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BAKE005 · September 8–September 9, 2026

Sourdough Waffles

Crisp outside, light and airy inside, and a useful lesson in the capacity of a mini waffle iron.

Recipe
Sourdough Discard Pancakes & Waffles
Starter
Bread Pitt 2.0
Rating
10/10 thumbs up
Bake005 served with butter and preserves.
Bake005 served with butter and preserves.

Sometimes a bake starts with a plan. Sometimes it starts with sourdough discard and the vague idea that waffles might happen later.

Bake005 was the second kind, using the Sourdough Discard Pancakes & Waffles recipe.

I mixed the sourdough discard, flour, and water at 9:24 am on September 8, figuring I'd probably make waffles that evening. The mixture started out thick and shaggy, then spent the day sitting on the counter doing whatever sourdough does when nobody is bothering it.

The ingredients for Bake005, ready to mix.
The ingredients for Bake005, ready to mix.
The thick, shaggy mixture of sourdough discard, flour, and water.
The thick, shaggy mixture of sourdough discard, flour, and water.

By 7:48 pm, about ten and a half hours later, it had relaxed considerably and developed little bubbles across the surface. It looked ready.

The rested sourdough base, with little bubbles across the surface.
The rested sourdough base, with little bubbles across the surface.

I wasn't.

So into the refrigerator it went.

That turned out to be a useful experiment. The next morning, September 9, I pulled the fermented base back out, added the rest of the ingredients, and finished with the baking soda just before cooking. The overnight refrigeration didn't cause any problems at all. If anything, it makes this recipe considerably more practical. You can start it whenever you happen to think about waffles and deal with the actual waffle production when you're ready.

The finished batter was thick, smooth, and airy.

Melted butter ready for the morning's final mix.
Melted butter ready for the morning's final mix.
The finished waffle batter after mixing in the remaining ingredients.
The finished waffle batter after mixing in the remaining ingredients.

Then came the important scientific work of determining exactly how much batter my little waffle iron could hold.

The answer is slightly less than 1/4 cup.

I determined this by putting approximately 1/4 cup in it and watching batter escape from every available opening.

Batter in the little red waffle iron.
Batter in the little red waffle iron.
The evidence for using slightly less than 1/4 cup of batter.
The evidence for using slightly less than 1/4 cup of batter.

This is why we test things.

Once I backed off the batter a little, everything went considerably better. The waffles came out evenly browned, crisp on the outside, and light and airy inside. That's exactly what I want from a waffle, and I couldn't find anything about the recipe I'd change.

The first mini waffle, browned and ready to eat.
The first mini waffle, browned and ready to eat.

The batch made 14 mini waffles, which is considerably more waffles than the little red waffle iron would have you believe it is capable of producing.

Some were eaten immediately with butter and preserves. The rest survived long enough to form a respectable waffle pile.

A respectable waffle pile from a batch that made 14 mini waffles.
A respectable waffle pile from a batch that made 14 mini waffles.

Bake005 gets 10 thumbs up.