It’s the weekend, and your kids are climbing and crawling all over your early morning attempts to sleep in. What’s one to do? Some might pull the covers higher. Others might shoo them away with an early morning grumble. I’m different; I’m already in the kitchen before they attempt to thwart any sleeping in; already measuring and mixing, cracking eggs, and using my sourdough starter to make sourdough pumpkin pancakes. The half-empty can of pumpkin puree from another take at my pumpkin cinnamon bread—already a fading memory of wonderful indulgence—is on the docket for the day’s sourdough pancakes.
These golden sourdough pancakes are delightfully light and fluffy despite the generous amount of pumpkin puree. Whisking the egg whites helps them retain their airiness, but I like to think my sourdough starter—while hardly given time to ferment the newly added flour—plays a role. The pumpkin flavor is pronounced but not overbearing. And I think the flavor combination of cinnamon and nutmeg takes these pancakes sufficiently into pumpkin pie spice territory—just enough to get you there but not so much as to go overboard.
If you have freshly roasted pumpkin (from a pie you’ve made recently, perhaps), it will work very well in these sourdough pumpkin pancakes. You can also take my approach and go with my easy choice for anything pumpkin, canned pumpkin puree (I used Libby’s pumpkin puree).
If you follow me on Instagram, you know I’m a consistent weekend indulger of sourdough waffles and sourdough pancakes. And I’ll cautiously admit, over time, I’ve seemed to become a waffle person (which is why you see so, so many waffle posts and just a few pancake appearances). But these pancakes are such a treat, they might have the power to sway any stalwart from one camp to the next—myself included.
The Best Pancake Spices
For spices, I kept it rather modest with a good helping of ground cinnamon and a light sprinkle of nutmeg. If you want to go the full pumpkin spice pancakes route, add 1/8 teaspoon of ground ginger and 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves. Alternatively, you could omit the spices altogether and add 1 teaspoon of premade pumpkin pie spice mix.
I added cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and ground cloves in testing. While very good, I found the cinnamon and nutmeg in the recipe sufficient to give these sourdough pumpkin pancakes a good “pumpkin spice” flavor.
Overnight Fermentation Option
I like to make these sourdough pancakes the morning of breakfast, but you could also let the batter ferment overnight. Like my other sourdough starter discard pancakes and waffles, mix the buttermilk, melted and cooled butter, ripe sourdough starter, sugar, and flour to a mixing bowl and combine. Cover the bowl and let it ferment at room temperature overnight. In the morning, add the remaining ingredients and proceed with the recipe as instructed.
Use Sourdough Starter Discard From The Fridge
If you are like me and save your starter discard in the refrigerator—in my starter discard cache—then you’ll always have ripe, flavorful discard ready for these pancakes. Since we are not relying on the leavening power of the sourdough starter to make these pancakes rise, it’s fine to use older starter discard that’s been sitting in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.
Sourdough Pumpkin Pancakes Batter Consistency
A question I often get with my other waffle and sourdough pancake posts here: what should the consistency of my batter be like? For this sourdough pumpkin pancake recipe, the batter is loose enough to pour off a spoon, but rather slowly.
I’ve found that if the batter is too loose—like European-style yogurt, perhaps—you get a little less rise when making these sourdough pancakes. Conversely, if the batter is too thick and firm, add buttermilk, 1 tablespoon at a time, to loosen it.
Sourdough Pumpkin Pancakes
- Prep Time: 25 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 12 large pancakes
- Category: Breakfast
- Cuisine: American
Description
These sourdough pumpkin pancakes are delightfully fluffy and have just enough pumpkin flavor and cinnamon spice. They’re fantastic simply with butter and maple syrup but taken to the next level with a dollop of crème fraîche and fresh fruit.
Ingredients
- 2 large eggs
- 300g (1 1/4 cup) buttermilk
- 75g pumpkin puree (I used Libby’s canned pumpkin puree)
- 150g (scant 1 cup, stirred down) ripe sourdough starter
- 180g (1 1/2 cups) all-purpose flour
- 3/4 tsp cinnamon
- 1/8 tsp ground nutmeg (optional)
- 25g (2 tablespoons) granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 63g (1/4 cup or 1/2 stick) melted butter
Instructions
- Separate the eggs: whites in a medium-sized bowl and yolks in a large mixing bowl.
- Whisk the yolks in the large mixing bowl and add the buttermilk, pumpkin puree, and sourdough starter. Stir or whisk to incorporate.
- To a medium mixing bowl, add the flour, cinnamon, nutmeg (optional), sugar, salt, baking soda, and baking powder. Whisk to incorporate.
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredient bowl. Stir in the melted butter, and stir until everything is just combined and no dry bits of flour remain.
- Whisk the egg whites to stiff peaks and fold them into the batter.
- Lightly grease a hot griddle. Drop about 1/4 cup of the batter onto the greased griddle and cook until light brown and bubbles start to appear on top, then flip to cook the other side.
Notes
For more pumpkin flavor, add up to 100g of the pumpkin puree. Note that the more puree you add, the looser your batter will be, and you might need to add flour to compensate.
You might need to adjust the amount of buttermilk in the recipe to adjust for your sourdough starter’s hydration and to adjust for your flour. When fully mixed, the batter should be rather loose and will slowly pour off a spoon.
If the batter is very thick, add buttermilk, a few tablespoons at a time, until the batter loosens up.
These freeze incredibly well. Any leftovers can be cooled, stacked in a freezer bag, and frozen. Reheat in a toaster.
What’s Next?
I hope you like these sourdough pancakes as much as I do! This past weekend, I did my usual: got up before anyone to get my sourdough starter ready for bread baking, but I skimmed some of it and made these pumpkin pancakes.
If you have enough pumpkin puree, make a double batch and freeze half for quick and easy pancakes during the week (or use it to make some einkorn pumpkin-raisin scones!).
If you’re more of a sourdough waffle person than a sourdough pancake person, and I won’t fault you for that one bit, this sourdough pumpkin pancake batter would work very well in your favorite waffle iron. Or, check out my top 3 sourdough starter discard recipes for my favorite sourdough waffle recipe.
For more ideas on what to do with your sourdough starter discard, see my sourdough starter discard recipe page.
Buon appetito!
48 Comments
I've said it before so I will say it again – this recipe is perfect and addicting! We put pulled pork inside the pancakes like a taco with some New Mexico toppings and life may never be the same!
I changed this recipe to use blueberries as we had some frozen from this summer. We don’t do dairy so I omitted the eggs and buttermilk. Instead I used our coconut almond milk. Didn’t use baking powder either. They turned out fluffy and fantastic!
Great subs there, James, thanks for reporting back for others wanting to follow the same path!
Hello! Could you do an overnight ferment on these? If so, would you add the pumpkin in the morning?
Yes to both Qs!
In step 2 you say to “scramble” the eggs in the bowl. I know this means to whisk or beat them but I’ve never heard “scramble” other than for cooking. Am I just ignorant of this term. Please let me know.
You’re 100% right, Debbie 🙂 I’ll update this to say whisk!
Thank you so very much for sharing. I used yams make roles, waffles & Burger buns. My family love your recipes. The yams seem to have a sweeter flavorful taste than the pumkin.
Thank you for your always good recipes. I used yams to make roles, waffles & Burger buns. The yams have more flavor and more sweeter taste.
Fantastic, so glad you like them Bobbie!
Delicious waffles! Thank you!! I might add some bananas to the batter next time since I personally prefer not to add any toppings (no butter, no syrup…). I’d also like to experiment with swapping out the sugar with maple syrup. Would maple syrup affect the (optional) overnight fermentation?
Great idea adding bananas! No maple syrup won’t have an effect because the starter added is only for flavoring, anyway 🙂
These were so delicious! My family *devoured* them – I could not get them off the griddle fast enough: “These are the best pancakes I have ever had!” Thank you for sharing this recipe – a great way to use up some discard and a perfect seasonal treat.
Ah just amazing to hear that, Angeline! Enjoy 🙂
where can I get some sourdough starter or how can I start a starter myself?
Irma: check out my guide to making a sourdough starter from scratch!
So delicious! I doubled the pumpkin and threw some walnuts on the wet side of the pancake right after I put it in the skillet. Happy baking!
That sounds wonderful, Melissa! IMO, you can’t have too many walnuts 🙂
I just made this for dinner. I started doing pancakes but finished making waffles and I definitely prefer the waffles. This was delicious. I use half milk half greek yogurt instead buttermilk. Thanks Maurizio!!!
These as waffles are amazing! I’m going to make them this weekend 🙂 Glad you liked them!
Hi Maurizio, I made this recipe this weekend and they were delicious! Quick question – typically when I’ve whipped egg whites up to stiff peaks, the recipe has called for some sort of acid, like cream of tartar, and a stabilizer, like sugar. When I whipped these up, my egg whites never really got nice and glossy like I would expect at stiff peaks, but they were definitely stiff in form. The batter and pancakes still came out perfect, so perhaps I’m overthinking it, but next time I may try using the sugar in the egg white mixture instead of with the rest of the dry ingredients. Thanks for the awesome recipe, as always!
Glad to hear that! You’re probably correct there. Instead of stiff peaks maybe I should say semi-stiff—you’re definitely not going to be merengue style stiff peaks here 🙂 I think what you did is exactly right. Thanks for the feedback and you’re very welcome!
Wow Maurizio! These are delicious and a perfect breakfast for Thanksgiving week. Thank you.
Happy to hear you like them, Gretchen! I’m geared up to make them this week as well. Happy holiday!
Hi Maurizio – I made the pancakes and they were great. Thanks. Quick question: for this recipe did you weigh the ingredients and then show standard cup conversions, or did you use cups and then show standard conversions to weights? For the flour, for example, it seems that the conversion of 1 cup flour as 120g is mainly from King Arthur. Many other reliable sources (and my own experience) say that 1 cup of AP flour is more like 135g to 140g. Likewise, when I weighed 1-1/4 cups of buttermilk it was much less than 300g. Just curious. At the end of the day I simply adjusted ingredients to get the right batter consistency. Thanks!
Hey Craig! I actually did weigh these, as I always do. I’m curious now about the AP flour weight, I’ll double check this. But regarding the buttermilk, that is what I ended up with! I’m making these again this weekend, I will verify them all again (and hey, another excuse to make them isn’t a problem 🙂). But you’re right, in the end the consistency is more important than anything else!
Thanks! I’ll probably make them again tomorrow myself. Have to do something with the rest of that pumpkin purée!
Made these again today paying attention only to the weights in the recipe. Fantastic result!
Ok, great, Craig! Thanks for reporting back. I was going to make them this morning but will have to do it this week (overslept, yikes). Happy Sunday!
Incredible flavor a quick question though mine seem to be a little mushy on the inside?
These are super soft pancakes but be sure you’re cooking them all the way through. Because of the added pumpkin, they might take a minute or two longer (with a lower heat, perhaps) than you’re used to!
Hi thank you for your response! I tried again making them and they where nice looking on outside, but still mushy like a undercooked! I did the low heat a longer but still same results:( not sure what I am doing wrong ? Flavor is delicious though!
Strange! You could try pouring the batter so it’s thinner. Pour less and try to encourage it to spread out more, this way they’ll cook through a little easier. It’s definitely a balancing act, cooking the outside just enough so it finishes right around the same time as the interior!
Ok will attempt again, maybe it’s that I am not weighing the ingredients, using a measuring cup.
These are GORGEOUS, seriously thank you for sharing this recipe!
Ah you’re very welcome, Mari! Thanks for the message and enjoy 🙂
Hello. Quick question. If I making pancakes from discard that is being kept in the fridge should I bring it to room temperature before using it? Thank you
I don’t—I use it straight from the fridge!
Hi Maurizio
These are the best cakes I have ever made. So light and full of flavors. Question. Can I store unused batter for a day in the fridge?
Super glad you like them, Ray! You could definitely do that, but I’d expect you’ll get much less rise the next day if the baking soda and powder were added the day before.
Leftovers. You’re funny… 🙂 So, if my starter is 100% hydration, would you suggest less buttermilk? Thank you!
🙂 No, go as-is, mine is 100% hydro as well!
Hi
I don’t have access to tinned pumpkin puree, but can get fresh pumpkin, can I use this?
Hey, Teresa! Yes, fresh pumpkin would work very well!
Hi Maurizio,
Is the 150 grams of starter from accumulated discard? Thanks!
You can use either your ripe starter or discard you’ve accumulated over a week or so in the fridge!
Hi Maurizio. I have a question, if I don’t have buttermilk, can I make these pancackes with it out. Or can one make buttermilk at home? I’ve heard stories of people making their own buttermilk. Any ideas?
You can sub out the buttermilk or make your own. To sub out, I’d use half whole milk and half greek/normal yogurt—I’ve done this many times and it’s great! In fact, it leads to even a little more tenderness. To make your own buttermilk, combine 1 cup whole milk and 1 tablespoon lemon juice and let stand 10-15 minutes. I usually go for option #1. Let me know how you like these! I’m making them again this coming weekend, just too good 🙂