[Sca-cooks] pancakes

[Sue Clemenger]

There are recipes in the Andalusian cookbook webbed on His Grace's site
that have sourdough in them, and lord knows, I've eaten (modern)
pancakes leavened with sourdough (oh, nummy....now I'm hungry).  My dad
made wonderful huckleberry-sourdough pancakes, which we ate with real
butter and real maple syrup. droool....
Here are the first three recipes I ran across.  What's interesting is
that they're working with some really different "main" ingredients--one
is meat-based, one is mostly eggy, and the third is working with
garbanzo flour.  I'd guess that the "Isfiriya" part that they all share
refers to the form (thin cakes) taken by the various ingredients.
--maire
A Recipe of Isfîriyâ
Take some red meat and pound as before. Put it in some water and add
some sour dough dissolved with as much egg as the
meat will take, and salt, pepper, saffron, cumin, and coriander seed,
and knead it all together. Then put a pan with fresh oil on
the fire, and when the oil has boiled, add a spoon of isfîriya and pour
it in the frying pan carefully so that it forms thin cakes.
Then make a sauce for it.

 Simple Isfîriyâ
Break however many eggs you like into a big plate and add some
sourdough, dissolved with a commensurate number of eggs,
and also pepper, coriander, saffron, cumin, and cinnamon. Beat it all
together, then put it in a frying pan with oil over a
moderate fire and make thin cakes out of it, as before.

Counterfeit (Vegetarian) Isfîriyâof Garbanzos
Pound some garbanzos, take out the skins and grind them into flour. And
take some of the flour and put into a bowl with a bit
of sourdough and some egg, and beat with spices until it's all mixed.
Fry it as before in thin cakes, and make a sauce for them.

Stefan li Rous wrote:
><snipped> 
> Hmmm. Okay, this makes sense. But were the period pancakes leavened
> with yeast or were they left unleavened?