Last summer I started my sourdough experiments all over again. Six years ago I had grown and maintained my first starter for quite some time but it fell out of favour one day and was finished off with nary a trace. In the intervening time interest in sourdough seems to have moved into the mainstream. When Pamela Timms shared images of the beginnings of her sourdough starter on Instagram, I got sucked right in again. It was the month of June and Delhi was at its hottest best. My starter bloomed overnight and fell never to rise again. Not given to quick surrenders I starting over, this time keeping the starter out in my cool bedroom at night and in the fridge during the day. In a few days I had Frothy smiling at me. She is very different from her spring-born sister from 6 years ago, as bubbly but less tart. I have had nothing but success with her. My sourdough bread game is still not topnotch but the journey to get there has been full of tasty steps.
Like most of us, I’m loathe to throw out stuff deemed edible. Maintaining a starter requires removing half and feeding it afresh. This ritual can be daily if you bake everyday or it can be fed weekly if kept refrigerated where it stays somewhat dormant. Weekly feeds suit my schedule. The sourdough bread is a labour of love requiring patience; a loaf is ready for the oven after 36 hours. The task is best scheduled for the weekend.
On weekends when I have other activities planned I end up using the extracted sourdough starter in pancakes. Unlike sourdough bread, these are very forgiving, need only an overnight’s advance planning, and there is no wrong-way! You can use maida or you can go the multi-grain route. You can add an egg or make them egg-less. You can make them classic American and serve with fruit and syrup, or go Indian with a spicy, savoury version. Whichever way you roll, you just cannot go wrong with these.
Over the last few months I have baked a lot of loaves, crackers, and rolls with this amazing starter of mine. Here’s what I did last weekend.
Sourdough Scallion Pancakes
(makes enough for 3)
The night before:
Mix together
1/2 C sourdough starter
1/2 C warm water
1/2 C atta (wholewheat flour)
To the mature starter above, in the morning add:
2-3 heaped tablespoons besan (chickpea flour), or any flour of choice
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
salt
1/2 C puree of scallions (spring onion) greens that have been blanched in boiling water for a minute
1 tbsp chopped scallion greens
1 beaten egg
1 tsp soy sauce
Whisk with a fork till combined.
Add a few drops of oil to a hot cast iron pan. Smear it all over with a paper towel. Drop a ladleful of the batter into the pan and spread it to thin out just a little. Cook on medium high till browned. Flip and cook on the other side. Serve hot with a spicy chutney or pickle; seen here served with green chilli thecha and mulato chilli relish.
Variation: Replace scallion puree with beetroot or spinach puree.
Don’t have sourdough starter? Here’s a guide to get your own starter going!
A Mad Tea Party 
wow that looks so yum and hats off to you for starting all over again with enthu. I gave up a couple years ago when my starter in the brrr bay area winters never even got started in the first place. But I’m motivated to begin all over again after salivating all over your new post. This summer it shall be:-)
Last time I just got tired of the routine. This time around I have been more adventurous with using it in different ways which has kept the boredom away. In fact, it’s been exciting! Don’t wait till summer!
love it! i only recently started trying my hands on bread, and funnily enough i’ve been thinking of trying a non-yeast dough (inspired by the episode “air” on the documentary Cooked). this seems like a good candidate! thanks for sharing!
I’ve been thrilled with how the dough rises at it proves even when refrigerated! It’s exciting to see it rise. 🙂
I love Pancakes….. Thanks for sharing this recipe… i’ll try to make it….
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What are you serving these with here, Anita? The chutneys look delicious, as do the pancakes of course. I want to try it out this weekend.
It was some time back but I think one of the chutneys is green chilli thecha (with sesame seeds, if I remember correctly) and the other is a relish I made with smoked red chillies. I think I noted the chutneys on a corresponding post on Instagram. 😉
I read the post again – the chutneys are noted there!
Hello….thanks to your blog post and the current lockdown I started my sourdough starter this morning 🙂 Let’s see what comes up. In the meantime, other than pancakes what else can I use the discard in? Like you I hate wasting edible stuff! Thanks