While people most often eat waffles for breakfast, they are super versatile and can be used for any meal. But aren’t waffles usually a bit bland and just overly sweet? Yes, that is true, which is one the reasons you should make these waffles, because they are different. Well-developed taste and not very sweet at all. You can put both sweet and savory toppings on this waffle. This is my recipe for sourdough waffles.
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Jump to RecipeThe batter in this sourdough waffles recipe
Vitals
Total weight | 1168 grams |
Pre-fermented flour | 100% |
Hydration | 178.3% |
Yield | 10 waffles |
The pre-ferment
The pre-ferment isn’t a regular pre-ferment. The amount of milk plus the 100% hydration starter, makes it over 150% hydration. The inoculation is 100%, which essentially makes it a feeding of your starter in the proportion 1:1:2. It will ferment overnight, and if you leave it too long it can get too sour. If you would like sour waffles, you should leave it for longer than 12 hours.
The buttermilk doesn’t spoil even when kept at room temperature overnight, because it’s part of the fermentation. It’s the same way you make yogurt.
If you don’t have buttermilk available, you can just mix 500 grams/2 cups of regular or plant-based milk with 2 tablespoons of white vinegar or lemon juice. Just leave it on the counter fo 30 minutes, and it should be slightly thickened and somewhat curlded. That’s exactly what we’re looking for.
Weight | Ingredient | Baker's Percentage |
---|---|---|
250g | all-purpose flour | 100% |
250g | starter (100% hydration) | 100% |
500g | butter milk (0.1%) | 200% |
The batter
The batter is enriched with eggs and butter, and a bit of salt is added to bring out the taste of the flour. It’s leavned using baking soda, and not the starter. The starter is there for taste.
If you want, you can omit the baking soda. They will still rise, but be a lot more dense.
Yes, some of you people with a keen eye have probably noticed that it’s the same batter as in my American pancakes, and æbleskiver. No reason to tamper with perfection, right?
Weight | Ingredient | Baker's Percentage |
---|---|---|
108g | egg, whole | n/a |
50g | butter, salted | n/a |
5g | salt | n/a |
5g | baking soda | n/a |
If you want to play around with the formula, change the quantity, or do other things you can do it in my Bread Calculator.
Let me inspire you how to eat your sourdough waffles
Breakfast
A classic breakfast waffle for me is the maple syrup and bacon style, but why not make it into a sort of a buffet.
Let everybody pick their own favorite toppings:
- Butter
- Fruit compote or jam
- Brown sugar fried apples
- Maple syrup or honey
- Honey butter
- Granola
- Fresh fruit
- Yogurt
- Chopped nuts
- Applesauce
- Nut butter
Lunch
- A waffle sandwich: a good piece of cheese with some amazing smoked ham in between two waffles.
- The Nordic waffle: rich cream cheese, smoked salon, chives and maybe a bit of roe on top.
- For the kids: peanut butter and jelly in-between two waffles.
- The mushroom lover waffle: waffle with creamed mushroom, topped with finely-chopped parsely.
Dinner
- A waffle pizza: tomato sauce and some mozzarella, add your favorite pizza toppings and give it a couple of minutes under the broiler.
- A Southern classic waffle: spicy, breaded chicken bread, served with waffles and maple syrup.
- Asian style waffle: Ginger-Sesame Waffles with Indonesian Fried Chicken
- The Korean waffle: put kimchi and cheddar cheese in the dough. Serve with ssamjang dipping sauce (made with fermented soy bean paste and gochujang).
Dessert
- The classic dessert waffle: fresh berries and ice cream
- Waffle layer cake: in between the layers put: raspberry jam, bananas and strawberries and crème pâtissière. Top with chocolate sauce and whipped cream.
- The Danish dessert waffle: strawberry jam and whipped cream.
The conclusion of this sourdough waffles recipe
So what are the qualities in a great waffle?
Well, he’s my list:
- Gorgeously browned to perfection
- Crispy exterior
- Fluffy interior
- Great taste, not like those cardboard tasting things you get in a supermarket.
- That amazing smell and taste of butter.
I can honestly say that these waffles lives up to every single of those statements. It’s time for you to try them.
Please share this recipe for sourdough waffles on social media
This is my recipe for sourdough waffles. If you like the recipe please consider sharing it with like-minded waffle lovers on social media.
If you make it and post it on Instagram, please tag me as @foodgeek.dk so I can see it. That would make me very happy.
Sourdough Waffles
Equipment
- whisk
Ingredients
Pre-ferment
- 250 g all-purpose flour
- 30 g sugar
- 250 g sourdough starter
- 500 g buttermilk Alternatively regular or plant-based milk and 2 tbsp. vinegar
Batter
- 2 eggs Vegan: just drop the eggs
- 50 g butter Vegan: Use a vegan butter alternative
- ¾ tsp fine salt
- 1 tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp vanilla extract optional
Instructions
Mix the pre-ferment
- The night before mix 250g/2 cups all-purpose flour, 250g/2 cups sourdough discard, 30g/2 tbsp sugar, and 500g/2 cups buttermilk.
- If you don't have any buttermilk you can mix regular or plant-based milk with 2 tbsp white vinegar.
- Leave covered at room temperature the night over.
Mix the batter
- In a medium mixing bowl add 2 eggs. For vegan pancakes, drop the eggs.
- Then add 50g/3½ tbsp melted butter, oil or vegetable butter. Mix until combined.
- Add the pre-ferment, 1 tsp baking soda, and ¾ tsp fine salt and mix.
- The batter should bubble up.
Make the waffles
- Heat your waffle machine.
- Fill the cavities with batter.
- Brown to your preference
- Repeat until you are out of batter.