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This sourdough pancake recipe is one of our early Sourdough Club recipes. It’s amazing to think that the Club is now more than 10 years old.
Italians love cherries. Actually, almost everyone loves them, and they are full of antioxidants, but my mother (who is Italian) particularly loves them. She makes the most wonderful things with them, and about 25 years ago she planted a cherry tree in her garden. In spring, it is as pretty as a picture, and the bees busy themselves gathering nectar from the delicate blossom, but by the end of July it is fully weighted down, its branches laden with dozens of bunches of great big juicy red cherries. One year, the cherries were glorious, but I was too late. The easy-picking ones from the lower branches were long gone, but I’ve never been one to give up easily when it comes to a delicious outcome, and we all know that the plumpest ones are always out of reach. There is an old slide in the garden, so the children and I dragged it under the heaviest branch. I climbed up and stood precariously on the top rung. It wobbled ever so slightly, and I muttered a short prayer under my breath as I stretched up and picked a large bunch. I don’t suppose it was very dignified, and perhaps most normal people wouldn’t risk breaking their legs for a basket of sweet cherries, but oh, they were worth it!
I took most of what I had picked home with me, although, I must confess that not all of them reached the kitchen table. The remaining cherries I made into a simple French-style fruit compote and added a whisper of almond essence to really intensify the flavour, ready to go with some sourdough pancakes. The slight sourness of the pancakes really works with the cherries, and I go easy on the sugar. I’m not keen on anything overly sweet, which is why I much prefer fruit compotes to jam. A compote is a preparation of fruit that is simmered gently in a sugar syrup. I think the flavour of the fruit is far more pronounced in a compote because there is less sugar. Unlike jams or jellies, however, this reduced sugar means that they are not preserved for long periods of time, so compotes need to be kept in sterilised jars in the fridge. They can be kept for up to two weeks in the fridge or, if you want to keep them to use later in the year, they can be frozen.
If cherries are not in season, you can use any berries of your choice – raspberries, strawberries, gooseberries, blackberries, blackcurrants or blueberries. During the winter months, you can use frozen berries. Apricots, nectarines, rhubarb and plums also work wonderfully well. The amount of sugar needed can vary depending on the fruit you use.
If you are feeling a little decadent, as I was, then a beautiful Ndali vanilla pod scraped and whipped into some fresh double cream finishes these pancakes off a treat.
The sourdough starter that I used in this recipe was about three days old and was made using a local white stoneground flour, from Priors Mill. It was refreshed with equal parts flour to water.
You can read about the health benefits of cherries here in our Research Database.
If there are any terms in our recipes that you are unsure about, please do use our glossary. We also have a UK to USA glossary to give equivalent names or terms.
Makes: 12–14 pancakes
Ingredients
For the pancakes:
275g Stoate’s organic strong white flour
pinch of sea salt
½ teaspoon cream of tartar
1½ teaspoons bicarbonate of soda
4 teaspoons Fairtrade soft brown sugar
50g leftover sourdough starter
275g organic whole milk
sunflower oil, for greasing
For the cherry compote:
325g fresh cherries, halved and stoned
260g Fairtrade golden caster sugar or raw cane sugar
½ teaspoon almond essence (optional)
1 tablespoon water
Equipment:
Small pan
Frying pan
Sterilised jars
Method:
Place the cherries in a small pan with the sugar, almond essence and water. Place over a medium heat and bring to the boil, then reduce to a gentle simmer and cook for 30–40 minutes, or until reduced and thickened. Once cooked, remove from the heat.
Meanwhile, sift together your flour, salt, cream of tartar, bicarbonate and sugar in a large bowl. In a jug, whisk together your starter and milk. Make a well in the centre of the flour mixture and pour in the milk mixture, whisking to form a thick, smooth batter.
Preheat a heavy frying pan over a medium heat. Use some oil to grease the pan, then drop in the batter, using a couple of tablespoons of batter per pancake. Depending on the size of your pan, you will be able to cook 2–3 pancakes at a time. Cook for 1–2 minutes, and once you can see little bubbles appear on the surface of each pancake, flip them over and cook the other side.
Remove to a large plate and keep warm in a low oven until you have cooked the full batch. You may need to add an extra drizzle of oil to the pan between batches.
Serve warm with the cherry compote and some vanilla cream. If you have time, you might like to serve them with Cultured Cream – see page 72 of The Sourdough School Sweet Baking: Nourishing The Gut & The Mind.
Store any leftover compote in sterilised jars and keep in the fridge when cool.