Nutrient Density has become a big focus for me when it comes to what I’m eating and serving. My goal is to reduce the amount of ultra-processed food-like items that we are buying and instead, make traditional, nutritious versions at home. These waffles are a great example. A waffle isn’t just a waffle. You can pick up an ultra-processed frozen version from the store with synthetic vitamins, vegetable oils and dead flour — or you can make your own with real, nourishing, living ingredients. These waffles take 2 minutes to put together the night before you want to make them, the batter ferments on the counter overnight and then just a few more minutes to make in the morning. Leftovers go in the fridge to toast up the following day and they freeze beautifully for easy breakfasts.

This recipe does rely on sourdough discard – which means you’ll need to be maintaining a sourdough starter in order to make these waffles. Even if you aren’t interested in making sourdough bread, I’d argue that sourdough starter is an ingredient worth having at home as you can use it in quick breads, muffins, tortillas and more, as well as these waffles.

Sourdough Waffles

*recipe adapted from the New York Times*

Gather this:

• 1 cup sourdough discard
• 1 cup flour
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 large egg
• 2 tablespoons melted butter (or coconut oil)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking soda

Do this:

The night before you want to make the waffles – combine the first four ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Cover and set out on the countertop overnight. In the morning, preheat your waffle iron. Add the remaining ingredients to the batter and whisk well (a Danish dough whisk works beautifully here). Spray the waffle iron with avocado oil spray or use a wooden knife to melt some ghee into it and put the batter into the waffle iron. I use 1 cup of batter per waffle but it will depend on the size of your waffle iron. Serve with maple syrup, jam, whipped cream, powdered sugar, chocolate chips and/or anything your waffle eaters desire.

A few more notes:

• For information on maintaining a sourdough starter (and to buy some!), check out the work of my friend Amanda Paa from Heartbeet Kitchen. I call her my sourdough guru. If you’re local to Minnesota and Western Wisconsin, you can even take an in-person sourdough class from her.
• I also use my sourdough discard to make this banana bread from I Am Baker and it’s outstanding.
• My favorite flour comes from Sunrise Flour Mill and Baker’s Field Flour & Bread.
• I love the buttermilk from Kalona.