How to make sourdough waffles, a simple and easy sourdough breakfast, discard recipe for gut healthy start to the morning.

Sourdough waffles are a very simple delicious recipe. I love the flavor the sourdough give my breakfast and it makes me feel good to serve my family gut healthy foods for breakfast/dessert.

Ingredients for Sourdough Waffles

Sourdough Starter. Fed or unfed sourdough start will work for this recipe.
Flour. All purpose flour usually makes the sweeter, fluffier waffle. Whole wheat makes the much healthy breakfast and adds that whole wheat flavor that some (me!) like and some (my husband) do not. You can also adjust to a 1/2 & 1/2 ratio with these two flour or keep it 100% either way.
Water. We will mix the flour, water and sourdough starter together and let ferment overnight ready to use in the morning for waffles.
Eggs. Eggs provide a great source of protein, omega 3 fatty acids, selenium and many different vitamins and minerals.

Honey. Honey can be substituted with sugar or maple syrup. I use honey to sweeten just about everything.
Salt. Salt for flavor. These tortillas with be flavorless without salt. Enhance the flavor with good salt like Redmond Real Salt. If you are looking for a unrefined natural salt with multiple minerals and electrolytes harvested in the United States of America, then look no further. Redmond Real Salt is full of flavor and nutrients and harvested out of the ancient seabed deep beneath Central Utah
Baking Soda. Baking soda is our raising agent. Baking soda reacts with the fermented batter and creating little air bubbles making a soft and fully waffle or pancake.

How to Make Sourdough Waffles

First make your sourdough starter to make a whole lot more starter. This means we are going to take 1 cup of starter and add 2 cups of flour and 1 1/2 cups water and let ferment on the counter overnight.

In the morning preheat you waffle maker. Then mix into your starter batter, eggs, coconut oil, honey, salt and lastly baking soda all together.

Your batter is now ready to cook! Use your favorite waffle maker or cook on the stove top as pancakes.

Grease your waffle maker between each waffle and be patient. Some waffles makers take a long time. If the waffle is sticking to the lid the waffle is not done. Give it a little more time to cook.

Serve with maple syrup, fresh fruit, lemon curd or homemade whipped cream!

Tips

Grease your waffle maker between each waffle. You don’t need a lot, a little will go a long way.
Be Patient. If you try and lift the lid and its sticking the waffle is not done. Be patient and let it cook a little longer.
Freeze for another day. Make mini waffles in bulk and freeze them for quick toaster waffles in the morning.

Why Sourdough?

Is sourdough healthy? What is it about sourdough that makes it healthier than regular breads or dough?

Sourdough is made when the dough is fermented with beneficial bacteria. The fermentation breaks down the starches in the wheat and making it easier to digest.

The wheat that we grow and buy in the USA is not easy to digest. The seeds have been modified, as it goes it sprayed with chemicals that prevent disease to the wheat plant but stunts its nutritional value. Have you ever heard of wheat belly? Have you notice all the trendy low carb diets being successful? This is not because carbs are bad but because our wheat and sugars have been modified and processed so much. The more processed and modified our food is the more foreign it is to our body making it hard on our system and can cause lots of different healthy issues.

One of the steps to improve our health is to ferment our breads and dough. Breaking down the hard starches before you eat it helps so much! Sourdough doesn’t just break down the starches but does so much more. Check out “11 Reasons To Eat Sourdough Bread” by Bread Affair to learn more.

Can I make sourdough waffles with the discard?

Yes! If you have 2-3 cups of discard ready you can easily make this recipe. Essentially that is what we make in the first steps of this recipe. Mix together a cup of starter with 2 cups flour and 1 1/2 cups water to make enough discard for the next mornings waffles.

Would if I don’t have a sourdough starter…

Can I still make sourdough waffles with our the sourdough starter? Yes and no… Let me explain.

Sourdough starter is make of flour and water that has been fermented. To ferment your flour and water mixture is simple, just let the mixture sit with a clothes or loose lid on your container/bowl or jar. The longer you let it sit the better the fermentation. To keep the good gut healthy bacteria alive you need to feed the mixture with more water and flour each day. The longer you keep this up the stronger the fermentation is and the better the sourdough starter is.

The first step in this recipe is to add flour, water and starter together and let sit overnight. To make this recipe without sourdough starter you can simple let your flour and water mixture lightly ferment over night. Just follow the recipe without the sourdough starter.

Using the starter will help the fermentation process get started and will break down the hard to digest starches faster. Without the starter is will not break down as much or ferment strong enough to be considered real sourdough waffles.

If you have never made sourdough and want to make your own sourdough starter check out little spoon farms “Sourdough Starter Recipe“.

What is the best waffle maker to use?

I’m still looking for the best affordable waffle maker out there but I can give you my honest review and hopeful some helpful suggestions. The YASHE Double Waffle Maker or a Cast Iron Waffle Maker is my best suggestion.

Look for deep grids

My cute little In & Out waffle maker is cheap, low wattage making it take forever to cook the waffles. My kids love the little palm tree but the grid is very shallow. The Dash mini waffle maker was only $10 and has deep grids that give it a much better texture. Although it is uses 350 watts which is lot, making it take a long time to cook still.

Look at the watt’s size.

When looking for a waffle maker I suggest looking at the wattage. Most of the cheaper, slower Belgian waffle makers have a wattage of 1000-1200 while the commercial grade waffle makers mostly use 1500 watts. In a waffle maker I would look for 1400 watts or more for a quick, crispy waffle.

YASHE Double Waffle Maker is a 1400 watts double 6 inch waffle maker for only $59.99. This is one I would put on my Christmas wish list.

My Oster Belgian 8 inch waffle maker has a wattage of 1050. It takes a very long time I typically have to make my waffles ahead of time and reheat in the oven when when want to eat them.

Mini waffle makers have a lower wattage all together. Most of them being as low as 350 watts. The multi mini waffle makers are typically around 1200 watts, like the Dash multi mini waffle maker.

Try cast iron waffle makers

I’ve heard great things about the cast iron waffle makers and would like to try one out. I do love the mini waffle and cast iron mini (4 inch) waffles makers are hard to find. I did find a 6 inch cast iron for less than $30.