the entire family will enjoy!

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Prep Time 15

Cook Time 15

Resting Time 20

Course Breakfast

Cuisine American

Servings 4