Breakfast

  • Food, Simple Living

    Sourdough Discard Pancakes

    Let’s talk sourdough discard pancakes!

    Wow it has been a while since I regularly blogged here but I have been thinking recently that I want to revive this space to share everything that I am getting up to. If you have followed me for a while you will know I have been a blogger for over 16 years at this point and I honestly go through stages where I blog regularly and where I just don’t blog forever.

    Such is life with two toddlers at this stage but I am going to do my best to try and keep to some sort of regular schedule because one thing is for sure: I have SO much to share.

    My sourdough starter is back

    I had been thinking about diving into baking sourdough again for a while, and when I say it’s been a long time since I made and created proper sourdough from scratch, I mean it’s been probably the best part of a decade. Yup, I really haven’t had a sourdough starter to look after and feed for all of that time. It has however been on my mind for a while, to do another, so this past week I decided to get back to it again.

    You can check out this post to find out how I make my sourdough starter a success.

    Photo of a glass jar with a sourdough starter in it. Jar is in the foreground and there are shelves in the background. The jar is held by the hand of a white woman.

    What to do with the discarded starter?

    If you’re a sourdough afficianado then you will know all about how to create your starter and feed it until you are able to bake your loaf, but if you’re brand new to the sourdough world then maybe you don’t know this: when you have to feed (ie, add more ingredients) to your mixture, you also have to discard half of the mixture every time, which leaves half of the discarded mixture every day.

    Instead of throwing it away and wasting the ingredients, there are so many options with things you can make from it: from pancakes and waffles to crackers and flatbreads. There are so many things, it’s hard to know where to start.

    Pancakes

    Pancakes are a massive favourite in our house, so when I thought about what I might do with my sourdough discard, pancakes were the first thing to spring to mind. We are usually a fan of the UK kind of pancakes (small, crepe-like pancakes) but I decided to try making American-style pancakes.

    I am going to make a confession here: I usually don’t love American-style pancakes. I know, I know. If you’re from the US, or American-style pancakes are your jam I apologise. I have just never really been sold on them. However, making a large batch of these sourdough discard pancakes has completely changed my mind.

    What do you need?

    The recipe itself is quite simple and probably everything you already have within your baking supplies, but here is your shopping list to make sure you have in. You can use this recipe time and time again to make these wonderful sourdough discard pancakes.

    Shopping list:

    • 200g of sourdough starter discard (you can use active sourdough starter but I tend to use the discards so it isn’t wasted)
    • 200g of organic self raising flour (regular self raising flour will work fine)
    • 1 tsp of baking powder
    • 2 eggs
    • 300ml of milk (I use whole milk but I am sure these would work with any milk)

    Jump to Recipe

    How to make

    You can make these pancakes any way you would usually make pancakes for yourself or your family, but something I want to share with you is the beauty of a pancake maker. Ok, so it might sound a little extravagent when you can easily just make them in a frying pan right? And maybe it is, but a pancake maker is something that has been part of my life since childhood. When I was younger my mum attended a new years party where the next morning for breakfast they cooked their own pancakes on one of these machines. My mum was hooked and set about finding her own. We’re talking about the late 90s/early 2000s and I think she found one in Lakeland. We used it all the time and it’s still going strong today.

    I loved it so much that it was on my wedding registry because you better believe I wasn’t going off into married life without one. It was so gratefully received and we still use it all the time now.

    You can of course make these in a regular pan but if you’re wondering whether to invest in a pancake maker, I definitely recommend it. It’s great for making little omelettes for the kids too. It definitely gets a lot of use in our house.

    Active or discard?

    You can make your sourdough pancakes with your active sourdough starter if you really want to but the great thing about this recipe is it is a great way to use up your sourdough discard than throwing it away. So while you absolutely can use your active sourdough starter in this recipe I prefer to save my active starter for gorgeous loaves of bread. I prefer the no-wastage version and use the discards in this recipe.

    Sourdough Discard Pancakes Recipe

    Sourdough Discard American Style Pancakes

    Sourdough Discard American Style Pancakes

    Prep Time: 5 minutes
    Cook Time: 5 minutes
    Total Time: 5 minutes

    Ingredients

    • 200 g Sourdough starter discards
    • 200 g Self raising flour, Organic if possible
    • 1 tsp Baking powder
    • 300 ml Milk
    • 2 Eggs

    Instructions

    1. Measure out your milk
    2. Crack your eggs into the milk and whisk together
    3. Add your sourdough starter and whisk until smooth
    4. Add your baking powder to your flour and mix
    5. Add flour and baking powder mix to your milk, egg and sourdough mix, whisk together until smooth
    6. Add some oil or butter to your pan/pancake maker and using a ladle add some mixture and cook on both sides until brown

    Once you start baking with your sourdough discards you will realise the world is your oyster when it comes to things you can make. Aside from being able to bake beautiful sourdough loaves with your mixture you are also able to make such a variety of foods and snacks with the part that would usually be thrown away.

    I would love to know: Do you bake sourdough? And if you do, what have you made with your discards before? I think my next plan is to make sourdough discard crackers.

    Don’t forget to follow me on Instagram to follow along with our daily life, or join me on Pinterest to get inspired.

  • Breakfast, Food

    6 ridiculously easy toddler breakfast ideas

    You know what it is like, another morning where all you want is to sit down over your coffee (or tea) but your brain immediately springs into breakfast mode and what on this earth you are going feed your toddler today.

    We had a great weaning journey from 6 months to a year. So far (at 19 months) she eats everything but tomatoes. I used to share weaning content all the time so I thought I would bring myself out of retirement and share with you some ridiculously easy toddler breakfasts to break up the monotony.

    blur breakfast close up dairy product
    Photo by Ash on Pexels.com

    Let’s get started with the breakfast ideas

    Pancakes

    A firm breakfast favourite in our house is pancakes and I have found these brilliant from weaning and beyond. I use a really simple pancake recipe that is very easy to make. As a side note it also makes great Yorkshire Puddings too. We do have the swan pancake maker which does make perfectly sized pancakes for little hands, but you can easily make these in a regular pan too. Pre-1 year old I would always serve up pancakes plain with the addition of fruit with some yogurt as well. Now she is past 1 years old I still do this but I will also have options such as adding honey. Honey is only suitable for children over 1 year – please do your own research on this. Now I usually add honey with lemon or with her strawberries – and she absolutely loves it. 

    Omelette

    We have a joke in our house that weekends equal omelette as that is her dad’s favourite thing to serve her for breakfast and he often gets up with her and does her breakfast at weekends. There are so many options when it comes to making an omelette and we just crack an egg and whisk it and fry it in a pan. You can add anything vegetables you like as well as topping it with cheese. In our house anything with cheese always goes down well. 

    Baked oat fingers

    Baked oat fingers are a great on the go breakfast or something to pop alongside other parts of the breakfast. These are well loved by both us and our toddler, and there are so many different variations you can create. I tend to stick towards fruits such as blueberries, strawberries or raspberries but I have been known to throw in some chocolate chips from time to time when I make some for us. I have the basic recipe here but you can totally make what works for you. Next on my agenda is peanut butter and banana (I will share the recipe when I have it) and I really recommend white chocolate and raspberry. These can be frozen and eaten hot or cold.

    Baked oat fingers breakfast

    Waffle fingers

    Like above these are another great recipe that you can serve alone or as part of your toddlers breakfast. I don’t have the waffle recipe written out but there will be so many online that you can use. I know I did lemon and blueberry and they went down a treat. All you need to do is create (or replicate) the recipe, cook the waffles in a waffle maker or square mould and then cut them into fingers. I batch cooked these and then put them into the freezer and bought them out 1 or 2 at a time. You can serve these hot or cold.

    Some cereals

    I am, in general, against breakfast cereals because the sugar content is so damn high and they offer very little in terms of nutrition. However, we do have a couple of exceptions and she loves them; Cornflakes or plain weetabix. These work brilliantly on days where I just want to get something served up quickly.

    Egg muffins

    These are a great option any time of day and for adults and toddlers alike. We loved serving these up when we were weaning as they were so simple for H to hold and eat herself. For the recipe, I usually eyeball what I am doing and don’t necessarily follow a strict recipe. I would add a couple of eggs, a dash (or more of milk), some grated cheese and some vegetables. Mix everything together, pour them into a silicone cupcake cases and sprinkle some grated cheese on top. Then cook for about 15 minutes or until well done. These are then stored in the fridge and last a couple of days, if they’ve not been eaten by then.

    My daughter has always been weaned using the baby led weaning approach. We waited until the recommended 6 months before trying her first foods. I hope this helps you on your weaning journey. If you are just starting out don’t forget to download my popular 100 foods before 1 checklist – it’s a lot of fun!

  • Breakfast, Food

    Simple breakfast pancakes!

    Pancakes seem to be a huge pregnancy craving of mine and although I have posted a couple of times my variations of my foray into the world of keto pancakes and low carb inspired pancakes, I wanted to hop and tell you guys about a very normal, very English pancake recipe. What I love about this recipe is not just that the pancakes taste great (because they do) but also that I am pretty sure you’ll be able to whip up these ingredients at a moments notice and from things you are more than likely going to have in stock too! There is nothing unique or special about this recipe at all and you can probably find it a zillion other places on the internet too, but it is good, it is what I love and you won’t be sorry you tried it.

    pancakes

    Simple Pancakes Recipe

    Simple Crepe Pancakes

    Simple Crepe Pancakes

    Prep Time: 5 minutes
    Cook Time: 10 minutes
    Total Time: 15 minutes

    Ingredients

    • 100g of Plain Flour
    • 300ml of Milk
    • 2 eggs, beaten

    Instructions

    1. Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and whisk until smooth (you might want to whisk your eggs, add them to the milk and whisk both together before adding the flour. This helps create a nice smooth mixture).
    2. Add a small amount of oil to a pan (again, I use coconut oil but it really is personal preference).
    3. Pour a little mix into the pan and cook evenly on both sides.

    Ingredients:

    • 100g of Plain Flour
    • 300ml of Milk (I used Unroasted Almond milk but you can use whatever you prefer)
    • 2 eggs, beaten

    Method:

    (Now this is the real easy part)

    1. Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and whisk until smooth (you might want to whisk your eggs, add them to the milk and whisk both together before adding the flour. This helps create a nice smooth mixture).
    2. Add a small amount of oil to a pan (again, I use coconut oil but it really is personal preference).
    3. Pour a little mix into the pan and cook evenly on both sides.

    (See, told you it was easy)

    Yield: Six medium pancakes

    Next decide on your filling/topping. My usual go-to has to be the tradition lemon and sugar, but for this recipe I went all out and made a cherry & chocolate extravaganza; Using Sweet Freedom chocolate pot spread inside the pancakes, a drizzle of the Sweet Freedom Chocolate and Coconut shot across the top and some morello cherries. I was not disappointed at all!

    What is your favourite pancake topping?

  • Breakfast, Food

    A protein start to the day

    They say breakfast is the most important meal of the day. I look to get the best start possible in the easiest way possible. I have the same thing every week day so I do not have to think about what I am doing (I am not the best as early rising and mostly brain dead until coffee). I am following Tim Ferris’s slow carb diet in which he states you should look to consume 30g protein within 30 minutes of rising. He states 30 in 30 is easy to remember and the protein will leave you feeling full. Google slow carb diet to find his blog post.

    day

    To achieve 30 in 30 I use 60g of Braham And Murray Natural Hemp Protein Powder and 26g of It Works Chocolate Protein Powder to compensate for the bitter taste of the hemp protein. This provides 45g of complete protein which leaves me feeling full until lunchtime. A protein is considered complete when it includes all the essential amino acids. The shake also contains over 12g of fibre to keep the body in running order and as discussed in a previous post is a source of Omega 3 with a ratio to Omega 6 as (Omega6 3:1 Omega 3)

    Both shakes are vegan with the It Works Chocolate Protein Powder made from Pea Protein and Brown Rice Protein.

    In terms of calories, it breaks down as 208 k/cals from the Hemp Protein Powder and 105 k/cals from the It Works Chocolate Protein Powder giving a total of 313 k/cals.

     

    The calories breakdown looks like:
    60g Braham And Murray Natural Hemp Protein Powder – 208 k/cals
    26g It Works Chocolate Protein Powder – 105 k/cals
    Total – 313 k/cals.

    The carb breakdown looks like:
    60g Braham And Murray Natural Hemp Protein Powder – 15g with 3.2g sugar
    26g It Works Chocolate Protein Powder  – 5g with no sugar
    Total – 20g

    Although I cannot find the exact amounts, the Hemp Protein Powder also contains magnesium, potassium, calcium and iron to boost mineral intake making it an excellent start to the day.

  • Breakfast, Food

    Mini Breakfast Omelettes

    Eggs eggs eggs

    I don’t know about you but I find an omelette the perfect way to start my day, gearing up for a day of work or a relaxing brunch, an omelette helps keep me filled up until lunchtime. Eggs are incredible source of high-quality protein as well as heart healthy omega-3 acids. It is right up there with butter as another one of those food items that received a bad rap over the years and now back firmly in our diets again. The health food industry demonised eggs by saying the were the cause of high cholesterol levels which then made everybody just consume everything with egg whites only. Egg whites are perfectly healthy a great source of protein, but we should definitely be making room for whole eggs our diets, unless of course you have been advised otherwise by your doctor.
     
    Eggs are not a threat to your cholesterol, the real threat comes in the form of trans fats and sugars not through dietary cholesterol. There have been studies, one in particular from the University of Connecticut, which found that the fat in eggs actually helps to reduce your LDL, a.k.a your bad cholesterol. Eggs also contain a number of proteins and vitamins including vitamin B2, selenium, vitamin D, vitamin B6, vitamin B12 as well as minerals such as copper, iron and zinc. So with that said let’s get on to the recipe.
     
     
    omelettes
     
     

    Mini breakfast omelettes

    Ingredients

    • 3 eggs
    • Roasted vegetables of your choice
    • And a dash of non dairy milk
    • Coconut oil (for frying)
    Mini Omelettes

    Mini Omelettes

    Prep Time: 10 minutes
    Cook Time: 10 minutes
    Total Time: 20 minutes

    Ingredients

    • 3 eggs
    • Roasted vegetables of your choice
    • And a dash of milk
    • Coconut oil (for frying)

    Instructions

    1. Mix 3 eggs in a bowl and beat
    2. Add a dash of milk
    3. Add coconut oil to the pan
    4. Then add your pre roasted vegetables to the pan
    5. Pull your egg mixture around your vegetables, covering the pan
    6. Cook until cooked on both sides
     
    You can make these omelettes full sized, or make a mini ones like I did. I cooked mine on a small pancake maker hot plate, which worked perfectly for these omelettes. You can batch cook these, keep them refrigerated and grab one (or two) every morning to start your day.