My sourdough starters weren’t fed for about two weeks. I was afraid they may have gone bad, so after feeding them last night, I left them out of the fridge to see if they are still active. This morning they were all bubbly and foamy and so I was assured they were alive.

I was going to make bread, but it would take a few hours and I needed some baked good for breakfast. I decided to make sourdough pancakes, which I was planning to try for some time. I checked some recipes online and then improvised a bit to come up with these thick, fluffy, Blini-like pancakes. The starter I used is my rye-fed starter. I was very pleased with the deeper taste it gave the pancakes.

Ingredients (makes about 5 pancakes)

1/2 cup sourdough starter at room temperature
1/2 cup lukewarm milk
1 tbsp vegetable oil
2 tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup plain flour
1 egg
1 tbsp sour cream
1 tbsp water
1 tsp baking soda

Mix all the ingredients except the water and baking soda, which should be mixed in a different bowl. Heat up a non-stick pan and when it’s ready, pour the soda mixture in the pancake batter and combine gently. Pour a ladle of batter on the heated pan (I got better results when the pan wasn’t buttered) and cook until bubbles appear. Flip over and cook for another 30-60 seconds on the other side.

Top pancakes with ANYTHING. This time I chose the pretty standard fake-maple syrup and sour cream.