I joke that The Nug is going to grow up spending the night at friends' houses, saying, "Where's the kimchi?!" when he's offered pancakes in the morning. This is because, to him, a "pancake" is the sourdough flatbread I make 3+ times a week, and often fill with leftover veggies or chopped kimchi.
It's nice to have a) a food that begs me to make something out of it on a regular basis, and b) a food that I can prepare quickly without having to think about it.
[For those of you just joining me on this journey, my sourdough starter is made of alternative flours: usually chickpea flour (also known by the names besan, gram flour, garbanzo bean flour and many more) or dhokla flour (which contains some chickpea flour itself, can also go by the name of handva/handvar flour, is originally intended for an Indian soured bread-like product, and is composed of a ratio of starches to proteins similar to that in all-purpose flour). Lately, I've been combining my chickpea and dhokla flours just to get rid of the old stuff. Dhokla is rougher, like cornmeal, and chickpea flour is stickier, like glue, regardless of whether it's from whole, roasted or hulled chickpeas - but my recipes generally work the same way no matter what flour I'm using. To make a starter, simply combine equal parts water and flour. Add more of each every twelve hours or as you see bubbles appear and grow. When stirring, incorporate lots of air, and in three days it should be ready to cook.]
However easy pancakes are, it's always worth it to go to the extra trouble for waffles! If you're not on a low-fat diet, that is. One thing I've learned from Martha Stewart is that a good waffle takes twice as much fat as your basic pancake. Especially when working with gluten free flours, you need that fat for the waffle to willingly come off the iron when it's done.
So here's how I made my sourdough waffles (which my husband confirms is the tastiest sourdough concoction ever to emerge from my kitchen):
Heat your waffle iron. Do not grease it (you don't want the oil plasticizing before you're ready to actually cook the batter)!
With a wooden spoon, scoop out as much starter as you want to use. I keep mine pretty thick, adding much less water than flour at most feedings (I don't measure, I just put in enough to get the texture I've learned to look for to suit my taste).
Plop it into a glass vessel with a pouring spout, like the Pyrex 1qt measuring cup I used. The Pampered Chef makes some tapered ones in different sizes which I really love.
Feed your starter, stir it with the wooden spoon, and put it in a warm place to incubate quickly, or in the fridge so you won't have to feed it again for several days. (I never do this unless I'm out of flour, because I'm likely to forget it!)
Add your fat of choice. Mine is ghee (which is technically a dairy product but has no casein, whey or lactose), but I'll occasionally use coconut oil or olive oil instead. Maybe enough to equal a quarter of the amount of starter? You should be able to see shiny flecks of fat once you've mixed it, even if it was fully liquid before you poured it in. I probably put in a third last time, and it was a tad too much, methinks.
Add in a similar amount of eggs. I used tiny Banty eggs, so for me that was four this time. With storebought Grade A Large eggs, it probably would have been two.
When your iron is ready, add desired amount of sea salt to batter, and pour it on the heating surface! Maybe because mine is ancient, I've noticed that my gluten-free concoctions have a tendency to split down the middle when I open up the waffle iron. I combat this a) with enough fat in the batter and none on the cooking surface, and b) by allowing my waffle to cook for two minutes, or till bubbles appear, on medium heat over the bottom surface before I close the iron and allow the top, which is hotter, to begin cooking. Another minute or two, till the rising steam clouds slow to tiny trails, and the waffle lifts easily off of the iron!
Waffles have traditionally been made with batter soured overnight, so this is not much of a stretch from what we've come to know and love. The finished product is suitable for sweet and savory applications; I served my husband's topped with a "jam" of raw mashed fig, and ate mine plain, but considered a mug of bone broth and a side of - you guessed it - kimchi!
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