Amazing Whole Wheat Sourdough Waffles Recipe
Light and fluffy sourdough waffles are easy to make and blow away regular waffles with their flavor. It’s a great way to use up your starter, too.
One of my favorite things to make with the sourdough starter I keep alive by storing in the refrigerator is sourdough waffles. When I first started out growing and using sourdough starter, I had a pretty rough start to making artisan bread, which got a little better here and then achieved sourdough artisan bread perfection here (it’s such a good recipe!).
What that taught me was that sourdough starter takes time to grow strong enough to raise a loaf of bread. Okay, so I learned to wait – but what to do with all the starter that’s growing in the meantime? The best thing I’ve found is to use it in foods that don’t need a lot of rise – things like crackers and english muffins (both so yummy) – not just throw it out. I also tried a blackberry muffin recipe that was…ummm…let’s just say “hearty.”
And then I made Belgian sourdough waffles with the starter.
Oh my goodness, how I LOVE them! I cannot tell you how much. And guess what? They are 100% whole wheat, yet light and airy with crispy edges.
Um…yeah, can you tell I’m still a little smitten?
What’s weird about that is I’m not a big waffle/pancake fan normally. But these sourdough waffles were crisper than any others I’ve tried (and I always make yeast Belgian waffles when I do make them), and had a wonderful flavor that is hard to describe. Yes, a little sourdough, but not too much. In fact, I was the only one of our family that said I could taste the sourdough.
Sourdough Waffles Recipe
Can I just tell you what a thrill it is seeing all this action in sourdough starter I grew myself? It’s beyond cool and I just do a little happy dance when I see all those bubbles working after sitting out overnight.
It’s sorta the same feeling I get when I see the first seeds sprouting or when I serve a meal made only with our garden produce. There’s the feeling of accomplishment and amazement, for sure, but also that I used something in nature (in this case, wild yeast) to create food and feed my family.
Little miracles, right?
While I show the waffles with strawberries and whipped cream (love), they are equally good with traditional maple syrup. Our family likes to smear peanut butter on first and then drizzle it with real maple syrup – it’s a great flavor combo that ups the protein count, too.
How do you like your waffles?
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Amazing Sourdough Waffles Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup sourdough starter
- 2 cups warm water just tap-water warm
- 3 cups whole wheat flour
- 3 large eggs
- ½ cup melted butter you can use oil, but butter or ghee tastes better
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 tablespoon water
- For serving: fruit whipped cream, maple syrup, etc.
Instructions
- The night before you want to make the waffles, combine first three ingredients in a large bowl and beat until smooth. Cover and let stand overnight at room temperature.
- In the morning add the eggs, oil, honey, and salt. Stir the baking soda in the tablespoon of warm water, stir quickly and then pour right into the batter.
- Mix together gently and let stand about 15 minutes while the waffle iron heats up. Cook until done, lightly greasing the iron after each waffle.
Notes
Nutrition
Other Sourdough Recipes You May Like:
Sourdough Whole Wheat Crackers
Easy Homemade Whole Wheat Sourdough English Muffins
I just mixed up the batter for these waffles, and I’m wondering what the consistency is supposed to be? Is it supposed to be a batter you can pour onto the waffle iron? Like regular waffle batter? Mine is insanely thick… Like as I mix it it just stays a ball of dough.
Thats probably because our sourdough starters are different consistencies (some hydrate 100%, some less, some more…)- feel free to add more water (or milk) to get your batter to a pourable consistency, Anastasia.
Hi! Making my first batch of these waffles! They look super tasty! Do you cover and leave the batter sit out at room temperature? Or do you cover and place in the refrigerator overnight?
You leave it on the counter so the sourdough yeast can work it’s magic (putting it into the fridge will make them go to ‘sleep’). Enjoy!
If I were to halve the recipe, would you recommend using 1 egg or 2? I never know what to do with eggs. Alternatively, do these freeze well? I have a week-old apple sourdough starter that I’m dying to try in a recipe. I’m glad I read your tips not to attempt bread with it until a few weeks of feeding! I would have been devastated if my first bread attempt had fallen flat!
I usually don’t have luck with halving recipes that call for an odd number of eggs, Jenny, but if you really wanted to, I’d probably do 1 egg and the whites of another egg. These do freeze wonderfully, though, and my kids love to reheat them in the toaster oven on school mornings.
Oh, and I would’ve stopped baking long ago if I let baking failures get in the way, they happen all too often on your way to learning -or at least they did for me, ha!
Thanks for responding so quickly! I’ll probably end up making the whole recipe and freezing some. It’s only me and a 2-year-old eating breakfast, so we can only eat so many waffles in one sitting! If they turn out well (better than my last whole-wheat waffle attempt…) maybe hubby will eat some this weekend. =)
Ok, I made them, and they turned out just as you promised, airy and crispy, but I think my starter is WAY too sour….They were definitely not your average waffle. I am going to try again once I get my starter a little more balanced. =)
Do you think they would turn out less sour if I mixed half of the flour into the starter overnight and mixed in the other half in the morning? Or would that backfire and just make it more acidic?
Wow, my daughter always complains that my starter is never sour enough, lol. Using newer starter usually means less sour, so your idea may work – give it a try!
I have been enjoying my first experience with sourdough, following your blog! I am on day 8 right now, and put two cups of starter into the fridge, used two for a double batch of waffles tomorrow, but there is still more, maybe 3-4 cups? What should I do with that? Why do I have so much left over? 🙂
Many starter recipes have you throw out much of the starter before feeding, Lonnie, which I have a hard time doing and why you have a lot. 🙂 You can throw yours away if you can’t make anything else. Do you want pancakes or crackers? They are a good way to use this starter (the sourdough crackers on my site are easy and fabulous!)
I had the same thing! I wasn’t expecting to have so much leftover and I definitely didn’t want to throw it out. I ended up doing a modification to the crackers recipe, just mixing 3/4 cup of starter with 2 tablespoons of butter and seasoning and throwing in the over for a couple batches of crackers. They were tasty! My boyfriend thought I was crazy staying up to 1 am making crackers unexpectedly.
Good save. 🙂