Sourdough Discard Pancakes

I have been trying out the sourdough breads and hence have been discarding a lot of my levain which seriously have been a source of pain for me to see what could have been food to go to waste.  However, having to make two things - both the bread and another recipe for the discard is a little too overwhelming for me and my schedule.  (Oh if you are wondering why I don't have a post on my levain bread yet, this is because I have yet to find one I am entirely satisfied.)

Yesterday I have been trying out another recipe which the bulk fermentation will take a day and proofing over night and today is no work day.  This allows me to trial a recipe for the discard.

Surfed the internet and found many interesting ideas for discards but I want to start with something familiar and quick and easy.  Found this recipe at a few websites and decided to try and yes, it is good!  So sharing it here.  My family had it with maple syrup and butter, though my girl kept complaining that she wished we had bought fruits (because we always have our pancakes with berries, bananas and kiwi).  But sorry I didn't stock any in my fridge today.

I have made amendments to the recipe so that it suits my habits of measuring and I only had about 150 g of discard from yesterday.  So this is how it goes :)

Sourdough Discard Pancakes

My first trial at pancakes made from levain discard

Ingredients

• 200 g all-purpose plain flour
• 1 Tbsp sugar (I use organic sugar at home)
• 1/4 (sea) salt
• 1Tbsp baking powder
• 200 ml of milk
• 3 eggs
• 150 g levain  (discard)
• 50 g melted (unsalted) butter 

Method:

1.  Sift all the dry ingredients in a bowl.
2.  In a separate bowl, whisk together the milk and eggs.  Add in the levain and mix well.  Let the mixture stand for 10 min.  (I usually use this time to start a little wash up because I don't like my sinks filled with dishes etc that stack high, that puts me off from washing.)
3.  Mix in the wet ingredients from 2 into the dry ingredients from 1.  I don't dump in everything.  I stir and mix in part by part.
4.  Finally incorporate in the melted butter into the pancake batter.
5.  Heat the pan or griddle and brush with a little oil
6.  Cook the pancakes in the pan.

Other Notes:

• I found a nice trick in cooking pancakes many years ago.  Don't flip the pancakes too often.  Use a ladle and scoop the appropriate batter and just pour in the batter into the pan.  Let the batter cook till small bubbles appear on the surface and the sides start to firm up, then you flip it over to cook the other side.  Don't push and press down on the pancake.  As the underside now cook, you can see the pancake puff up in the centre.  Then remove the pancake off the pan, when the underside slightly browns.