A Recipe and note from Kayla:

I have the sweetest childhood memories of my grandmother standing over her cast-iron skillet in her 80s-era pink chemise. I knew it was the weekend because the smell of pancakes flooded the kitchen.

My grandmother’s fluffy pancakes were piled high and ready for a generous slathering of butter and dusting of granulated sugar. She never put syrup on her pancakes. They didn’t have syrup growing up in her Great Depression-era childhood home, so she never acquired a taste for it.

This tradition of pancakes on Saturday morning holds such nostalgia for me that I’ve insisted on carrying it on with my babies. Saturdays, we huddle together in the kitchen and take turns adding flour and baking soda, whisking, stirring, laughing.

I hope the girls, when they are older, have similar feelings about our pancakes on the weekends and visions of me standing over a skillet Saturday morning. Now, if I could only find a fuchsia nylon moo moo.

Sourdough Pancakes

Prep time: 15 minutes

Cook time: 10 minutes

Inactive prep time: 8 hours

Ingredients:

1 cup sourdough starter

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 cups water

1/4 cup sugar

2 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 cup butter

2 eggs

2 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Combine starter, flour, and water in a large bowl until well combined. Cover with a tea towel and let ferment overnight.
2. The following morning, combine regarding ingredients and mix until just combined.
3. Preheat a cast iron skillet or griddle over medium low heat. Add 1/2-1 tbsp butter once hot.
4. Add 1/3 cup batter to preheated skillet and cook until bubbles form and the surface loses its sheen, about 3-4 minutes.
5. Flip pancake and cook on the other side for an additional 2-3 minutes.
6. Continue preparing pancakes until all batter is used. Serve with butter and warm maple syrup or your favorite topping.

Waffle variation: Prepare batter as instructed in steps 1-3. Apply non-stick spray to a waffle maker and preheat to desired setting. Add enough batter to completely cover the waffle maker. Cook waffles according to your waffle maker directions, or until desired doneness has been reached.