Sourdough pikelets are the easiest and tastiest way to use up that leftover sourdough starter discard. They are even easier to make than my sourdough pancakes and take less than 5 minutes to make. I like to add a few chopped chives to my pikelets and have them for breakfast!
Quick Glance at the Recipe: Sourdough Pikelets
- Recipe Name: Sourdough Pikelets (Sourdough Discard Recipe)
- Why You'll Love It: Five minutes start to finish, uses up your sourdough discard, and works for sweet OR savory breakfast. Crispy edges, soft middle.
- Time and Difficulty: 1 minute prep + 8 minutes cook. Beginner-friendly.
- Main Ingredients: Sourdough discard, sugar, salt, baking soda, butter. That's it.
- Method: Stir baking soda, salt, and sugar into a cup of unfed sourdough discard. Cook in butter on a preheated medium-low pan, low and slow, 5 minutes on one side and 3 on the other.
- Texture and Flavor: Crisp buttery edges, soft, slightly tangy interior with the holes of a crumpet. Less airy than a pancake, more substantial than a crepe.
- Quick Tip: Low and slow is the only way to cook these. If the pan is too hot, the outside burns before the inside cooks through.
I know people don't care much about family history and recipes but this is truly the first family recipe I have shared here on Sugar Geek Show so darn it, I'm going to share a little bit about why I love pikelets!
Pikelets are a part of my childhood. I had never even had a pancake until I was in my teens. My dad is from New Zealand, and if you're from New Zealand, this is your version of the Betty Crocker cookbook. The Edmonds Cookery Book. Everything we made pretty much originated from this book. This is the actual cookbook my Mom and Dad used. I never thought to even ask my Dad if he still had it because he isn't much of a baker or a cook and my Mom has long since passed away.
I recently invited him over to test out some sourdough bread, sourdough focaccia, and a sweeter lemon blueberry sourdough focaccia I was making. He has a gluten intolerance and I wondered if he could actually eat sourdough bread because I had read that people with an intolerance can actually eat it with no pain. Hop on over to my sourdough bread recipe to see how that went!
As I was making the bread, I decided to make some pikelets out of the discard and it brought back all my memories of eating them as a kid. I quickly called my Dad and asked him if he still had that old cookbook and what do you know... he did. Now, these sourdough pikelets are not exactly like the ones I had growing up, these are made from discard while the ones I had growing up were made with fresh flour and baking powder. But the texture is almost identical and quite delicious! Ok, that's my schpeel about pikelets 😀
What Is A Pikelet?
A pikelet is similar to a pancake but pancakes are made with a thinner batter and are usually eaten at breakfast. Pikelets are made with a thicker batter and can be eaten at any time of the day.
I often like to add savory ingredients to my pikelets, such as chives, cheese, bacon, or even roasted corn! Mmmmmm so good.
A pikelet is actually the same thing as a crumpet, except it is not cooked in a metal ring. Pikelets are commonly referred to as the poor people's crumpet because not everyone could afford a metal ring to bake in!
If you love a sourdough breakfast bread, my sourdough English muffins are the proper bread version with all the same nooks and crannies.
Sourdough Pikelet Ingredients
You only need a few ingredients to make easy sourdough pikelets from your discard. I typically have about a cup of discard leftover. If you have more or less, you can adjust these ingredients as needed. I always recommend weighing your ingredients with a digital kitchen scale for the most accurate results.
- Sourdough discard. Unfed sourdough starter straight from the fridge or counter, no need to wake it up. This is the ENTIRE base of the recipe, so use discard you'd actually want to eat (not weeks-old liquid alcohol-smelling stuff).
- Sugar. Just a teaspoon. Gives the pikelets the faint sweetness of a pancake. If you're going fully savory, leave it out (a reader asked about this, and it works fine).
- Salt. Balances the tang of the sourdough. Don't skip.
- Baking soda. This is the most important ingredient after the discard. Baking soda reacts with the natural acidity in the sourdough discard and gives the batter its rise. Without it, you'd have a dense, flat pikelet.
- Butter. For the pan. This is what gives the pikelet its crispy edges. Don't substitute oil unless you have to; the butter flavor is part of the point.
How To Make Pikelets Step-By-Step
For exact measurements, see the recipe card below.
- Preheat your pan for 15 minutes on medium-low heat. Cast iron is ideal. The surface temp should be around 300º F.
- Add the baking soda, salt, and sugar to your sourdough discard and stir. You'll immediately notice the batter puffs up from the baking soda reacting with the acidity in the discard.
PRO TIP: The key to perfect pikelets is cooking them LOW AND SLOW. If your pan is too hot, the outside burns before the inside cooks through, and you end up with a raw, doughy center. Use a surface thermometer the first time if you have one.
- Add some butter to the pan and let it melt. This makes our pikelets nice and crispy!
- The batter will be thick, so I use my hands to divide it. You can get about three small pikelets from one cup of discard. Pour the batter into the pan from the bowl, and then pinch the dough with your fingers to separate it.
- Cook the pikelets for 5 minutes on one side, or until the edges start to look dry and you can see some holes forming on top.
- Flip the pikelet over and cook for another 3 minutes.
Common Sourdough Pikelet Problems To Avoid
Sour aftertaste. Discard was way too old. Toss anything that smells like nail polish remover (that's alcohol, the yeast eating itself) and start with fresher discard next time.
Pikelets are doughy in the middle. Pan was too hot. Reduce to low and give the pan time to come back down before pouring the next batch.
Pikelets are dense and flat. Forgot the baking soda, or the discard was too old and lost most of its acidity. Use discard that's no more than a week old in the fridge.
Batter is too thin to hold a shape. Discard was too runny. Add a Tablespoon of flour to thicken it, or just let it sit 5 minutes for the gluten to relax and thicken on its own.
Pikelets are burning on the outside but raw inside. Pan too hot, full stop. Low and slow.
Make-Ahead And Storage
- Cooked pikelets, room temperature. Airtight container, 1 day. After that the texture goes soft.
- Cooked pikelets, freezer. Cool completely, single-layer flash freeze for 30 minutes, then bag. Up to 2 months. Reheat in a hot pan for 1 minute per side, or in the toaster.
- Sourdough discard, fridge. Up to 1 week in a covered jar. Bring to room temperature before mixing the batter.
- Already-mixed batter. Use within 30 minutes. The baking soda reaction loses lift the longer it sits.
For best results, hide from other family members and devour immediately!
If freezer breakfasts are your thing, my sourdough sandwich bread freezes great in slices too, and sourdough rolls freeze straight from the oven for dinner all week.
If you want a savory snack, try my rosemary sourdough discard crackers, same 5-minute prep, but they bake into shatter-crisp crackers with flake salt. For a sweet breakfast, my sourdough discard pancakes use a full cup of discard. And my sourdough discard donuts turn it into a weekend treat.
Sourdough Pikelet FAQs
Yes. A reader asked about this for savory pikelets and they come out fine without it. The pikelet will be less sweet (obviously) but the texture is the same. Great if you're planning to top with cheese, chives, bacon, or smoked salmon.
Absolutely. Chopped chives, shredded cheese, crumbled bacon, roasted corn, blueberries, chocolate chips, lemon zest, all work. Stir them in after the baking soda has done its puffing.
Add more butter and make sure the pan is hot enough to set the bottom (test by flicking a drop of water on the pan, it should sizzle, not just sit there). If the pan is properly preheated and well-buttered, sticking shouldn't happen.
Yes, but it's a waste of an active starter that could have made bread. Discard pikelets are the whole point. If you're going to use fed starter, your pikelets will be slightly more risen and a touch milder in flavor.
More Sourdough Discard Recipes To Try
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Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup sourdough discard unfed
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 Tablespoon butter
Instructions
- Before you begin: Pull your sourdough discard out of the fridge so it's not ice-cold when you add the baking soda. The reaction works at any temperature but room-temp discard puffs faster.
- Preheat your pan on medium-low for 15 minutes (surface temp should be around 300º F).
- Combine all your ingredients together (except the butter) in a bowl. You'll notice the mixture gets puffy and bubbly.
- Melt the butter in the hot pan.
- Use your hands to divide the batter into three pikelets by pouring the batter into the pan from the bowl and then pinching the dough with your fingers to separate it.
- Cook your pikelets for 5 minutes or until the edges start to look dry and you can see some holes forming on top.
- Flip your pikelet over and cook for another 3 minutes.
- Serve warm and enjoy!
Video
Notes
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Ingredient notes:
- Use sourdough discard that's no more than a week old in the fridge. Older discard loses acidity and the baking soda reaction doesn't puff as well.
- Skip the sugar if you're going fully savory. A reader confirmed this works fine.
- Butter (not oil) is what gives the pikelets their crispy edges. Worth the upgrade.
- Cast iron is ideal for even, low-and-slow heat.
- Non-stick works if you don't have cast iron, but cook a touch slower since non-stick holds heat differently.
- A griddle works for batch cooking 6 or more pikelets at once.
- Cooked pikelets at room temperature, 1 day in an airtight container.
- Cooked pikelets in the freezer, up to 2 months. Flash freeze single-layer for 30 minutes, then bag. Reheat in a hot pan or toaster.
- Sourdough discard in the fridge, up to 1 week in a covered jar.
- Already-mixed batter loses lift after 30 minutes, so mix right before cooking.
- Chopped chives, shredded cheese, crumbled bacon, roasted corn
- Blueberries, chocolate chips, lemon zest, banana
- Stir in after the baking soda puffs the batter
- Don't cook the pikelets on high heat. Low and slow only. High heat burns the outside and leaves the inside raw.
- Don't skip the baking soda. It's the only leavener.
- Don't use discard that smells like nail polish remover. That's alcohol from the yeast eating itself. Start with fresher discard.
Nutrition
David Brust says
Can you omit the sugar? Seems these are for savory and I wonder if they come out sweet.
Elizabeth Marek says
You definitely could if you want to omit the sugar. These are technically sweet like a pancake but you could go either way
Missy says
These were delicious! I love the flavor! For breakfast I added blueberries and lemon zest, for dinner I added taco cheese, chives, and garlic. Yummy!
Cait says
Easy fast and delicious use of sourdough discard! Gonna be making this every week now. Perfect with tea.
Cara says
I made these and they taste great! But one thing I'm curious about is that the inside of mine tend to stay gummy no matter how long I cook them for. I also had this issue with pancakes I tried.
I'm new to sourdough so I'm not sure why they won't cook inside (the top and bottom are browned and crispy). Do you have any suggestions for a new baker?
Liz Marek says
Try turning the heat down and cooking them low and slow on medium-low. If the pan is too hot, the outside browns before the inside has time to cook through. If you have more questions, come ask me in the Sugar Geeks community: https://community.raptive.com/sugargeeks
Ariana says
I don't normally comment on recipes, but these are so good I've made them every morning for the past week. I don't think I'll ever make pancakes again if I have the option to make these instead.
Liz Marek says
Every morning for a week, I love that! Thank you.
Carl says
Just made this recipe, but put them in egg rings in the pan. Came out great thanks
Liz Marek says
Egg rings are a great idea for perfectly round pikelets! Thanks for sharing.
Cara says
I made these this morning, and it was so easy and delicious!
Liz Marek says
So glad you loved them!
Heather says
Absolutely delicious!!!
Liz Marek says
Thank you so much, Heather!
Barbie says
Very good!
Liz Marek says
Thank you!
Pam says
I can’t wait to try this! They look beautiful and delicious! I have long ferment grains to tolerate. Do you think it would work to mix and stick in the fridge for 48 hours then cook as normal?
Liz Marek says
I wouldn't mix the batter ahead, since it loses its lift after about 30 minutes. You can let the discard itself sit in the fridge, then stir in the sugar, salt and baking soda right before cooking. If you have more questions, come ask me in the Sugar Geeks community: https://community.raptive.com/sugargeeks
Kimberley Ham says
Had just a little over a cup of discard so tried these! Made 4 large pickelets! I did one sweet one savory for my daughter and I and they were delicious! It was so fast and easy which is what I needed! Thank you for sharing the recipe, it’s a keeper for sure!
All the best!
Liz Marek says
Love that you made one sweet and one savory! So glad it's a keeper.
Leah says
I tried to make this, but the dough was incredibly liquid and didn’t turn out at all. I’m not sure what went wrong, but it was the consistency of milk or something. Any suggestions? perhaps the issue is that my discard had been sitting in the fridge for about a week and the liquid separated and I mixed it back in. Is that not something I should do?
Liz Marek says
It sounds like your discard is a lot thinner than mine. My starter is about 70% hydration, so a very runny discard makes a runny batter. Also try to use discard that's no more than a week old, since older discard loses acidity and doesn't puff as well. If you have more questions, come ask me in the Sugar Geeks community: https://community.raptive.com/sugargeeks
Diana says
Made these today. I had 2 cups of discard so doubled the recipe in 2 separate batches. I decided to add a generous amount of cinnamon, 1 tbls of vanilla extract and swapped out sugar for raw honey. Turned out pretty good! Drizzled honey on top and had it with my pumpkin spice cappuccino🍁🍃🍂☕️. Will try with cheese next time! Finally an actual simple discard recipe! Thank you for posting it!
Liz Marek says
That sounds like the coziest breakfast! Thanks for sharing.
Camie Marfoe says
THANK YOU!!! This recipe is amazing. I have been on the hunt for ways to use discard and this has been my favorite so far. I have made them with cheese and I've made them with red peppers, onion, and cheese. I think the combination possibilities are endless. Sweet or savory these little gems are a winner. YUM.
Liz Marek says
Red peppers, onion, and cheese sound so good! Thanks for sharing.
Margnum says
Absolutely brilliant recipe! It bubbled up and produced beautiful crusty bubbly vehicles to transport smoked salmon and chives! So simple and so perfect. Thank you
Liz Marek says
Smoked salmon and chives is such a perfect pairing for these! Thank you.
Isabella Roberts says
These were really good! Mine didn't puff up as much as the pictures but I think my starter is just a bit too immature still. I added pumpkin pie spice to mine, and when they were done added peanut butter and a tiny bit of real maple syrup. Tasted just like fall ought to! I loved the sourness that the pikelets brought to the plate, it really contested the sweet flavors I added. I will definitely be making these again!
Liz Marek says
Pumpkin spice and peanut butter sound like fall in a bite! Thanks for sharing.