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Plates with stacks of golden brown sourdough Belgian waffles topped with berries, a pat of butter and drizzled syrup.

Overnight Sourdough Discard Waffles

Your new favorite weekend brunch is here: made with buttermilk and mature sourdough discard for a unique depth of flavor full of yeasty goodness and tang. The overnight method allows you to mix up the bulk of the batter the night before, letting the sourdough work its magic while you sleep. Then, when you wake up in the morning, just mix in the eggs and start baking!
Yield: 4 1-cup Belgian waffles
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 12 hours

Ingredients

For Waffles:

  • 2 cups / 250 g all purpose flour, preferably bleached
  • 1 tablespoon / 12 g granulated sugar
  • 1½ cup / 360 g buttermilk, at room temperature
  • ½ cup / 100 g mature sourdough discard*, at room temperature
  • 6 tablespoons / 84 g unsalted butter, melted and cooled to lukewarm
  • 3 large / 150 g eggs, at room temperature
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
  • ½ teaspoon baking soda

Instructions

  • Whisk in flour with sugar until evenly incorporated. Add buttermilk, sourdough discard, and lukewarm melted butter; mix to combine and no dry streaks of flour remain. Press a piece of plastic wrap onto the surface of the batter; loosely cover with another piece and let sit out on the counter at cool room temperature overnight.
  • The morning of, prepare and preheat your Belgian waffle iron according to manufacturer’s instructions.
  • Whisk eggs with vanilla, salt, and baking soda. Add to sourdough mixture and stir until just incorporated. I find a whisk easiest for this, working in small spirals from the edge and in to the center (think of a slinky stretched into a donut shape, that's the path your whisk takes). It will be a bit sloppy at first, but should eventually incorporate.
  • If necessary, lightly spray hot waffle iron with cooking spray. Add 1 cup (about 240-250 grams) of batter to iron (or whatever amount your particular brand recommends). Close iron and cook until golden brown, mine took about 4½ minutes for reference. Carefully remove from iron and place on a wire rack to prevent the steam from turning them soggy. Enjoy immediately, or place the wire rack on a cookie sheet in a wamr 200ºF oven until the rest of the waffles are done. Repeat for remaining waffles.
  • While the waffles are best when they are fresh, if you want to make them ahead of time, cool completely on racks (to prevent steam from getting soggy), then freeze in an airtight container. To serve, place frozen waffles in a 300 degrees F oven for about 10 minutes; alternatively, if they'll fit in your toaster, the defrost setting usually works well.

Notes

  • This recipe calls for mature sourdough discard at 100% hydration (fed with equal parts water and flour by weight). It can be freshly fed (about 12-24 hours after feeding), or extra discard can be stored in the refrigerator until it's ready to be used. The longer it is stored the more distinct the sour flavor will be.
  • If you aren't able to make the batter the night before, you can make same-day waffles using a similar process, just add the salt and baking soda directly to the flour, and whisk the eggs in at the same time as the butter and buttermilk (room temperature for everything, please). Let the batter rest for about 30 minutes before cooking in your waffle iron according to the manufacturer's instructions.