Overnight Sourdough Einkorn Pancakes
Are you a pancake or waffle person? We are a house divided, but I always find it so interesting to hear what people think! Opinions are strong! Sunday mornings are usually reserved for waffles or pancakes in our house, and we love to use einkorn flour for our batter. We’ve been using THIS WAFFLE RECIPE for years, but it’s a “quick bread” recipe that we make in the morning, meaning it’s not soured. It’s super delicious and it works for both waffles and pancakes, but I wanted to find an overnight soured recipe to take advantage of all the sourdough health benefits. My search for a recipe revealed a lot of versions that used starter discard to make the batter in the morning without an overnight proof. While that’s a great economical way to use up starter, I was looking for a recipe that combined the health benefits of einkorn and an overnight sourdough proof. Not finding exactly what I wanted, I tweaked, trialed, and errored to come up with the one I’m sharing today.
It gets high praises from everyone in the family, but the best part is that these pancakes do not raise my blood sugar! A quick blood sugar stick about an hour after eating one of these pancakes (without syrup) revealed a reading of 83. If you are familiar with optimal blood sugar numbers, you’ll know that a reading of 83 after eating a pancake is pretty remarkable. I absolutely love that the combination of einkorn flour and the sourdough process creates delicious breads that I can actually enjoy without worrying about my sugar spiking! What a gift!
I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I do! There is no sugar added, but I use a hefty dose of cinnamon to give the illusion of sweetness and take advantage of the blood sugar stabilizing benefits. It does require one cup of sourdough starter, which I do not regularly keep due to the expense of einkorn. I build up my starter the morning before I want to make this recipe so I have enough in the evening to make the dough. Using 1/2 cup proportions of starter and flour, and a little less than 1/2 cup of water, I am able to get just enough starter with ~1/4 cup left over to keep it going. Check out my post HERE about working with sourdough if you need a bit more guidance on maintaining a starter.
Overnight Sourdough Einkorn Pancakes
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose einkorn flour
- 1 cup fed sourdough starter
- 3/4 cup filtered water (I like Berkey filters)
- 3 pastured/organic eggs, scrambled in a separate bowl
- 1/2 cup organic buttermilk milk
- 1 tsp vanilla extract (we make our own but I would use Frontier if I was buying)
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 1 tsp aluminum-free baking soda
- 1/2 - 1 tsp organic cinnamon
- 4 tbsp melted grass-fed butter (cooled and not hot)
Instructions
The night before:
- In a medium bowl (I use the Pampered Chef Classic Batter Bowl), mix together the einkorn flour, sourdough starter, and filtered water until combined. I find a stiff spatula works best. The dough will be wet and sticky.
- Cover with plastic wrap and place in a warm spot to proof overnight. The oven with the inside light on creates a perfect environment. Just make sure to put a sticky note or some other reminder on top of the oven buttons so you don't accidentally turn it on. I've done that one too many times!
- Let proof overnight, 10-12 hours. This dough should double in size.
The morning of:
- Warm up your cast iron skillet or pancake griddle to a medium-low temperature. I prefer a slow and steady cooking at about 250 degrees on pancakes so they don't brown too much.
- Using a whisk, add into the dough the eggs, milk, vanilla extract, sea salt, baking soda, and cinnamon. Mix until well combined.
- Add the melted butter and mix until well combined. The batter should be somewhat thin, depending on the hydration of your starter.
- If needed, butter your cooking surface.
- Drop pancakes in about 1/4-cup increments. Pancakes are normally cooked on the first side until the batter is bubbling, but the baking soda will make it bubble almost immediately. So, cook the pancakes until the ends start to show signs of hardening, about 2 minutes, depending on your cooking temperature.
- Flip and cook the other side for about 90 seconds.
- Remove to a plate and repeat the process until all of the batter is used. This recipe should yield approximately 16 pancakes, depending on size.
- Serve immediately with your favorite toppings. They also freeze extremely well.
