Whole spelt sourdough starter crêpes

This is a recipe to use up excess sourdough starter you would normally discard.

When I started to bake with sourdough, I invariably ran into the dilemma of having to through away excess starter every week. I keep my starter in the fridge and feed it only once a week as I don't bake all the time. Still, if you are using good quality organic flour like I do, throwing away excess starter away is like throwing money in the bin. Plus, I don't want to throw away food. Not even sourdough starter. That's why am constantly on the lookout for recipes that use discard sourdough starter.

I have a routine of making these sourdough starter crumpets after I have collected enough excess starter. It usually takes about three feedings. I have three different kinds of sourdough starter in my fridge (white, rye and 50/50 white and whole wheat flour) and I generally mix all the excess starter together and keep it until I have about a cups (270g) worth. However, I became adventurous and wanted to try out a new way of using up the starter and crêpes seemed just the right thing.

When you mix the batter, make sure that it is quite runny. It will thicken while resting. I did a trial crêpe and it came out more like a pancake. I adjusted the amount of milk accordingly so that I could make nice thin crêpes. Keeping this recipe healthy was important to me so I didn't use any additional fat other than what is in the egg and milk - in fact, I even used low fat milk, but if you want more luscious but less healthy crêpes, add a quarter of a cup melted and cooled butter or coconut oil (reduce the amount of milk accordingly).

Also, since I filled the crepes with savoury stuff as well as sweet, I didn't add any sugar in the batter. If you would like them to be sweet, add 1-2 teaspoons of sugar or honey and vanilla essence to the batter.

Whole spelt sourdough starter crêpes

makes about 8 small crêpes

100g sourdough starter 100% hydration 
(discard sourdough starter or active sourdough starter is fine)
1 cup milk (or 3/4 cup milk and 1/4 cup melted butter)
100g whole spelt flour
4g sea salt
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla essence (optional)
1-2 tsp sugar or honey (optional)
coconut oil or butter to grease the pan

Mix the sourdough starter with the milk and the egg. Add salt and sift in flour. Mix well and let rest for 30-60 minutes. 
Heat up a non stick skillet over low-medium heat. Lightly coat the skillet with a little bit of coconut oil or butter. 
Add about a 1/4 cup of the batter to the skillet and swirl to create a thin crêpe. Cook until the top of the crêpe has dried out, about 1-2 minutes. Loosen edge of crepe with a rubber spatula, then quickly flip it over. Cook one more minute on this side. Slide crepe out of skillet onto a plate. 
Repeat with the remaining batter. Don't forget to coat the skillet with oil or butter as needed.

I found ricotta, honey, strawberries and toasted hazelnuts to be the perfect filling.