I need some help troubleshooting sourdough pancakes. I am trying to
make them without any added chemical leavening agents. They
consistently turn out unacceptably rubbery.

When I make injera all I use is t'eff, water, and a little starter,
all fermented for at least three days. This bread comes out fine from
a very thin batter, making a thin, but fluffy and moist bread.

When I try making whole wheat sourdough pancakes the dough is far too
stringy. I would like to hear how others make a simple pancake batter
and avoid this gluten problem. Does my batter need to be moister or
drier or something else?

~the Cap'n was here

On 27 Jan 2007 13:07:03 -0800, "cap'n rye" >
wrote:

>When I make injera all I use is t'eff, water, and a little starter,

Where do you buy your t'eff? I think the bag I bought recently had
gone rancid or something, because the injera was intolerably bitter,
even though I tried it with two separate recipes (one with yeast, one
without).

Serene
--
"I can't decide if I feel more like four ten-year-olds or ten four-year-olds." Laurie Anderson , on turning 40.

http://serenejournal.livejournal.com

On 27 Jan 2007 13:07:03 -0800, "cap'n rye"
> wrote:

>When I try making whole wheat sourdough pancakes the dough is far too
>stringy.

Howdy,

Though whole wheat pancakes would not be to my taste, I
suspect that the problem is that the grain (or flour) you
are using is too high in protein.

Are you grinding your wheat? If so, (and you want whole
wheat), try buying "pastry wheat berries."

They will have lower protein, and may give you the results
you want.

All the best,
--
Kenneth

If you email... Please remove the "SPAMLESS."

"Kenneth" > wrote in message ...

> ... Are you grinding your wheat? If so, (and you want whole
> wheat), try buying "pastry wheat berries." ...

They didn't have any. I asked about "pancake wheat berries".
They didn't have any of those, either.

: |

After all these years, the idea of buying special stuff to make
pancakes seems strange. Usually SD pancakes are byproducts
of non-frugal culturing procedures. Well, at least among the
old SD drifters in this group.

A few have written that some loft may be achieved in pancakes
by using active sourdough batter at the right moment. It seems
to me that, if that is done as well as possible, it should not matter
what gluten level of flour is used or how "whole". In any case,
it is hard to get right, and does not work very well at best.

The better answer for SD pancakes is to sour the SD batter
all the way, and leaven with baking soda (sodium bicarbonate),
depending on the CO2 released by the reaction between the
soda and the sourdough acids to fluff up the pancakes. That
is what the OP does NOT want to do, so good luck to him.

It is well known that flour may be degraded by mixing it with
corn starch. That makes it more expensive as well as worse.

--
Dicky

cap'n rye wrote:

> When I try making whole wheat sourdough pancakes the dough is far too
> stringy. I would like to hear how others make a simple pancake batter
> and avoid this gluten problem.

If you believe it's a "gluten" problem, then:

1) use a lower gluten preparation
2) let the batter sit for at least an hour after mixing and before
griddling.

B/

cap'n rye wrote:
> I need some help troubleshooting sourdough pancakes. I am trying to
> make them without any added chemical leavening agents. They
> consistently turn out unacceptably rubbery.
>
> When I make injera all I use is t'eff, water, and a little starter,
> all fermented for at least three days. This bread comes out fine from
> a very thin batter, making a thin, but fluffy and moist bread.
>
> When I try making whole wheat sourdough pancakes the dough is far too
> stringy. I would like to hear how others make a simple pancake batter
> and avoid this gluten problem. Does my batter need to be moister or
> drier or something else?
>
> ~the Cap'n was here
>
It doesn't sound like a sourdough, or a flour problem. It sounds like
a 'mixed the dough too much' problem. I know it's hard not to stir or
mix completely, but you must stop after just a few turns of the spoon.
Too much mixing makes rubber pancakes every time. And add a pinch of
soda for more rise.

Melondy

> It doesn't sound like a sourdough, or a flour problem. It sounds like
> a 'mixed the dough too much' problem. I know it's hard not to stir or
> mix completely, but you must stop after just a few turns of the spoon.
> Too much mixing makes rubber pancakes every time. And add a pinch of
> soda for more rise.

Hi. Yeah. I read in D. Wing's book about Alaskan sourdoughs being used
mainly for the acidity to chemically leaven flapjacks with baking
soda. I have had good luck so far making waffles without the soda, but
it ferments for 4 or 5 hours, or sometimes overnight, and I'm also
careful not to "over mix." I have an inherited old joy of cooking
which invariably directs one in making quick breads and pancakes to
"mix with a few quick strokes, ignoring the lumps," or along those
lines. My wild guess is it's the same reasoning. It's hard to ignore
the lumps, though--maybe an o/c thing. Anyway, people even less dumb
than me have been much wronger.

-Erich

wrote:

>> It doesn't sound like a sourdough, or a flour problem. It sounds like
>> a 'mixed the dough too much' problem. I know it's hard not to stir or
>> mix completely, but you must stop after just a few turns of the spoon.
>> Too much mixing makes rubber pancakes every time. And add a pinch of
>> soda for more rise.
>
> Hi. Yeah. I read in D. Wing's book about Alaskan sourdoughs being used
> mainly for the acidity to chemically leaven flapjacks with baking
> soda. I have had good luck so far making waffles without the soda, but
> it ferments for 4 or 5 hours, or sometimes overnight, and I'm also
> careful not to "over mix." I have an inherited old joy of cooking
> which invariably directs one in making quick breads and pancakes to
> "mix with a few quick strokes, ignoring the lumps," or along those
> lines. My wild guess is it's the same reasoning.

No. Mixing like that develops gluten. That's why I said to let it
rest, as you do crepe batter, for *that same reason.

B/

On Feb 1, 5:08 pm, Brian Mailman > wrote:
> wrote:
> >> It doesn't sound like a sourdough, or a flour problem. It sounds like
> >> a 'mixed the dough too much' problem. I know it's hard not to stir or
> >> mix completely, but you must stop after just a few turns of the spoon.
> >> Too much mixing makes rubber pancakes every time. And add a pinch of
> >> soda for more rise.
>
> > Hi. Yeah. I read in D. Wing's book about Alaskan sourdoughs being used
> > mainly for the acidity to chemically leaven flapjacks with baking
> > soda. I have had good luck so far making waffles without the soda, but
> > it ferments for 4 or 5 hours, or sometimes overnight, and I'm also
> > careful not to "over mix." I have an inherited old joy of cooking
> > which invariably directs one in making quick breads and pancakes to
> > "mix with a few quick strokes, ignoring the lumps," or along those
> > lines. My wild guess is it's the same reasoning.
>
> No. Mixing like that develops gluten. That's why I said to let it
> rest, as you do crepe batter, for *that same reason.
>
> B/

no, I said, a "FEW, quick strokes," quoting an old joy of cooking. I
meant the emphasis over "quick." But all things being equal...

wrote:

> On Feb 1, 5:08 pm, Brian Mailman > wrote:
>> wrote:
>> >> It doesn't sound like a sourdough, or a flour problem. It sounds like
>> >> a 'mixed the dough too much' problem. I know it's hard not to stir or
>> >> mix completely, but you must stop after just a few turns of the spoon.
>> >> Too much mixing makes rubber pancakes every time. And add a pinch of
>> >> soda for more rise.
>>
>> > Hi. Yeah. I read in D. Wing's book about Alaskan sourdoughs being used
>> > mainly for the acidity to chemically leaven flapjacks with baking
>> > soda. I have had good luck so far making waffles without the soda, but
>> > it ferments for 4 or 5 hours, or sometimes overnight, and I'm also
>> > careful not to "over mix." I have an inherited old joy of cooking
>> > which invariably directs one in making quick breads and pancakes to
>> > "mix with a few quick strokes, ignoring the lumps," or along those
>> > lines. My wild guess is it's the same reasoning.
>>
>> No. Mixing like that develops gluten. That's why I said to let it
>> rest, as you do crepe batter, for *that same reason.
>>
>> B/
>
> no, I said, a "FEW, quick strokes," quoting an old joy of cooking. I
> meant the emphasis over "quick." But all things being equal...

Take it or leave it, costs the same either way.

B/