Banana & Buckwheat Sourdough Pancakes
One for the short stack lovers. A little gluten free hybrid of a recipe for savoury-sweet pancakes.
Pancake day or ‘Shrove Tuesday’ is famously known as the last day to use up or consume anything indulgent before Lent and Ash Wednesday. But also…
“The word ‘shrove’ comes from the old Roman Catholic practice of being ‘shriven’ – meaning to confess one’s sins. The shriving bell would be rung on Shrove Tuesday to call people to church to confess.” - English Heritage
A day of celebration or confession? More like a marketing ploy for the supermarkets today, but also a fun day to get out the whisk, flour and frying pan.
The big question is - have you mastered flipping them?
I love pancakes - thin, thick, fluffy, sweet or savoury. They make a great base for pretty much any sort of topping you desire.
Mushroom and cheese crepe? Absolutely delicious. A fat stack of American style pancakes with lots maple syrup? Maybe the best thing to order on a Sunday morning.
Since I started making a sourdough starter, sourdough ‘discard’ pancakes have become a bit of a staple. Mixed with turmeric, coriander seeds, cumin seeds and nutritional yeast they make great base for a quick and nutritious lunch. Topped with some kimchi and a fried egg and they are so, so good.
Today however, to celebrate our love of fried batter, I have a perfect little pairing of sweet and savoury – after a little experiment of mixing my two favourite pancake batters together (banana + sourdough).
It makes for a delicious sweet savoury breakfast (or snack) that has that indescribable umami flavour. The sourdough starter makes the banana pancakes bigger, fluffier and gives them that fermented goodness.
A buckwheat sourdough starter works really well with for this recipe but a starter made from any other flour would do – gram and rice flour starters are good gluten-free alternatives if like your pancakes a little on the savoury side. Coconut flour makes for a slightly sweeter pancake.
If you don’t have a sourdough starter, a couple of spoonfuls of buckwheat flour straight out the bag also works.
These are nice to make on a lazy morning with lots of coffee and bistro music playing in the background. You can find a little ‘Sunday breakfast tunes’ playlist I made especially for times like these here.
Sometimes it’s nice to make the batter the night before and leave it in the fridge so it is ready to go straight away in the morning (giving the batter time to ‘rest’ also helps make fluffier pancakes).
Serve with blueberries on top or extra banana slices and a little bit of kefir on the side.
I made a stack the other week topped with kefir, physalis and drizzled with wild rosehip syrup - those were a crowd pleaser.
I think maybe the moral of humble the pancake is they work with anything - a little bit of fruit and a little sugary syrup (if you’re going for the sweeter variety) and you have yourself a tasty breakfast, lunch, dessert or afternoon snack.
I hope you enjoy, however you are celebrating,
Fleur x
BANANA SOURDOUGH PANCAKES
Serves 2
Ingredients:
2 ripe bananas
2 eggs
2 tbsp sourdough starter (or buckwheat flour)
1 tsp baking powder
Coconut or olive oil for frying
Fruit of your choice to serve
Honey or maple syrup for serving
Recipe:
Place all the ingredients in a food processor and blend until smooth.
Leave to sit for 20 – 30 minutes if you would like them extra fluffy.
Heat the oil in a pan on a medium heat.
When the oil is hot, ladel a little of the mixture at a time into the pan and cook on both sides until golden brown.
You can keep the pancakes warm in the oven while you finish cooking the rest of the batter.
Divide equally and serve with fruit of your choice and some honey or maple syrup.
Enjoy :~)
Banana sourdough pancakes with kefir, physalis and wild rosehip syrup
