​Fluffy Sourdough Pancakes
These pancakes are so fluffy and delicious! You can make the batter up the night before so you can have fantastic pancakes for breakfast with no fuss at all. You can either use active starter or discard from the fridge.
This is a fantastic recipe and so versatile. The pancakes don't taste sweet so can be topped with sweet or savoury toppings. Topped with berries and a drizzle of maple syrup is a delicious weekend brunch or to go in a savoury direction, with poached eggs, avocado and a side of sauerkraut is delicious too!
I tend to omit the vanilla extract so I can have have my pancakes sweet or savoury.
This recipe makes a lot of pancakes, so I like to keep my options open! Excess batter will keep in the fridge for a few days but will become more sour so don't keep it any longer than that.
A good idea is to make all the pancakes, then freeze them.
You can toast them straight from frozen for a delicious treat anytime!
And this recipe also makes wonderful waffles, just thin the batter down a bit with more plant based milk and cook in your waffle maker. The thinner the batter, the more crispy your waffles will be, and the addition of vanilla extract just adds an extra sweetness which kids love!!
I hope this becomes one of your family favourites and go to weekend pancake recipe!

Ingredients

• 300g  self raising flour
• 250g sourdough starter
• 350mls dairy or dairy free milk
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 2 tablespoons oil
• 2 eggs or 2 chia or flax eggs for vegan option *
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp vanilla extract (optional and only if you are having the pancakes with sweet toppings!)

 
 
Method

1. Combine the sourdough starter, flour and milk in a medium mixing bowl. Cover and allow to ferment overnight.
2. In the morning create a well in the batter with a wooden spoon and crack the eggs in, mix in then add the sugar, oil, sea salt, baking powder and vanilla extract. If using chia eggs then make sure to mix them in well, they tend to clump otherwise!
3. The batter should be fairly thick, but pourable, you add a bit more milk if its too thick.
4. Lightly grease a griddle or large non stick pan with oil or butter. Heat over a medium heat and add spoonfuls of the batter to form pancakes. Cook for several minutes until bubbles begin to appear. Carefully flip and cook for a few more minutes until evenly browned.
5. Serve with sliced banana, mixed berries and a drizzle of maple syrup or with savoury toppings.
6. These pancakes freeze well and are delicious toasted the following day!

* a chia egg is 1 tablespoon of chia seeds with 3 tablespoons warm water, mixed and left to sit for 5 mins to form a gel. So you need 2 chia eggs for this recipe, 2 tablespoons chia seeds plus 6 tablespoons warm water. 

I have been trying out a few new sourdough pizza base recipes and I am happy with this improved version.
Simplicity and versatility are high on my list and this one ticks both those boxes.
Its a great way to use up discarded starter or can be made with active starter too. 
The addition of semolina and a few tablespoons olive oil make all the difference to the flavour and texture.
A few tips for a nice crisp base, preheat your oven to high and preheat your baking tray. This can make it difficult to transfer your pizza but using a pizza paddle to literally slide it on works well.
To be honest I just preheat the oven then put the pizza base on a cold tray then add the toppings, its easier and I don't have a pizza paddle!

So here is my recipe
Ingredients for 4 large or 6 medium pizzas
500g pizza flour or plain flour
300g starter or discard
250 ml warm water
2 tablespoons olive oil
50g semolina or fine polenta
10g salt, 2 level teaspoons

Method
Measure the flour, semolina and salt into a large mixing bowl.
Mix the warm water with the starter and oil in a jug.
Add to the dry mix in the bowl and knead until it comes together into a fairly smooth ball. Takes around 5 minutes.
Cover with a tea towel and leave at room temperature for a few hours until roughly doubled in size.
Put the dough onto a floured surface and use your knuckles to knock the air out of it.
divide the dough into 4 or 6 pieces depending on the size of pizza you want.
Roll out thinly, add toppings and bake in a hot oven for around 15 minutes until the base is crisp and golden.

I had extra dough so just put it in the fridge in a tupperware dish and used it the next day to make pizzas for lunch.

Alternatively you could make the dough in advance and just leave it in the fridge until you need it, bearing in mind it will become more sour the longer you leave it! I imagine it would be ok for 2 or 3 days!

If you don't have sourdough starter then you can use instant dried yeast, here is the amended recipe.

Standard Pizza Base
500g plain or strong white flour
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp instant dried yeast
325 ml warm water
1 tablespoon rapeseed or olive oil

Method
Put the flour in a large bowl with the salt and yeast.
Add the oil and water and knead for 5 to 10 mins, until smooth.
Put the kneaded dough in a lightly oiled bowl, cover with a tea towel and leave in a warm place for a couple of hours, until roughly doubled in size.
Proceed as sourdough recipe.

​I absolutely love foraging for sea buckthorn berries, they have so many benefits especially for skin and hair health and are up there among the most nutritious superfoods on the planet, almost as good as the acai berry, which comes all the way from Brazil.
The good news is Sea Buckthorn grows really well in Scotland and can be found growing all along the coast and can be harvested over a fairly long time, from mid September up until the first frosts!
So what’s so great about sea buckthorn berries…

• a unique fatty acid profile, with a perfect balance of omega 3 and 6, they contain the very rare omega 7 and also omega 9.
• more than 12 times the Vit C of oranges
• more than 3 times the Vit A of carrots
• high amounts of Vit E
• over 20 minerals
• more than 60 different antioxidants, polyphenols, flavanoids & carotenoids

I think you will agree that’s a pretty impressive list and all of the above support skin health and all those wee gut microbes so a win win situation for us!!
The fatty acids are anti inflammatory, rejuvenate the skin, repair damage and minimise the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles. They are converted to prostaglandins, which protect against infections, prevent allergies and reduce inflammation.
Vitamin E is a great hydrator, increases and maintains moisture content leaving the complexion smoother and more plumped.
Vitamin C and Carotenoids stimulate collagen production, protecting and refining the surface of the skin and protect against damaging and ageing free radicals.
The combination of this unique profile facilitates oxygenation of the skin, increases blood circulation, removes excess toxins and easily penetrates the epidermis which floods the skin with healing vitamins and antioxidants.
 
 

​Harvesting the wee orange berries isn’t easy, since they are attached to the branch really closely and are extremely juicy and literally burst if you try to pick them!
So you need to take a pair of secateurs and snip off whole branches, remembering to leave plenty of berries for the birds, who I am sure know how beneficial these berries are!
The easiest thing is to put the branches into the freezer, ideal if you have a large chest style freezer, then the frozen berries just pop off!
Sadly my freezer is full so I have to do it the hard way, you will need a pair of rubber gloves, a basin and a fork. Just use the fork to prise the berries off, some of them will burst but it doesn’t matter, so long as the juice ends up in your basin, its all good. Enlist in a few helpers and put some fine tunes on and you will have a basin full of berries in no time.
You need to check for any wee insects and give them a chance to escape, so go and have a cup of tea and put the berries outside for half an hour or so.
Give them a quick check for any thorns or woody stems and remove them.
Then you need to mash the berries to a pulp to extract all the lovely juice, a pestle and mortar works well, a large rolling pin, a potato masher or anything else heavy.
Transfer the mashed berry pulp to a sieve over a bowl, and use a metal spoon to press out as much juice as possible. I transfer the remaining pulp to a muslin nut milk bag and squeeze the rest of the juice out by hand. It’s precious and I like to collect as much as possible!

​The juice is a gorgeous vibrant colour, its really tart so you can’t drink lots of it but I like to have a wee shot glass or mix it with some orange and passion fruit water kefir which is delicious.
It’s a hard flavour to describe but its very distinctive, almost citrussy with a hint of pineapple. Many people add loads of sugar to it to make a syrup but I’m not a fan of sugar so I prefer to use it neat!
The low pH preserves the juice beautifully, I still have some from last year and its still fine although obviously some of the vitamins and antioxidants will be less effective. This year I am going to freeze some juice in ice cube trays for maximum preservation of all the good stuff!!
So back to uses of this incredible berry, you can literally just apply the juice neat to your skin, but try a patch test first incase you have a reaction to it.
I have incredibly sensitive skin but am fine with sea buckthorn, it actually gives you a lovely glow, almost like a healthy tan!! And it protects the skin against free radicals and sun damage so another reason to use it!
I will be mixing the juice with my homemade hair conditioning spray, my unscented shampoo, my kombucha toner and my kefir face masks and downing regular shots of juice!
If you don’t want to go to all the bother of foraging your own sea buckthorn, you can buy capsules and oil for internal and external use.
These will be more effective than home pressed juice, since the seeds and the pulp will be processed to extract all the beneficial oils and all of the beneficial compounds, although depending on the process involved some could be lost or damaged. Generally cold pressed is the best since heat destroys antioxidants and vitamins.
I use Sea Buckthorn capsules for dry eyes, they really make a difference. In fact dryness anywhere in the body can be alleviated by using sea buckthorn oil or capsules.
This really is miracle stuff for the skin, I can’t recommend it highly enough!!
So what are you waiting for, take a wee trip to the seaside, take a picnic, some gardening gloves and a pair of secateurs and lookout for these super berries!