Sourdough is central to Alaskan frontier lore; gold-rush miners kept starters alive for years, earning veterans the nickname 'sourdoughs'.
Cut into a sourdough pancake and it is fluffy and tender with a distinct tangy, fermented depth that plain pancakes never have, butter melting and syrup pooling. Bite: light and airy, gently sour beneath the sweet syrup, faintly yeasty and complex. The living taste of the Alaskan frontier kitchen, kept alive in a jar of starter.
The wild yeast and bacteria in the sourdough starter both leaven the batter and produce lactic and acetic acids for the signature tang. A pinch of baking soda reacts with those acids for extra lift and tempers the sourness — the trick that makes the pancakes light, not dense.
Variations
With blueberries. As waffles. With bacon folded in. Thinner (crêpe-style). With cornmeal. With wild berry syrup.
On the Palate
Where Sourdough Pancakes sits in the Alaskan flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 4How it's made
8 steps · 20 min active + 10 min waiting
- 110 min
The night before, mix active sourdough starter with flour and milk; leave to ferment.
- 21 min
In the morning the batter should be bubbly and tangy.
Watch outBy morning the batter should be domed with bubbles and smell pleasantly sour — that lively, tangy foam is proof the wild yeast is alive and will lift the pancakes.
- 33 min
Whisk in an egg, melted butter, a little sugar, and salt.
- 41 min
Add a pinch of baking soda to lighten and mellow the tang.
Watch outStir the baking soda in right before cooking and watch the batter puff and lighten — it both adds lift and mellows the sourness, so don't skip it or the cakes turn dense and sharp.
- 53 min
Heat a griddle and grease lightly with butter.
- 65 min
Pour rounds of batter; cook until bubbles set, then flip.
Watch outFlip when the surface bubbles pop and stay open — that's the sign the underside has set golden.
- 74 min
Cook the second side until golden.
- 83 min
Serve hot with butter and syrup.
