Joy The Baker

These pancakes were two weeks in the making. And it all started with.. It turns out that a sourdough starter, a mixture of flour, water, bacteria and yeast, makes some pretty stellar pancakes. The cakes came out slightly thin, nicely browned and light as air. The starter and baking soda combination created insanely porous and light pancakes. Combine sourdough bread and pancakes. Delicious. Super delicious. The slightly sour pancakes are perfectly complimented with maple syrup and sweet strawberries.

If you’ve followed along with me on my starter adventure, I hope you’ll try these pancakes. Jump on over. There are a few things you should know about this wacky pancake mix. If you have no idea what’s going on, here’s a link to a link to all the sourdough starter madness. It would seem that many things having to do with sourdough starters are an overnight process.

These pancakes are no exception. For weekend pancakes, you’ll need to start you batter on Friday or Saturday night. When combining a cup of starter with additional water and flour for the pancake, use a bowl with plenty of room. Your starter will grow a few times during the pancake making process.

Make sure your bowl is made of glass or plastic. Metal does funny things that don’t agree with your starter. Once you’ve removed the necessary amount of starter for the pancake batter, feed your original starter with a cup of water and a cup of flour, stir, cover and return to the fridge for your next sourdough adventure. Heat a griddle and grease as you normally would for cooking up pancakes.

I have to admit, it took me several rounds of pancake mistakes before I got the knack of cooking these beauties. My batter was pretty thin, maybe because my starter was thin, so it took a bit of practice to get a handle of the cooking. Not to worry, this recipe produces enough batter for a few rounds of mistakes.

Enjoy some pancakes. Let me know what you think, I think it’s time for the real deal. Sourdough bread will be next. Mix 1 cup of starter, 1.5 cups warm water, 2.5 cups flour (a mix of white and wheat is good) cover with foil and let stand overnight. I put mine in the oven with the light on; it’s the perfect temp. Mix 1 egg, 2/3 cup milk, 1 teaspoon baking soda, 1 teaspoon salt, 2 tablespoons brown sugar and 2 tablespoons vegetable oil. Whisk into the mixture from the night before, let stand for five minute and drop onto griddle. Try them served with warm maple syrup and fresh strawberries and blueberries.

Slowly add the self-rising flour until the mixture is of a consistency that can easily drop from a spoon in one lump. If you add too much flour, the end results will be a hard, but a well-shaped cekokok. You want a mixture that will give you a crispy skin on the outside, but soft on the inside. As different people will be using different banana variety and size, the self-rising flour amount is an estimate and will be adjusted as you pour into the mixture to get the right consistency that can easily drop from a spoon.

If it is too soft and runny, then add a bit more self-rising flour. Heat a wok or any deep frying pan. Then, add enough oil to deep fry. Use a tablespoon to scoop the banana mixture into the wok (or frying pan) once the oil is medium hot. Depending on the size of your wok and the amount of oil used, you can fry four or five pieces at the same time. Fry one side until it is medium brown.

Then, turn over to fry the other side. This will take about 3-4 minutes. Place the cooked cekodok pisang or mashed banana fritters on a kitchen paper towel. You may serve it hot or cold. For cekokok pisang or mashed banana fritters, any eating banana variety is suitable. The cavendish variety that you get at most supermarkets will do just fine.

Cavendish bananas are the long, yellow and slightly sweet bananas. If you use Cavendish banana, then you may need to add sugar to the mixture (as per above). It best to use the over-ripe or bruised Cavendish banana. I used the pisang raja variety as it grows in my back garden. It is already sweet on its own and I do not add any additional sugar to the mixture. In Malaysia, this cekodok pisang is usually sold by street vendors at busy streets, in the afternoon. You can also buy them in the morning and at night markets.

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