Sourdough starter is an easy thing to keep in your refrigerator with lots of tender loving care.  You may also purchase sourdough starter off the Internet or by mail order.  When you obtain your sourdough starter, make sure you follow the directions enclosed when it arrives.  Personally, I have a medium sized ceramic cookie jar with a lid that hides in a corner of the refrigerator till I need it.  When I use some, I feed some back to keep it going. 

Many years ago, we stayed at a little bed and breakfast nestled high up Emigration Canyon.  For breakfast, he served Sourdough Banana Pancakes.  His topping of choice was cinnamon and brown sugar with a dollop of sour cream.  At first I thought these would be really heavy from the ingredients on top, but they were light and fluffy and so very good.  Sadly however, the bed and breakfast owner refused to share his recipe.  I have to admit; that no matter how hard I have tried I have been unable to fully achieve the flavor I remember from that morning.  Perhaps it had something to do with the beautiful landscaped yards of the bed and breakfast, or the relaxing nights sleep we spent away from the children.  The only thing I can say for certain is that this recipe is close, but not quite the same as what the bed and breakfast owner served to us for breakfast.

Ingredients

• 2 cups sourdough starter, room temperature
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 egg
• 4 tablespoons olive oil
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda (do not add till right before you begin cooking the pancakes)
• 1 tablespoon warm water

Topping Ingredients:

• 1 banana (slice thinly directly over your pancakes)
• 1 small package of Sour cream
• ½ cup or so of Brown Sugar
• Cinnamon, enough to sprinkle over the top of your pancakes
• Chopped walnuts (optional if you don’t like nuts)

Method

In a large bowl, add sourdough starter, sugar, egg and olive oil, mix well.  I prefer to use a ceramic or glass bowl for this to avoid any reaction from the sourdough starter.  In fact, as a general rule, when mixing ingredients, I rarely use anything but glass or ceramic in the kitchen. 

Dilute 1 teaspoon baking soda in 1 tablespoon of warm water and gently fold into your pancake batter.  Do not add this part until you are ready to begin cooking your pancakes.  It will cause the whole mixture to bubble and rise.  This produces light and airy pancakes, but if allowed to sit on your counter and bubble, it will make a big mess on your counter top as well. 

In a heated heavy skillet or electric griddle, ladle out your pancake batter slowly forming the correct size of pancake desired.  Personally, I generally use 1/8th of a cup ladle for these as I can decorate them around the plate when finished much easier. 

Cook until the topside is completely filled with bubbles and underside is golden, carefully flip the pancake to cook the other side, cook until golden as well.  Remove from heat, place on a plate, and start making the next batch of pancakes in the same manner.  Personally, I like to keep them all in the microwave until I have finished using all the batter.  This helps them to stay warm.

When your pancakes are all cooked, arrange three on a plate, so that they barely stack upon each other in a circle at the center of the plate.  Place a dollop of sour cream in the center of the pancake circle; sprinkle a little bit of brown sugar (use sparingly or they will end up too sweet) starting on the sour cream and move out in a circle around the pancakes till you reach the edges.  Thinly slice the banana allowing about two slices per pancake, poke one banana slice into the sour cream for great presentation of the dish.  Carefully sprinkle cinnamon over the pancakes (again sparingly as you don’t want to overwhelm the flavors with cinnamon).  Sprinkle the walnuts randomly over the entire dish and serve.

Make this a complete meal by serving the following accompaniments:

Breakfast juice, such as apple juice.  Coffee or tea goes really well if a nice mellow breakfast blend is used.  A bowl of tropical fruits, fresh sliced apple or pears lend really well to the flavors of this dish.  But try to avoid citrus as citrus overwhelms the flavors of this dish.

Cheers and enjoy.