Sourdough Pancake or Waffle Batter Recipe (2024)

An equal volume (1 cup) of a liquid and a solid will have different masses. 1 cup of water = 8 oz or ~ 230 grams. Flour is less dense that water. It weighs less. Throw out the measuring cups, buy a scale.

Quit already with the mass-over-volume kool-aid. I do know what I'm doing. There is just as much variability in consumer instrumentation for weighing ingredients as there is for measuring volume and it is simply not superior for most single meal preparations. Ambient temperature, elevation, humidity and freshness of the same ingredients over time and brand cast wide differences in the their mass . Care, attention and technique in all measurement is more important. Lose the white horse.

Used plain yogurt when I didn't have buttermilk. Worked perfectly to make delicious waffles

Sourdough starter does make heavenly waffles and here's some ways to make them healthier: Replace all or part of the all-purpose flour with a combination of wholewheat, oat or other whole grains. Use olive oil instead of butter. Also, if you don't have buttermilk in stock, non-fat milk, soy milk etc. work fine. If you omit the sugar, less chance the batter will stick to the waffle iron. And, for supremely light and crispy waffles, separate the egg and fold in the whites beaten stiff.

These are hands down the best pancakes ever. My son-in-law who says he hates pancakes, loves these. My 98 year old friend says they are fabulous. The list goes on. I make double batches, put them in food saver bags and freeze them. I reheat on a cookie sheet at 300 degrees for 10 minutes and they’re good as new!

Unfed starter is removed from your container of starter before additional flour and water have been added. Fed starter is starter has been recently "fed" with additional flour and water. Unless you bake weekly you will want to remove a portion of starter before adding additional flour and water to keep the starter going - feeding the starter. The removed portion would be unfed since it had been sitting for at least a day or two with no additions of flour and water.

Sourdough newbie, here. I prepared exactly as instructed with the starter I've been nursing from King Arthur, topped with Irish butter and good maple syrup. If food were eligible for sainthood, I would say prayers to these pancakes. So, so good. God bless us, every one.

Yes you need the soda to counteract the acidity of the sourdough so the waffles will brown properly. Browning occurs better in an alkaline environment.

Not to say that Jack is wrong about browning, but my understanding of organic chemistry and the Maillard reaction (the reaction the is involved in browning and creating all of those lovely coffee and chocolate notes) is that it is catalyzed in both acidic and basic environments, so you should be able to get good browning if either acidic or alkali. The baking soda is more for more loft and decreasing acidity, not to enhance browning. To get a lofty pancake separate your egg and whip the white.

Baking is chemistry in the kitchen which requires somewhat precise measurement and environmental control to achieve consistency, repeatable results and less disappointment. Buy a scale with gram measurement capabilities. You’ll be happier. To all the people who boo hoo about weighing things out properly when baking, please stop trying to fit the art of baking into the same tool box as the art of cooking. They are different. They require different approaches.

I've tweaked this recipe continually until I was happy. Here's my version for puffed, fluffy and not excessively sour pancakes: Make the sponge as directed but with regular milk. The next day, add two eggs rather than one (with the egg white beaten) plus 2/3 extra cup of flour (my starter is very runny; this gives the final better the consistency I want and makes it less sour). (I also add cinnamon and extra sugar because I eat waffles and pancakes with jam rather than pools of syrup.)

Want extra sour? Let ferment for two days. Substituted 1\2 regular whole wheat & 1/2 white whole wheat == very substantial yet still crispy. Double batch made 7 in my 1950's round waffle iron.

Great recipe - I use it all the time for pancakes, switching up the flour often. I've used WW and rye, buckwheat & WW, WW, spelt & ground flax. This morning was the first time I used it for waffles & it was great. I see no need to separate the egg & whip the white - that just adds extra PITA steps toward what should be a very simple workflow. I used a blend of 2 parts WW to 1 part rye for the flour component & homemade yogurt for the buttermilk; used neutral oil. Yum.

I have made these waffles many times and they are delicious; crispy, chewy, airy and moist. My starter is a combo of bread flour, rye flour and whole wheat flour, which adds extra chewiness and depth of flavor. So good. Freezes well too.

I used 1/4 cup starter discard and kept all other ingredients at the same measurement, and the pancakes came out perfectly.

Half Whole wheat flour works well!

So delicious, light and fluffy! I let my sourdough sponge rest for most of a 24 hour period. When I went to mix the batter with the final ingredients I added 3 TBSP of flour at the last minute because it was pretty liquid. It might have been even lighter without that but the waffles seemed amazing and this way there was a little more to go around.

I would recommend making the sponge in the evening before bed so you can have waffles in the morning. If you make the sponge too early, the starter peaks and then becomes hungry again - and falls.

If anyone is worried about leave a mixture with buttermilk to sit out overnight...don't worry. It all worked out. Didn't start making this until around 11:30 the next day for brunch. It was bubbly and beautiful. The best waffle we've ever had.

Made these this morning. I have a couple of sourdough waffle recipes but these were the best. I get the 5 star rating. Easy, tasted delish! Didn't fiddle with any subs, just follow the recipe.

I like savory waffles, so I left out the sugar and vanilla, sauteed some finely chopped onion and kale in the oil and mixed it in. My starter is whole wheat. Used yogurt thinned with a little milk in place of buttermilk. Delicious!

Perfect waffles! I followed the recipe except used gluten-free starter.

One I tasted sourdough waffles, I never made any other kind, and I keep a sourdough starter just for this purpose. I always use white whole wheat flour to add to the starter and they always turn out light, tangy, and deliciously crispy. If I don't have buttermilk I just add lemon juice to regular milk and let it sit and curdle, and it turns out great. I have often been told: "these are the best waffles I've ever had". I agree!

I never have more than 50g of starter in the fridge so I will have to feed it to get to 240g. Curious what the downside would be using fed starter.

This is the first time I have ever left a review. This recipe is INCREDIBLE. Thank and merci NYT.

This is my go-to recipe for pancakes and waffles. It's just the best. This morning, I browned the butter before adding it into the batter and it was phenomenal. Reminder for next time: pass the baking soda through a sieve.

OUTSTANDING! Even though I just eyeballed the measurements the waffles turned out great--crispy on the outside, moist and full of holes on the inside. Did add a tablespoon of barley malt syrup--no vanilla, no sugar.

Truly exquisite waffles. So perfectly light and crispy. I swap out some wheat germ for some of the white flour and it works well. Also have done milk instead of buttermilk (overnight in the fridge). Nothing else comes close!