Sour Dough Waffles

These sour dough waffles are quick and easy to make with either fed or discard starter. With a quick intro to sour dough as well as make ahead, freezing, and reheating instructions, this post has it all.

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I’m a sour dough newbie. My friend Lorene N. invited me over a few months ago. She gave me a sour dough starter and taught me a bunch of stuff. Then a little while later I went to a class at a local sour dough bakery where I came away with even more info.

While I’m no expert, it has been a lot of fun to learn. These sour dough waffles were one of the first recipes I made with my sour dough starter. I adapted this recipe from a recipe that Lorene shared with me. What I love about this recipe is that you can use sour dough discard or fed starter.

If you are new to sour dough or don’t understand the terms I am using let me try to explain.

A quick intro to sour dough

What is sour dough and how do I get some?

Sour dough is a natural bacterial leavening agent. Yes, it’s alive!

You can make your own starter, but the easiest way to get your hands on one is to ask around and find someone who is willing to share.

Keeping it alive

There is a bit of maintenance involved in keeping a sour dough starter. Since it is a living thing, it needs to be fed. But don’t worry, this doesn’t have to be an all-consuming lifestyle. You can keep sour dough starter in the refrigerator when you are not wanting to use it and it will keep for a very long time.

It’s a good idea to feed the starter in the refrigerator every week, but if you let it go 2 or 3 or even longer, it’s not a bit deal. If you keep your starter at room temperature you will need to feed it about every 12 hours.

What do you feed it? A mixture of flour + water.

I normally use 1 part starter and feed it with 2 parts water and 2 parts flour (a 1:2:2 ratio). Sometime I throw all caution to the wind and just kind of eyeball amounts and mix it up until it looks good. I haven’t killed mine yet, so that tells me it’s a pretty forgiving pet.

Fed Starter vs. Discard Starter

After feeding it, you can let it sit at room temperature about 4 to 8 hours (depending on room temperature) until it doubles. This is what’s known as “Fed Starter”. Fed starter is active, bubbly, will float on water, and is what you use to make leavened dough (e.g. sour dough bread).

If you keep feeding the starter, you will end up with a huge batch of sour dough. So normally I only feed a small part of it. The rest I keep in the refrigerator in a separate container labeled “discard.”

Discard is sourdough starter that hasn’t been fed in a while, is sluggish and sleepy. It can also turn into fed starter if you, well, feed it.

Health benefits of sour dough

One of the benefits of sour dough that people talk up a lot is that it is easier to digest and better on the gut. From what I understand of the fermentation process, it breaks down the complex carbohydrates into simpler forms, and that’s what makes them easier to digest. Many folks that have gluten sensitivity have found that they can eat sour dough. Pretty cool if you ask me.

This intro was fast and super basic, so if you have any other sour dough questions, I’ll do my best to answer them in the comments below.

How to make these sour dough waffles

One of the things I love about this sour dough waffle recipe is that you can make it with fed sour dough starter or discard. All of the flour in the recipe comes from the sour dough starter and there’s no overnight resting period.

If using discard starter, I do like to let it come to room temperature before using (about 3 hours, but I usually leave it overnight). It’s not necessary, but it does allow for easier mixing and makes for a slightly lighter waffle.

Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl. There is absolutely no fussy mixing involved (yay for that). I like this dough hook for mixing waffle batter (aff. link). It mixes like a charm.

Right after its mixed, the batter will get super bubbly and rise quite a bit. I normally let the batter rest for about 5 minutes until most of the bubbles tame down.

Then cook the waffles according to your waffle iron manufacturer’s instructions.

Let’s talk waffle irons really quick. I am very partial to my waffle iron, my friends. I’ve had a few different ones and this is by far my favorite (aff. link). It cooks two waffles at a time and I love how the waffles turn out light and crispy. I think it has to do with the fact that you flip the waffles over and gravity pulls the batter down. Whether that’s true or not, the waffles come out tasting better than with any other waffle irons I’ve had.

Making ahead, freezing and reheating

If you are making a bunch of waffles for a crowd, you can keep them warm in a 175 degree F oven for about 15 to 20 minutes. Maybe longer, but I haven’t tried it.

These waffles are best served the same day they are made or they freeze great (see instructions below). They get kind of dry and develop a strong flavor when you store them in the refrigerator so I don’t recommend it.

To freeze wait until the waffles are completely cool. Then line a baking sheet with parchment paper and place waffles on the paper in a single layer. Place baking sheet in the freezer for 30 minutes or until waffles are most of the way frozen through. Then remove waffles from the parchment paper and place in gallon freeze bags and freeze up to a month (or probably longer).

We usually reheat them in a microwave or toaster (if you want them a little crisper) until they are warmed through. 

In Conclusion…

I hope you get your hands on some sour dough starter ASAP so you can make these waffles, my friends. They are light and flavorful and absolutely delicious.

Favorite toppings include:

• applesauce
• homemade jam
• nutella
• strawberries + whipped cream
• agave, pure maple syrup, or raw honey
• or plain – you really can’t go wrong.

Recipe Source: Heather @ The Cook’s Treat

All images and text ©The Cook’s Treat

Disclaimer: post contains affiliate links for items on Amazon.