About This Recipe

What is a Pikelet?

A pikelet is a small, thick pancake leavened with baking powder or baking soda. In the case of sourdough, we are making them with sourdough discard and baking soda! These are comparable to a crumpet, except made without the ring. They can be enjoyed sweet or savory, as a snack or for breakfast.

What I love about this recipe:

The simplicity and ease of this recipe is what makes it a personal favorite of mine. Four ingredients come together in one bowl, the batter of which is cooked up on a skillet. Even better? If you’re needing to use up a bunch of discard – this will get rid of it for you! This one is a winner for both the sourdough baker and the people enjoying the meal.

All the why's

Discard

Sourdough discard is simply extra starter that is not being used to leaven bread. While this recipe works with both old and new discard, I find the results are fluffier and more desirable with fresher discard (still fairly thick, has some bubbles, up to a week old). Once the starter begins to “deactivate” and produce significant hooch, I find the flour is so broken down that it just does not produce a fluffy end result. To fix this, you could add a little extra flour, though you would lose the fully fermented benefits of this recipe.

Sugar

Sugar has a greater purpose in this recipe than just to sweeten. In fact, it does not really sweeten at all and will not eliminate a sour flavor if your discard is extra tangy. The sugar in this recipe works to support a Maillard reaction, which just means it helps the outside to brown properly.

Baking soda

The baking soda reacts with the sourdough discard to leaven the pikelets: trapping carbon dioxide gases and creating bubbles which cause the pikelets to rise and become light and fluffy.

Rest time

Though not in my original recipe, I’ve found that waiting five to ten minutes after mixing the batter helps to break down the sourdough discard and dissolve the baking soda. This makes the pikelets easier to scoop and fry and also helps eliminate any weird chemical flavor from the baking soda.

Cooking method

We want the heat set to a perfect medium-high. The pikelet should be beautifully browned and ready to flip in just two minutes after placing on the skillet. The high heat will ensure the best fluff, and will result in the perfect brown color on the outside of the pikelets.

FAQs

Does the activity of my starter matter in this recipe?

I find this recipe produces the fluffiest pikelets with fresher discard: discard that is still thick and bubbly, and has not been sitting in the fridge more than seven days or developed a layer of hooch. But, it will work with any and all discard. If your discard is older, a little flour added to the mix will help add a bit of fluff, though it will take away the full fermentation benefits of this recipe.

Do these taste incredibly sour?

This fully depends on your sourdough discard. Though it may seem this dish would be incredibly sour (since the batter is made almost fully from sourdough discard), I find it to have a fairly neutral flavor! This may be due to the addition of baking soda, which is said to neutralize acids in the sourdough starter. Ultimately, it will depend on your personal tasters, home environment (environment where the discard is kept), and care routine. Older and/or acidic discard is likely to taste more sour than fresh discard.

How long will it take me to make these?

It takes five minutes (or less!) to mix up the batter, and about ten to fifteen minutes to fry them up on a hot skillet (depending on how large of a batch you are making). You can have these made, start to finish, in approximately 20 minutes or less!

Why are these sometimes called "a poor man's crumpet"?

They are sometimes called this because they are made exactly like crumpets, except without the rings! Only the rich were able to afford crumpet rings, I guess.

Pikelets

Recipe by Caitlin VincentCourse: Breakfast, Snack, SideDifficulty: Beginner

Prep time

minutes

Cook time

minutes

Yield

8-10

pikelets

Ingredients

600 g (2 2/3 cup) sourdough discard (relatively fresh, still bubbly with no solid layer of hooch)
15 g (1 tbsp) sweetener (sugar or honey)
5 g (1 tsp) baking soda (I like to sift this so that there are no lumps)
3 g (1/2 tsp) salt

Directions

Preheat a griddle to medium-high heat (I use heat 6 [out of 10] on my gas griddle).
Mix together all ingredients until fully incorporated.
Rest the batter for 5-10 minutes while the griddle finishes preheating.
Spray the griddle with cooking oil to prevent the pikelets from sticking. Give the batter one last stir to make sure the ingredients are well distributed.
Fry in 1/4 cup scoops (or scoops of desired size) until cooked through and golden, about 2 minutes per side.
Enjoy!