Whole-Wheat Apple Pancakes (with a Twist)

Today is a no-workout day. The weather's a little gross, I feel a lot icky (not sick, just icky), and as 8 turned to 9 turned to noon, I eventually accepted the fact that my only exercise today would come from my little stroll about the neighborhood to put up "Found Puppy" signs.

You see, when my Dad went out to get the paper this morning, there was an itty bitty pug sleeping in one of the chairs on our front porch. For the following several hours, it continued to chill on our porch, wagging its tail, barking pitifully from time to time, and getting ever-so-very-excited whenever one of us ventured outdoors. My parents called the one family in the neighborhood we know owns a pug to make sure it wasn't their pet, but as it wasn't, and as my sister, my Mom, and my Dad all had places to get to, I ended up being left with the task of figuring out what to do with the little guy. ("Keep him" was my initial suggestion, but... vetoed.) So it was that I printed off some fliers, grabbed some thumb tacks, and went out on a stroll. The pug followed. He's a very friendly pug.

Partway through our walk I encountered another lady walking her dog. This lady knew of a neighbor who owned 2 pugs and said that she'd take our small, tail-wagging friend home with her until someone claimed him. I'd be lying if I said that my relief at no longer having a lost doggie around didn't mingle with disappointment at giving up the closest thing I'd ever had to a canine of my own.

Anyway, as I am in the midst of a lazy day, I thought I'd tell you folks about my lazy Sunday morning breakfast yesterday. My favorite recipes for really awesome bread generally come from The Tassajara Bread Book by Edward Espe Brown. (For my full love letter to this cook book, see this, which is on my old food blog.) On Saturday afternoon, I was looking for inspiration for what to do next with my sourdough starter, and I stumbled upon Brown's "Sourdough Pancakes" recipe. I ended up adding a bunch of flour, but I think the basic concept is pretty awesome. The pancakes turn out richly-flavored but still sweet and rather amazing with maple syrup. Honey would be good too, I imagine. Recipe's below. My modifications are noted.

Ingredients- Night Before Breakfast
-1/2 cup sourdough starter
-2.5 whole wheat flour
-2 cups warm water


Procedure: Measure into a large bowl and mix thoroughly


Ingredients- Morning
-1 egg, beaten

(Ain't that pretty?)

-2 TBS corn oil (I didn't have any, so I subbed canola)
-3/4 cup milk
-1 tsp. salt
-1 tsp. baking soda
-spices as desired (I used about a tsp. of cinnamon and a dash of nutmeg)
-2 TBS brown sugar
- about 1 cup all-purpose flour (this wasn't in the recipe, but I found the original way too thin and a bit heavy. In the future, I might also sub out some of the whole wheat flour in the flour/water/starter mix for all-purpose or whole-wheat pastry)
-1 large apple, diced (or any other fruit, nuts, seeds, oats, chocolate chips, etc. Or make them plain)


Procedure:
-Measure out 1/2 cup of the mix from the night before and add back to the sourdough starter.
-Mix the egg, oil, and milk into the flour/water mix
-Mix the flour in. 
-Combine the salt, soda, spices, and sugar and sprinkle over the batter, then gently fold in. Same with the apples.
 -Let sit for a few minutes before frying. Brown says that small pancakes generally work better than larger.