Incredible Sourdough Coconut Pancakes (and Waffles and Crepes)

Why Coconut pancakes? Because Coconut. We like to experiment. One such experiment was subbing out coconut creme for milk in our sourdough pancake recipe, and breakfast was never the same.

I’m sure we’ll write separately about Sourdough and our journey with it, but the tl;dr version is that we tried sourdough, and frankly using it as a rising agent is a bit annoying. BUT, the flavor is awesome. It balances out sweetness in breakfast foods and to our taste is an amazing taste additive. So to clarify, we are not using Sourdough here as the rising agent (we use baking powder instead), but we are using the Sourdough for flavoring

The second observation about sourdough is possibly entirely inaccurate, it is simply our non scientific taste testing conclusion. We find that with sourdough, when you use baking soda, it neutralizes the flavor of the sourdough. We find (for whatever reason) that baking powder does not have this effect. So if you are using sourdough as a flavoring, I’d strongly suggest using baking powder. Another reason I like baking powder is that it is more forgiving, and additionally, it is double acting (so it has a second “rise” when the batter hits the hot pan or waffle iron).

Lastly, the elephant in the room – the Coconut. Honestly there is not a real good “why” to this. The amount that we use is so small there is no material nutritional impact (in either way). But it creates an amazing flavor that creates layers in what is otherwise a one-dimensional breakfast food. One could argue (I suppose) that our pancake may be “too interesting” what with flavors from Sourdough, Coconut, Maple Syrup and Vanilla, but hey, feel free to adjust or adapt the recipe to your taste! Also this can be scaled up if you need more pancakes. We are trying to cut back on carbs so we make silver dollar sized pancakes and freeze the remainder.

Recipe :

1 cup Sourdough Starter (226 g)

1 egg

1 tbsp melted butter (adjust with coconut milk to get to the right texture)

3-5 tbsp coconut creme to get to the right texture

2 tbsp of raw sugar (adjust to taste, and to type, e.g. if white sugar, then reduce the amount, if maple syrup, increase the amount)

Flavourings to taste (vanilla extract, cinnamon)

1 teaspoon baking powder

Method :

Mix everything together, starting with the sourdough, then the melted butter, and add in the egg once the butter is incorporated (this keeps the butter from solidifying due to the temperature of the eggs – assuming your eggs are straight out of the fridge like mine!). Then add the rest in any order saving the baking powder for last. Now do not overmix, and feel free to cook with some coconut oil for additional coco flavor (if you are allowed to, I am not), we find small pancakes work best with this recipe. We like it a little more liquid-y because we like thinner pancakes. If you like it thicker, use less liquid in the batter.

Now to make a waffle batter, just adjust the liquid (perhaps a little less), and for crepes a little more liquid. Otherwise it is all the same batter.

Let me know what you think! Happy Cooking and Happy Eating!