Thursday, October 9, 2008

Buckwheat Pancakes: With Wild Yeast!


Last week I decided to test out my sourdough starter to see it it was sour yet. I wanted to make something easy ans tasty, so I flipped through my secondhand copy of Beard on Bread by James Beard and found a recipe for Yeasted Buckwheat Cakes. My family loves buckwheat (it's what is used for real crèpes,) and the method looked simple.
The recipe called for mixing commercial yeast with flour, salt, and water the night before and adding butter, molasses, and baking soda the next morning. All I did was replace the yeast and part of the flour and water with the barm I made about a months ago.

Ingredients (Feeds 4-6):

The Night Before:
  1. 1 cup liquid sourdough starter*
  2. 1/2 cup All-purpose flour
  3. 1 cup buckwheat flour
  4. 1 1/2 cup water
  5. 1 tsp salt
Mix all the ingredients together in a medium-large bowl. Cover with a cloth or plastic wrap and leave out in a warmish place overnight.

The Morning of:
  1. 1 tbsp melted butter
  2. 2 tbsp molasses
  3. 1/4 tsp baking soda
The flour mixture should have bubbled. Stir it well and add the remaining ingredients. Heat up a griddle to medium-low heat. Cook like you would a pancake, but longer. Check for doneness by Opening one a peeking inside. The interior should be soft but not gooey.
Eat warm with honey, maple syrup, brown sugar, butter, or a combination!

*You can replace the sourdough with 1 package instant yeast, 1/2c flour and a 1/2c water. If your starter is dryer or more solid, diminish the amount used and add more water to make a liquid batter.

2 comments:

Agnes said...

So, how did it taste?

Unknown said...

They were good! More bread-like than regular pancakes, they were chewy and had a slight sourdough taste that was well complemented by the buckwheat and molasses.