Should we take a break from baking bread for a bit? How about just one entry… Trust me, it will be worth it when you try one of my top 3 leftover sourdough starter recipes below. Plus, it’s still considered baking if we’re using a starter in a roundabout way, right? This post presents a few ways to utilize our excess sourdough starter discarded at each feeding (refreshment).
Since I feed my sourdough starter twice daily, I usually have an excess of starter in the morning and evening. Many see this excess as “waste,” but it can be used for many things besides going into your compost bin. After all, this waste can be seen as food for our starter so it can continue living.
The following recipes are tried and true here in my kitchen. I’ve made the waffles and pancakes so many weekends the process has become ritualistic: mix the batter the night before to ferment overnight, wake and finish mixing, and then get cooking.
My previously outlined schedule for creating a sourdough starter and my guide on maintaining a sourdough starter will work well with any of the following recipes, ensuring you have enough starter each day to meet the requirements. Note that you might have to adjust the hydration of the recipes below to suit your sourdough starter. If you maintain a stiffer starter (60-75% hydration), you might have to add more liquid until the consistency of the batter is typical for what you’re making.
My Best Sourdough Waffles
Lengthy fermentation time makes my best sourdough waffles impossibly light, crunchy, and slightly tangy. In addition to the wonderful flavor, because the flour is fermented for several hours, the entire batter becomes aerated, resulting in a waffle that will surprise you on your first bite. They have just the right ratio of sweet to savory, with a slight but noticeable tang at the end.
I made these recently on a snowy day here in Albuquerque, which fits perfectly with warm waffles. Arya, our German shepherd, wanted to go outside to do some hiking and investigating in the snow. It’s funny to watch shepherds outside when it snows: they run around eating the snow, digging here and there, and generally creating a little storm of their own.
As adults (maybe it’s just me?), we’re hesitant to get dirty and make a mess; sometimes, it’s great to see kids or your pets throw all that aside and care only about the moment. Thankfully, a batch of sourdough starter waffle batter was fermented and ready to hit the iron.
If you have sourdough starter discard ready, try these waffles, you’ll love them!
Sourdough Starter Pancakes
Pancakes are one of my favorite breakfast indulgences. I have memories as a child waking up to the upstairs kitchen (yes, strangely, our kitchen was upstairs, and all the bedrooms were downstairs—that’s the 50s for you) smelling like batter and butter. Fresh fruit to the top was always a staple, as was good maple syrup. I’m not a diehard maple syrup, but really, anything less than 100% maple syrup is kind of a letdown for these beautiful sourdough pancakes.
These can be made quickly and easily on a whim; you need very little pre-planning to make these happen (isn’t that usually the case on late Sunday mornings?). I’ve used this core recipe a dozen different ways based on the season: pureed pumpkin mixed in during November, fresh blueberries tossed into the batter during the summer, and ricotta added in at, well, any time of the year. If you’ve made pancakes before, you know just how versatile they can be.
I like to use a smoking hot griddle to cook pancakes; it makes a huge difference in the quality of your pancakes. If you don’t have one, you can pick up a cast iron griddle for relatively cheap, and it’ll last a lifetime.
Baker’s Banana Bread
Banana bread is something I had at least once a month growing up. A family of four always seems to have excess bananas on hand, you know, those in the kitchen that are so black and mushy no one ever touches them. Well, these are the bananas you want to use for this banana bread!
This banana bread could easily become zucchini bread by swapping out the bananas (or you can keep them) with grated and pressed zucchini (after you grate the zucchini into fine little strands, press them between two paper towels to extract some of the moisture out).
What I love most about this banana bread is that the ingredients are flexible and include items I always have on hand—a baker’s banana bread, if you will.
What’s Next?
So there you have it, my top 3 leftover sourdough starter recipes. If you get into a good rhythm, and with little extra planning, you can make a superb breakfast each weekend (or weekday if you go late).
Breakfast is one of my favorite meals of the day, and with the recipes above, it’s just that much better. While not technically a breakfast food, banana bread is perfect in the morning with a cappuccino or pour-over.
For more, see my roundup of sourdough starter discard recipes.
716 Comments
I’ve just this week began my first sourdough starter and really didn’t want to throw out half of it! I tried the pancake recipe this morning and it was brilliant – light and fluffy. Perfect ratios! Better yet I still have plenty of batter mix left for tomorrow morning..! Thanks for sharing. Will be trying the banana bread too!
Super glad to hear that Laura! I really love that recipe and use it very often here. In fact, all of these are great uses for all that extra SD starter 🙂
Enjoy the banana bread!
You’re very welcome! These are my fav recipes, I make the waffles almost every single weekend.
I am SO going to try crepes — actually funny I havent done this yet. Thanks for that recipe. My mom used to make them for us every weekend growing up with just butter and really good homemade jam. Heaven!
Thank you!
Thanks for this info. I hate to waste anything and only bake rye bread once per week [2 loaves] and the KAF method seemed quite wasteful throwing away 8 oz of a 10 oz starter once or twice a day.
Any reason I could not back down on the feeding to some bare minimum level as long as the ratios are maintained then just bulk it up a couple of days before baking. Even getting it down to a 5 oz starter and discarding only 4 oz every feeding would be better.
You can definitely adjust the quantity as long as the ratios are maintained, as you said. The only risk is that when you get to too low an amount it becomes had to determine rise and fall. But yes, adjust away until things work out just right for you and your starter!
Just wanted to say that I have not tried your bread yet, I am building up my starter, but what I do with the excess starter is get a cast iron pan good and hot, melt some butter in it and fry the starter up like a thick tortilla, or flat bread. I sprinkle some salt on it before I flip it, and if the starter is too sour for my taste, I put a tiny bit of baking soda in it before I fry it.
That sounds absolutely delicious and I really like that idea! I love all these ways to use leftover starter and I have to say that may be the easiest. Perfect for impromptu taco night 🙂 Thanks for sharing this!
These waffles are by far my favorite recipe. They’re perfect! They make such a delicate waffle with a crispy exterior. I often substitute kefir for the buttermilk and they turn out great with spelt flour (half whole, half white). Thank you so much for sharing!
So glad to hear that! I agree though, it’s such an awesome recipe — we make it just about every weekend here 🙂 I love using whole grains in there as well. I haven’t tried subbing in kefir but that’s a great suggestion, will have to give it a try!
I’m just starting with all this starter stuff and a bit confused – not understanding what part of the starter is called for in these yummy recipes I want to try. Starter? 100% hydration is when you’ve fed your leftover starter from past loaves, right? Does any of these recipes use the starter that was made into leaven (the next step after feeding the starter)? Although I don’t have a cup of leaven leftover but seem to always have at least 1/4 tp 1/3 cup left. I just toss it out….but just seems like I’m wasting so much here 😮
For the recipes here there is no specific levain or leaven made, I just use a portion of my ongoing starter that I would normally toss out (compost/trash) — they are a way to use this discard so it doesn’t just go to waste. If you’re making a leaven for a particular sourdough bake you can also use that leftover leaven (essentially a leaven and your starter are the same thing).
A 100% hydration starter is one that is fed with equal weights flour and water (e.g. 100g flour and 100g water).
I hope that helps!
Thanks! I was never told that the starter and leaven are the same thing. I’ve been tossing out my leaven 🙁 My starter is rye flour only, while my leaven is rye and white flour. Does this matter? I’m going to try making the pancakes or waffles! Except I need to somehow convert it to metric measurements (now that I’ve learned that) 🙂
Essentially they are the same thing. A leaven is just a splinter of your starter that eventually gets consumed totally in a bake. The leaven can be made of different flour combinations for whatever flavor your after or whatever baking characteristics you’re looking for (more acidity, less, etc.). Sounds great, you’re gonna love ’em 🙂
You mentioned further below that the pancake mix can be made like your waffles, overnight. Can you explain what gets mixed in for the for the overnight portion? Then assuming the rest of the ingregidents the next day, when ready to make….Thanks!
For the overnight mixture I’d do: milk, sourdough starter, flour and sugar. Add the rest of the ingredients in the morning. I’ve done this before and it works really well!
Hello, I can’t wait to make these pancakes!! I have a question on how the starter is measured. Should it be stirred down before measuring, or is it just measured straight from the jar with bubbles? Thanks Bread Yoda!! 🙂
Hey! I think either way works. I usually stir my starter down just a bit to get it to fall a little then measure out the quantity called for. In the future I will convert everything here to weights to avoid confusion!
Hope that helps 🙂
Awesome thanks! I made these yesterday and ended up using 385g of starter and they were perfect! My teenage daughters loved them and almost didn’t save any for the rest of us! I’m sure these will be requested a lot on weekends! 🙂
Excellent! I make these quite often and, like you said, they are gone before you know it 🙂 Thanks for the update!
Hi Maurizio
Just wanted to ask the equivalent of a cup is in terms of either gr or ml please. In the banana bread when the recipe says 3/4cups of starter, what’s that corresponds to please? Probably you have been asked this before, if so I couldn’t spot it. Thanks!
I keep meaning to get on converting all these measurements to weights, sorry about that! It’s hard to say exactly but I would guess 3/4c starter equals about 100g. Adjust this up or down depending on how wet/dry the mixture is.
Hope that helps!
Ok, many thanks Maurizio. I have seen different definitions for a cup, ranging from 200 to 300+ ml, thats why I was a bit puzzled. You spend a lot of time trying to help us out and this is highly appreciated!
I will measure it next time and update this post — it’s long overdue! I’m glad to help 🙂 Happy baking!
Banana bread was awesome! Just made it with 1 cup whole wheat flour and 1 cup all purpose instead of spelt flour and orange zest instead of lemon – just b/c that was what I had on hand in both cases – really tasty!! Thanks for the recipe!
Those changes sound great! Glad you enjoyed it, this is something we make quite often around here 🙂
Happy baking, Tamara!
How many waffles does this recipe make? When you say 6-8 servings of pancakes do you mean 6-8 pancakes?
I usually make my pancakes pretty big so for me this made 6 servings, meaning 6 people. I usually freeze any excess and toast/microwave them later in the week for a quick breakfast.
For the waffles it completely depends on your waffle maker/iron. Some makers are really thick (Belgian style) and some, like my iron here, are thin and small.
Hope that helps! Either way both are delicious 🙂
Thank you so much this information. I have been running a bed and breakfast for a year now and am always looking for new items to add to my menu. I made your pancakes this morning and used my new 8 1/2 inch “black cast iron” pancake/crepe pan and the pancakes turned out beautiful. I have not made great pancakes in the past so this is a big deal for me. It made 7 pancakes. This will be my go to recipe from now on.
That’s fantastic news! I wouldn’t mind staying there especially if your pancakes are on the menu each morning!
Hi Maurizio,
I’m branching out now by using my left over starter in other recipes.
Can I use levain in the waffles instead of starter? What would the difference be?
You can certainly use either (essentially they are the same thing), but I like to use my starter/levain when it’s very ripe so it has maximal flavor. If you use it when it’s on the “younger” side (meaning it hasn’t had a lot of time to ferment) it will be less sour and more mild.
I used the young levain for peach lemon ginger muffins and noticed they were a bit on the dull side so I will use my mature levain/starter next time.
I have another question.
When I feed and discard my starter I keep 35g of starter and add 50g of water and 50g flour, following the Tartine sourdough bread recipe.
I have wanted more starter to use in muffins, pancakes and such so I began keeping double the amount of starter and double the water and flour. But today I ran out of starter when making the pancakes. Do I triple everything in order to have enough starter going at all times? If I keep more starter in the fridge then I will waste triple the amount when I discard. What is the solution this? Am I on the right track regarding doubling and tripling the starter?
Also do you know Sarah Owens the author of her new book ‘Sourdough”? Such a great read with many recipes for using left over starter plus she connects gardening/fermentation/sourdough and their similarities.
I do like to try and use my starter/levain when it’s fully mature, it definitely imparts much more flavor to the end product.
Doubling everything was a good approach, yes. The key is to keep everything in the same ratio to each other. If you look at everything in terms of percentages then it’s easier to figure out how to scale up or down everything but still keep the same ratios. You can always scale things up and then scale things down if you are, or are not, going to be making pancakes the next day.
For example, at each feeding if you keep 35g starter and add 50g flour and 50g water this equates to 70% starter, 100% flour and 100% water (in “baker’s math” everything is related to the amount of flour you use). So, if you wanted to make sure you have, say 200g (for example) starter to discard for making pancakes you’d need to have a total of 235g starter in the morning. To get to this amount you could keep 65g of your starter (70%) and feed with 92g flour (100%) and 92g water (100%). Your culture should be around a total of 249g or so. There will be some excess starter you’ll compost but it’s better to have more than less 🙂
Check out this reference for more on Baker’s Math and Baker’s Percentages.
Yes I do know of Sarah Owens! I actually talk to her here and there on Instagram, she’s an incredibly nice lady! Her book is very inspirational.
Thanks so much Maurizio.
Just made the waffles, delicious!
Happy to hear that! They are some of my favorites 🙂 Thanks for the feedback and happy baking!
The best Banana bread recipe. Easy, quick and the most important thing, delicious.
Today I’m baking my first sourdough bread, hoping to have the same good results. Thanks for your excelente blog that makes sourdough a passion.
That’s so awesome to hear, glad you’re enjoying it! Definitely the most used banana bread recipe in this house, of course 🙂
Good luck on the sourdough, you’ll do great. Happy baking!
I think I started the waffle recipe too late at night when I was tired. I just could not get the buttermilk to mix with the melted butter without it turning back to solid butter. I’m guessing the buttermilk was a fraction too cold for the melted butter so maybe i should have had it sitting out of the fridge longer. I really want to try the recipe again as it looks amazing!
They are super good! Yes, you need those temperatures to be a bit closer to each other otherwise the butter could solidify. Give it another shot, I guarantee you’ll love ’em!
I came here to comment on how good those waffles are – finally made them yesterday. Our usual go to has been Marion Cunningham’s recipe from her Breakfast Book.
As it turned out, I had no buttermilk. So I substituted with what I had – 1 C whole milk and 1 C full fat greek yogurt. It was late and I didn’t want to dirty up too many pots/bowls/measuring cups. So, I microwaved the milk in a glass measuring cup, until it was very hot. Then added the butter cubed in large pieces and stirred until it melted (1 stick = 0.5 C) and then added enough yogurt to it until volume was 2.5 C and whisked it in. Since the butter had already distributed well into hot milk, adding yogurt to it didn’t have it solidifying into large butter blobs – just very tiny well dispersed butter blobs. 🙂 I think this is what I’m going to do from now on, even if I have buttermilk on hand. These waffles really were the bomb! Thanks Maurizio, for yet another fabulous recipe. On my Rome waffle irons I got 10 waffles.
That’s a great little modification! I’ll have to give this a try, I don’t always have buttermilk (although I’ve been buying it regularly because I make these so often!). Glad to hear you like the recipe — happy to help!
Maurizio, thanks for the killer sourdough pancake recipe! Ever since I started playing with sourdough, I’ve been trying different permutations to replicate the tender and fluffy texture of regular buttermilk pancakes. But most attempts yielded results that were tough. This was spot on – on all counts – tenderness, fluffiness and taste. Part of it was definitely the 30 minute rest, I think. I substituted whole wheat pastry flour for the all-purpose and also used the optional greek yogurt. Yummy! Thank you!
You’re very welcome! I seriously make these often and my family (and me) just love them, they are my go-to weekend breakfast! Well that and the waffles 🙂
One the banana bread how much zucchini do you use if you substitute ?
I kind of wing it based on what I have, usually 2 or 3 medium sized zucchini. I’ll use my box grater and grate them into “sticks” and then let them dry out some on a piece of paper towel. Before I mix them into the dough I’ll also squeeze them out a little, they hold onto quite a bit of moisture. You could skip the squeeze step if you’d like a little more moisture in your bread.
Thank you 🙂
Oh, Maurizio! I am back from NOLA but have not yet had a chance to try the sandwich bread. The hole-hating boyfriend is trying to get rid of what he styles his “cookie layer” and is cutting back on carbs; we had a discussion about different levels of low carbs this morning as we worked out together at the gym. However, before he left for work this afternoon, he came up behind me, put his arms around me and romantically whispered in my ear, “but carbs or no carbs, there’s three over-ripe bananas, so if you feel like making that fantastic banana bread from that nice bread blog tonight…” 😀 There’s a loaf in the oven as I type!
Haha! Well that’s a good sign his priorities are still in check! Sourdough and banana bread, exceptions must be made 😬
I have a question on the banana bread. The recipe says “2 cups spelt flour (or 1 cup all purpose white flour)”.
I took this to mean 1 cup AP flour if not using spelt. The loaf was a bit dense. Did you mean 1 cup spelt and 1 cup AP, or to use 1 cup AP if not using spelt?
Laurie, sorry about the error! Surprised it’s been there for so long. It should read 2 cups spelt, or 2 cups APW flour as we need the same amount either way. Sorry about the confusion. The loaf should be rather dense, but not lick a brick 🙂 It should be like traditional banana or zucchini breads you’ve had in the past.
lol!! I’m surprised I got this to turn out at all. I’m going to try this again. I think it looks really good.
I tried your recipe again. Much better results using the correct recipe amounts. 😉
I also let it ferment. I mixed up everything but the baking soda, and walnuts, and let it ferment at room temp for 7 hours. I then added the baking soda, and walnuts, and baked it as directed. It is really good. I like that it isn’t really sweet.
Excellent! Great idea letting it ferment some, I’ll try this next time. That’s one of my favorite things about my recipe, it’s not too sweet. I think a lot of the banana and zucchini bread recipes I’ve tried in the past use way too much sugar.
Thanks for the update!
I just made the pancakes, amazing, and a great use of all that extra starter that I couldn’t bare to discard again. Thank you!
Excellent to hear that, I sure love them! Thanks for the comments 🙂
I made the banana bread this evening. The recipe calls for honey, but the directions don’t have it listed to add in. I added it with the other wet ingredients. I thought you would like to know about the omission in the directions.
Love your dog. I have two GSDs. I really want to get a sable colored one too.
Thanks for that, I’ll fix the post! They really are the best and most loyal companions, aren’t they?
GSD’s are the best. I have owned 7 of them over the years. 🙂
I’ve just started my first starter four days ago. My question is how do you get enough sourdough starter to make these recipes?
You can feed your starter the night before with a little extra flour + water so you have enough excess to make any of these. Or, if you’re making bread, make your levain with a little extra flour + water and you’l have enough for your bread and one of these recipes!
Made the pancakes this morning with my 100% hydration starter leftovers and they were off the charts amazing!! I don’t eat dairy so I replaced the butter with Earth Balance and the milk with Almond milk. My starter must be a bit wet, so I needed to add about 2T more flour to get the consistency of batter to my liking. Also I halved the recipe which was more than enough for my hungry boyfriend and I. These are delicious!!
Awesome, really glad you liked the recipe! I make these pancakes SO often, it’s easy when we have leftover starter always there to use 🙂 Thanks for the comments I really appreciate that. I can guess what you’re making next weekend!!
Just started on my sourdough journey and I’m so happy I found your website! These were the best pancakes ever (confirmed by husband and kids), thank you!
You’re very welcome, here’s to many future loaves and pancakes! Happy baking, Holly 🙂
Just made the waffles. Amazing!!! I used 1 cup Greek yogurt mixed with 1 cup water in exchange for the buttermilk, and 1 cup of whole spelt flour. Topped the finished waffles with plain yogurt, blueberries, pomegranate seeds and a drizzle of maple syrup. As much as I love sourdough bread this may become the real reason I care for my starter so tenderly.
Thank you so so much.
They are awesome, aren’t they!? Your substitutions sounds excellent! I’ve never used pomegranate seeds this way but now I sure want too. You’re welcome, and remember your starter can make tons of good food, not just bread!
Made waffles this morning! Delicious. I used 1 cup fresh ground spelt flour for one of the 2 cups of white. Turned out nice and crunchy, but not heavy at all. A real hit!
Oooh I like that idea with the fresh spelt — I will have to try this very soon (I have 25lbs spelt berries)! Thanks for the idea and glad the recipe worked out so well 🙂 Waffles for dinner, anyone?
Made waffles again, and this time used a full two cups of fresh spelt flour. I added extra water as the spelt absorbs it. Turned out wonderful! Hearty, yet surprisingly light and crunchy.
That sounds fantastic! I’m fully on board with so much spelt 🙂
Hi, Maurizio. As a waffle obsessive and purist, most of my work involves ale yeast as the leavening. But I’ve recently become interested in doing sourdough waffles, so I was happy to come across your site, with all its great information. Your recipe here got me thinking…
Classically, waffle baker’s would have only used ale yeast. In the 19th century, saleratus/potash (and, later, baking soda) were an option, but these leavening types were never mixed with yeast. I’d assume anyone, back in the day, who was using sourdough to do waffles would have been doing it because ale yeast and chemical leavening were not on-hand for them. So…
I was curious why you give your sourdough waffles a full night to expand, only to then deflate the batter and add baking soda? Why not just mix all the ingredients (minus the baking soda), give the sourdough enough time to inflate the batter, and then pour? Is it that you’re just going for the flavor of sourdough and not the texture it alone would create? Or is the hydration of your batter so high that the gases produced by the sourdough are not effectively retained? Or some other reason?
– Adam
Adam — great points, observation and questions! I based this recipe on a few others I had stumbled upon (references are up there in the article) and they all added baking soda in the morning. My thought is they wanted to ensure you’d get a rise. Recently, like you said, I’ve been omitting the baking soda with no problem whatsoever. The sourdough leavens the waffles very nicely and stirring again in the morning isn’t necessary.
Another reason perhaps many of these other recipes add baking soda is they are primarily interested in the complex flavor the sourdough will give the waffles and not necessarily the leavening — hence the addition of the chemical leavening agents. The hydration of my batter isn’t so high that the sourdough wont make it rise.
I would say that if you want to go 100% sourdough you’ll need to really watch your batter overnight. If it ferments too far then you might essentially overproof and you won’t get a good rise. I’m sure you are used to this with your ale yeast.
I’d love to hear your thoughts and your results from using sourdough in your waffles — I’m on a quest for the perfect waffle and pancake as well! Thanks for the comments!
In addition to your website being fantastic, this is also really helpful. As a sourdoughist myself, I’m constantly looking for a way to offload my sourdough discard. Hating to be wasteful, the struggle is real. I also love doing pancakes and waffles, as well as brown sugar sourdough cookies, sourdough english muffins, and also sourdough biscuits.
Sarah, thanks I really appreciate that! Pancakes and waffles are definitely my favorite, but recently I’ve found myself also using extra starter to make pizza and focaccia dough as well (just use some of the starter you’d discard to build a levain or even just in the dough straightaway). I haven’t tried cookies, muffins or biscuits yet — what have I been doing!? Thanks for the suggestions!
Hi Maurizio, I love these ideas for waffles and pancakes using discarded starter! I make waffles and pancakes all the time at home, and I’ve wanted to start incorporating starter but haven’t ventured into it much yet. Quick question: is it possible to accumulate the 1/2 cup of starter over a few days — if so, any tips? Thanks!
They really taste great! I’ve not tried that, but I don’t think it will work very well. Your starter will eventually become extremely acidic (one of the byproducts of fermentation) before finally consuming all the food (flour/water) in the mixture. You could try freezing your excess, that might work.
If the issue is you need more starter to discard just increase the quantities you feed (keep the percentages the same).
Hope that helps, Ben!
I can attest that starter accumulated (over a week, at least) in the fridge worked fantastically well with the pancake recipe above.
I’m going to have to try this!
Thank you for posting these recipes. The pancakes were insanely good! I had only saved a cup of my discarded (half white, half whole wheat) starter b4 looking for a recipe, so I reduced your recipe to 2/3, adding 2 T buttermilk instead of the yogurt, which we were out of (we make our own). With the butter in the batter and the ghee we cook with, they tasted buttery enough to be eaten plain with maple syrup, and smelled like they’d be good with chocolate chips dropped in like you would blueberries. So that is how we made the rest of them. Can’t stand to throw out such lovely starter that is working so well for me, so I’m always looking for good ways to use it up. I’ll have to remember to get spelt flour and try the banana bread recipe the next time we have overripe bananas 🙂
Thanks for the comments, Betty! Glad the pancakes worked out well for you, I’ve made them so many times now and I just love the recipe. I’ve used blueberries before and it’s a great addition. I made the waffles outlined in this post yesterday and they were so good. I make them less than the pancakes but it was a really nice change.
If you don’t have spelt on hand for the banana bread just use whatever flour you do have, even whole wheat is good (a bit heavy, though)!
And yes, I’m like you, I’m always looking for ways to use my starter — I mix it into so many foods!
Thanks for the comments and happy baking 🙂
Made the waffles and the taste is excellent. First time using a starter. However even on the highest setting of my waffle maker there still was some wetness to the waffle. The outside was super crispy but parts of the inside had a moist dough texture (but it was hot and cooked). Weird. I had too much leftover and froze the rest of the waffles and toasted them up the next day and that texture was gone. They froze very nicely by the way.
Excellent! That is strange about the interior — does it happen to other waffles you make? My waffle iron makes pretty thin waffles, perhaps this is why I never see that happen. I wonder if you could try reducing the heat midway through the bake to cook the interior more while preventing burning the outside? Just a thought.
Freezing them is the way to go. Since this post I’ve started making 2x the amount and freezing half so I always have waffles on hand — it’s perfect.
Thanks for the comments!
It’s a Cuisinart. They are pretty thick, but no it doesn’t do this normally. Going to goof around with this some more.
Cheers.
Thank you for this post. In our house whenever bananas have tipped over into overripe I toss them in the freezer for making banana bread at a later date. I’m reading this from Ireland, we don’t use cup measurement so I will just try adding some starter to my own recipe (maybe reducing the other liquids a little to compensate) and I will let you know how that goes. I should also mention that I used your method as a basis for growing my own sourdough starter with great success. I’ve made some great loaves and pancakes. Great idea to throw excess starter on the compost, I hadn’t thought of that and had been putting it in the bin. I hate waste, that was what started my quest to find other uses for it!
Tossing bananas into the freezer: why didn’t I think of that? Great idea, that way I’ll always have a backup supply when craving this banana bread! Sorry about the imperial units in the post, I typically use metric but with this type of baking it’s habit to revert to cups, etc. But yes, just add as much as you’d like and you can adjust to your taste really.
Glad to hear my starter post has helped you! I love hearing from people how they got their starter going with my instructions. I have another post coming soon with some more details on my updated maintenance process and different starter types, keep an eye out for it.
Thanks for the comments and happy baking!
hi Maurizio just a quick update- I made the banana bread from my usual recipe and included the leftover starter that I had to hand, it came out a little wetter than usual because I didn’t reduce the other liquids enough but still perfectly edible especially when toasted, so I’ll be doing this again for sure thanks for the idea! I’ll keep an eye out for the maintenance posts, its not my strong point but I’ve kept mine going since October now, I’m so pleased with that Thanks for your wonderful blog! – Caroline
Excellent! Wetter is better in my opinion — I definitely don’t like dry banana bread!
That’s great news on your starter, keep it fed, keep it happy 🙂 You’ll get endless great bread if you do.
Hope to hear from you again in the future!
Thanks for posting this, Paul! I’ve been wanting to make biscuits for a long while and I might just have to start with these, they sound great.
My husband and kids have a sweet tooth and love these KAF Chocolate Chocolate Chip Sourdough Waffles. This definitely veers into dessert territory but my family sometimes sneaks these from the freezer for breakfast when I’m not looking. I checked the KAF website just now but couldn’t find the recipe online anymore otherwise I’d link to it. Here it is from my recipe files:
KAF Chocolate–Chocolate Chip Sourdough Waffles
INGREDIENTS
For the Levain
4 ounces (about 1/2 cup or 120 ml) ripe, bubbly sourdough levain (made with equal weights of water and flour)
1 cup (8 ounces or 240 ml) buttermilk
1 cup (4 ounces or 120g) white whole wheat flour
For the Batter
1/2 cup (60g) Dutch-process cocoa
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
Pinch of ground cinnamon
2 eggs
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick or 57g) unsalted butter, melted
3/4 cup (170g) sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3/4 cup (170g) chocolate chips, semisweet or bittersweet
INSTRUCTIONS
To make the Levain:
1. The night before you make the waffles, or early in the morning if you’re planning to have them for dinner, weigh 4 ounces of sourdough starter into a medium bowl.
2. Stir in the buttermilk and whole wheat flour, and mix until thoroughly combined. Cover the bowl and set it aside for at least 8 hours.
To make the Batter:
1. When you’re ready to make the waffles, stir the cocoa, baking soda, salt and cinnamon in a small bowl; you may need to sift it if your cocoa is lumpy.
2. In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs with the melted butter, sugar and vanilla. Add the cocoa mixture to the egg mixture and stir well; then add the cocoa-egg mixture to the sourdough mixture all at once. Stir the batter thoroughly; you don’t want any streaks of unmixed sourdough in your batter.
3. When the mixture is completely homogenous, stir in the chocolate chips.
To bake the Waffles:
1. Bake the waffles in a preheated iron until the steam stops coming out the sides, 3 to 5 minutes. The waffles will feel a little flabby coming out of the iron, but they will crisp up quickly after you remove them. These are especially nice made in a Belgian waffle iron—light and lacy, but with a dark, rich flavor.
Nutrition facts per serving: Calories: 210 , Total Fat: 11 g, (Saturated Fat: 6 g), Sodium: 40 mg, Carbohydrate: 23 g, Fiber: 1 g, Protein: 5 g.
makes: 14 (4-inch square) Belgian waffles
serving size: 1 waffle, 69g
Lisa, thanks for posting this recipe! It does look a bit on the sweet side, but somedays call for such things 🙂
The pancake recipe above was written up as a I-forgot-to-prepare-the-night-before-but-still-want-pancakes-for-breakfast type of ordeal 🙂 I’m not sure why all other recipes mix things up the morning but yes, they could definitely be made the night before in a similar fashion to my waffles. I bet they’d taste great!
I’ll have to give yours a shot and let you know what I think — anything a sheep herder on the trail makes has got to be quality!
Nice post.
Another non-bread SD recipe: Tortillas.
150g sourdough
240g flour
100g liquids (half milk, half water)
5g salt (1 t)
22g butter (1.5 T)
Bulk proof about 3 hrs.
Divide to 50g ea (can go larger if want)
Fire up some pans (cast iron if can) and dry fry
Keep under moist towels till done to keep soft
Makes about 10
I use them like soft tacos. They are yummy.
Kim from Maui
Kim, thanks!
Tortillas — great idea! I will absolutely try these out. Here in New Mexico there are many restaurants that make their own and I’ve always wanted to give it a try. Thanks for the recipe!
Ciao,
Maurizio
My two kids love homemade tortillas and have never made sourdough ones before. Thank you, Kim, for the recipe! I’m going to have to try this.
Thanks for posting this. They sound great and I have to give ’em a go. Special thanks for using metric. I weigh everything (dry and wet) in g for exact and consistent results. Why oh why Americans hang onto archaic cups and imperial measures for bread making makes no sense to me. In the words of the infamous philosopher Homer Simpson: “Duh!”
I totally agree with you, I need to convert this recipe to metric… I use it for absolutely everything else. Will work on that!