Americana for Breakfast

A little break today from horses for a post on my other favorite thing - food!

I love making sourdough bread.  This is actually quite funny to my family because as a kid, my least favorite part of being dragged along to church each Sunday was the sourdough that was part of communion.  How I would try to take the tiniest piece possible so I wouldn't have to taste it!  From my lamenting, you'd have thought the pastor was trying to poison me.

Now, I can't get enough of the stuff.  My favorite of all is sourdough crepes, aka 49er Flapjacks.  These were invented in San Francisco during the Gold Rush era (1849-1860's).  The recipe seems to have been a local take on traditional Belgian pancakes (thick crepes) made with the sourdough culture for which the city has become famous.

These are super easy to make, and are an excellent way to use up extra starter from feeding your culture.  You can make them with any type of white flour sourdough culture (mine is Parisian).

And since it's fourth of July today, why not decorate it with red, white and blue toppings like yogurt or cream fraiche, strawberries or raspberries, and blueberries?  Or stick with traditional powdered or brown sugars.  Nutella is also good on these (and on everything else).  Or just eat them plain, hot out of the skillet.

49er Flapjacks

In a large mixing bowl, beat

     2 eggs

Add

     1/2 cup sourdough starter (at pancake batter consistency, recently fed)
     1 1/2 cup milk
     2 pinches sea salt
     1/4 cup sugar
     1/4 tsp vanilla

Mix well.  Add

     2 cups all purpose flour

Mix well, but don't worry if it is lumpy.  Add

     6 Tbsp melted butter

Mix well.  Your batter should now be smooth and lump-free.  It should have the consistency of waffle batter or slightly thinner.  You want it kind of runny so it will spread across the skillet, but not watery!  You'll know when you start cooking if it's ok.  If too thick, add a splash of milk.

At this point, you can refrigerate it overnight, covered, or cook it right away.  If refrigerating, you do NOT need to bring to room temp before cooking.

To cook, heat a large skillet on medium to medium high heat.  Add butter or non-stick spray.  When hot, remove pan from burner while pouring 1/4 to 1/3 cup batter on one side of the skillet..  Then tilt the skillet to make the batter run around and cover the whole area. 

Return to heat, cooking until bubbles form all over and it starts to look kind of firm.  Peek under the flapjack to see if it has turned slightly golden.  Flip, and cook until second side is also slightly golden.  This will take a total of 3-4 minutes.

Serve right away. These also store well in the fridge although they will not be as flexible for rolling or folding.  They reheat well in the microwave, about 20 seconds on high.

This recipe makes  about 20 crepes, depending on size of skillet.