The Corona virus has given me plenty of time to spend in the kitchen and experiment with different recipe ideas. I’ve had a few disasters but I’ve also had a few successes and this recipe is one of those successes! It received a thumbs up from my crew of professional recipe taste testers.
I’ve recently started working with sourdough starter. Until the corona virus hit I relied on commercial yeast as the leavening agent for baking bread. Unfortunately, yeast is in scarce supply and difficult to obtain these days. I admit, I’m a carb addict! So I I had to come up with an alternative to feed my carb addiction, LOL. Cue the sourdough starter.
Sourdough starters are probably what our grandmothers and great grandmothers used when baking bread. There were no commercial yeasts to be had back in the old days.
My dear sister in law Robyn came to visit over Thanksgiving and brought me some of her sourdough starter. It got shoved to the back of the fridge and I forgot all about it for several weeks. I thought maybe it was a goner, but a good feeding brought it back to life. The whole concept of feeding it and maintaining the starter reminds me of the Amish bread dough that was a fad for awhile back in the 80’s.
Did you ever receive a ziplock baggie of Amish bread starter with instructions about how to maintain it? You had to knead the bag each day and add flour to it after a certain number of days. It came with a recipe for how to bake a loaf of Amish sweet bread, reserving some of the starter to begin the cycle all over again. It made enough starter so you could share it with family and friends.
Once you have a starter going you will either need to bake something on a regular basis, give it away, or toss out the excess; otherwise you will end up with more starter than you will ever be able to use.
I hate wasting food so after tossing out excess starter a few times I scoured the internet for some recipe ideas on how I could easily use up excess starter. I wanted something that I could cook up right away (nothing that required rise times or waiting).
Here is my recipe for sourdough starter pancakes. Why cheddar & jalapeño? Because it’s an iconic flavor pairing, and to be honest, they were ingredients I already had on hand in the fridge.
I have a few other flavor combinations that I want to try and I will share them with you once they are taste tested and approved by my discerning crew; hubs and my picky teen 😂. Because I’m running a high tech operation here at Nature Way.
To start, heat about a tablespoon of olive oil in a heavy bottom skillet. I love using the pan I inherited from my mom, but a cast iron pan would work equally well.
While the pan is heating up, gather together the remaining ingredients.
Grate the cheddar cheese into a fine grate. This will ensure that it melts completely while the pancakes are frying.
Dice the jalapeño peppers.
Once the oil is hot, spread about an 1/8 cup of sourdough starter batter in the pan.
Top the pancake dough with a generous sprinkle of freshly ground Himalayan salt.
Next top with a generous layer of cheese and about a teaspoon of diced jalapeño pepper.
Cook over medium low heat until golden brown.
Flip and cook the other side.
Top with a layer of cheese while the second side cooks and browns. This allows the cheese on top to melt.
Cut into quarters and serve with a side of sour cream.
Time to DIG IN!
Cheddar Jalapeño Sour Dough Pancakes
Equipment
- Sour dough starter
Ingredients
- 1 cup sour dough starter
- olive oil
- ½ cup cheddar cheese, finely shredded
- 2 tbsp jalapeno peppers, diced
- pink Himalayan salt
Instructions
- Heat olive oil in a heavy skillet over low heat.
- Spread ⅛ cup sourdough starter in the pan.
- Grind salt onto the surface of the dough and top with a tablespoon of diced Jalapeno and a generous layer of cheddar cheese.
- Cook pancake for 4-5 minutes until golden crispy brown.
- Flip pancake and sprinkle cooked side with salt and cheese.
- Cook for another 4-5 minutes until crisp and golden brown and cheese has melted.
- Remove from heat and cut into quarters. Serve with a side of sour cream.
These are surprisingly tasty! Crunchy on the outside with a dense sourdoughy interior. These aren’t the light and fluffy pancakes you are accustomed to. They are a savory treat that you can enjoy any time of the day.
If you are looking for ideas on what to do with extra sourdough starter I encourage you to give these a try. We loved them!!!
Keep checking back for more creative recipes using extra sourdough starter; a savory asian inspired pancake recipe with a tasty dipping sauce, another with bacon that’s perfect for serving anytime of the day or night.
What’s your favorite way to use up excess sourdough starter? After you try this recipe it may become one of your favorite ways to use up some of that excess sourdough starter!
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