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Sourdough Clafoutis With Black Cherries and Maple Syrup

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In an effort to bring you everything sourdough, I now present you with sourdough clafoutis.

I just couldn’t resist the challenge of making clafoutis with sourdough. The part of my job I love the most is recipe development. And developing this one was tasty!

A pan of naturally sweetened clafoutis with text overlay.

I used fully fermented sourdough starter, pastured eggs and butter, organic maple syrup, raw milk, a little salt, a little vanilla, and a full pound of organic black cherries. This is the line where health food meets pure indulgence.

A pan and two plates of clafoutis made with tummy-friendly, naturally fermented, and leavened sourdough starter.

What Is Clafoutis?

Clafoutis is a form of French cobbler. It starts as a thick flan or pancake-like batter that is poured into a hot pan and studded with fresh fruit. The batter envelopes the fruit as it cooks and puffs around the edges. It is similar to a Dutch Baby but a bit denser with a more cake-like texture.

Why Sourdough?

You all know by now that I’ve made a commitment to eat only traditionally prepared grains and I do that because my body responds better to soaked, fermented, or sprouted grains. Somewhere along the way, we lost our methods for making grains healthy and body-friendly. But not anymore — I’m rewriting all the recipes and your body will thank you for using them!

A pan and a slice of sourdough clafoutis fresh out of the oven and bursting with black cherries.

Fermented grains are easier to digest, they have reduced phytic acid (an anti-nutrient), and their important vitamins and minerals have been unlocked. Almost all early humans had some sort of grain in their diet but they prepared them in totally different ways than we do now. Where did we go wrong?

To learn more about how our ancestors really ate,

please read Sally Fallon-Morell’s new book Nourishing Diets: How Paleo, Ancestral and Traditional Peoples Really Ate. This book will blow your mind!

The perfect clafoutis made with tummy friendly, naturally fermented and leavened sourdough starter.

Sourdough Clafoutis

Yield: 12
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 45 minutes

A classic black cherry clafoutis, but made with whole-body-friendly fermented grain.

Ingredients

Batter Ingredients

Other Ingredients

Maple Whipped Cream

Instructions

The Night Before — Feed Your Sourdough

  1. If you keep your sourdough at 100% hydration, feed it with 200 grams of flour and 200 grams of water. If you need to convert your sourdough to 100% hydration, mix 250 grams of flour with 250 grams of water and add 1 tablespoon of your active sourdough starter. Ferment the starter at room temperature overnight. 

The Next Morning

  1. Pit the cherries and set them aside. If you don't have a pitter you can cut them in half or use a metal straw and beer bottle (place the cherry on top of the beer bottle and push the metal straw through it, pushing the pit into the bottle). 
  2. Melt 4 tablespoons of butter. Reserve the other 4 tablespoons for greasing the pan.
  3. Measure and add the batter ingredients to your blender, food processor, or mixer. This can be done by hand or with a whisk as well. Blend until combined. Set the batter aside.
  4. Preheat your oven to 450°F and place a cast-iron skillet inside the oven to preheat.
  5. Once the oven has heated, remove the skillet and drop in the other 4 tablespoons of butter. Roll the pan to coat it evenly. Add the batter to the hot pan and then drop in the cherries in a nice even layer.
  6. Bake the clafoutis for 15 minutes. Lower the temperature of the oven to 350°F and continue to bake the another 15 minutes or until the clafoutis is puffed, golden brown, and set in the middle.
  7. Whip the cream, maple syrup, and vanilla together and refrigerate the whipped cream.
  8. Let the clafoutis cool slightly before serving. Add whipped cream!

Darryl Alder

Thursday 18th of July 2024

Our family quite enjoys German Pancakes (Dutch Babies) so I am sure we will enjoy this recipe, BUT I am cutting it to just 1/3 of the ingredients and hoping for a good result. What do you think?

Butter For All

Monday 22nd of July 2024

Hi Darryl,

Perhaps bake it in a smaller skillet and a little shorter duration. I'm sure it will be yummy!

Nina

Sunday 12th of February 2023

Thank you for the recipe! I used it to make a similar french cake called a Far Breton and it turned out great. When I started mixing the dough with a whisk it was a bit scary because there were some slimy bits but then I used a hand blender and it was all good. Do you also end up with slimy bits that get stuck in the whisk or was it just me?

Butter For All

Thursday 16th of February 2023

Hi Nina,

Yea, that totally happens with sourdough. It takes some serious elbow grease to get it smooth by hand. Using a mixer is a smart idea!

AbbyCat

Thursday 15th of July 2021

Hi there! I made this last night (that happened when my partner brought home cherries and looked up sourdough recipes for me to make with my starter). It was GREAT! I made a couple modifications: almond milk instead of whole milk half active starter, half discard And next time I'd probably only put 2 tbsp of butter into the hot cast iron ... I actually had to pour some off when I pulled it out of the oven at the end. Quite delicious though, thank you very much!!

Butter For All

Friday 16th of July 2021

Hi AbbyCat!

Thanks so much for the feedback! I really appreciate you taking the time to come back and let us know how it went!

Next time I make it I'll take a look at the butter in the recipe!

Thank you!

Courtney

Sara

Friday 9th of July 2021

Hi, I tried this clafoutis for my mom, she is intolerant to gluten, which also means she has not been able to have any cake-like desert in a long time ... Well, not anymore, she LOVED it, and she was able digest very easily. So I will be making it again for her. And it's quite simple to make, I was pleasantly surprised. Thank you so much for sharing you knowledge with us.

Butter For All

Tuesday 13th of July 2021

Hi Sara!

That is great news! It's really incredible how much more food we can enjoy when it's prepared correctly. Your mom is so lucky to have sourdough baker in the family! Have you tried my new Kamut sourdough? Kamut has 97% less gluten than regular wheat! Hope that one works out well for her too!

Courtney

Ashleigh

Friday 11th of September 2020

Does the starter have to pass the float test before it is used?

Butter For All

Sunday 13th of September 2020

Hi Ashleigh,

No, I personally never use the float test, but a good strong active starter is best. One that has been fed and has rising power!

Let me know how it turns out!

Courtney

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