Uncle Alan lived in San Francisco, and our family shared his recipe for real San Francisco sourdough waffles — along with a shared batch of starter.

Feed the starter the night before, cook in the morning, and reserve a cup to keep it going.

Ingredients

  • Sourdough starter
  • 2½ cups flour + 2 cups warm water (to feed the starter)
  • 1 egg
  • 1 Tbsp oil
  • ¼ cup canned milk
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1 Tbsp sugar

Instructions

  1. The night before: add 2½ cups flour and 2 cups warm water to the starter. Mix well, cover with plastic wrap, and place the bowl in the oven with the light on.
  2. In the morning: reserve one cup of the mix as your new starter — into a pint jar, and refrigerate.
  3. To the rest, add 1 egg, 1 Tbsp oil, and ¼ cup canned milk; mix thoroughly.
  4. Combine 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp baking soda, and 1 Tbsp sugar. Sprinkle over the top of the batter and fold it gently through — this starts a foaming, rising action.
  5. Let it sit a while, then cook. Cook these a little darker than regular waffles, so they’re quite crisp and rather brown.

The same batter makes pancakes that turn out rather like crepes. Yumm!

To make 1½×: use 3¾ cups flour and 3 cups warm water, and let the starter work a little longer.

In my Apple Notes this was just a title over a photo of the recipe card — transcribed here.