Sourdough Bacon & Apple Pancakes

So, you have some overnight guests and want to throw something together in the morning that will be both filling and impressive?  How about a pancake filled with great ingredients that is as large as a small casserole.  This can also be on your brunch menu or something to make with the kids on the weekend that lasts most of the week.  It is pretty inexpensive and easy to prepare.

Remember to pull the sourdough starter out of the refrigerator the nigh before and add a cup of flour and water.  Stir it up and let it sit until morning.  This will take you all of five minutes.

Ingredients:

·         5 strips    Bacon (more if you want)

·         2 Tbl       Oil (use the bacon drippings or a combination of drippings and oil (I supplemented with Olive Oil

·         1             Apple

·         1/3 cup   Green onions (optional)

·         1 small    Pepper (optional)

·         1 cup      Starter

·         2 Tbl       Sugar or Honey

·         1             Egg

·         ¾ cup     Flour

·         1 tsp       Baking soda

·         ¼ tsp      Salt

·         1 tsp       water or milk

·         Oil spray

Directions:

1.      Fry up the bacon

2.      Put the bacon on a paper towel to drain and save the remaining drippings for the recipe.  You want the drippings to cool a bit or you could kill the starter.  Don’t worry about the bacon getting a little cold as it will be heated when baking the pancake

3.      Preheat the oven to 425

4.      Core, peel, and chop the apple into chunks.  Don’t chop it too small like I did.  Put the resultant apple into a small bowl

5.      If you want to add the onions, pepper, or whatever, chop them and add them to the bowl

6.      Break the bacon into small pieces and add it to the small bowl

7.      In a second larger bowl add the starter, sugar/honey, egg, baking soda, salt and water/milk.  If you use honey, add the oil/drippings first then the honey using the same tablespoon measurer.  This will make it easier for the honey to flow

8.      Remember to take care of the remaining starter.  Add a cup of water and a cup of flour, stir, let sit for a while (maybe until you pull the pancake out of the oven), and put back in refrigeration

9.      Mix the contents of the larger bowl

10.  Add the contents of the smaller bowl to the larger one and mix them all.  Don’t over mix though

11.  Spray a casserole dish of about 8x8x2.25

12.  Pour the larger bowl, the only one with stuff in it, into the casserole dish

13.  Bake for about 15 minutes

14.  Turn the oven down to 350 and heat the casserole for another 15 to 20 minutes.  Poke a toothpick into the middle and on the sides.  If the toothpick comes out clean, you are done.  If not, cook a little longer

15.  Take the finished breakfast out of the oven and let it sit a few minutes.

16.  You can serve from the casserole dish or slide the end results on to a serving dish.  If it comes out in one piece everyone will be impressed.  If it doesn’t, call it rustic