Favorite Sourdough Starter Discard Recipes
These sourdough recipes are a perfect way, and my favorite ways, to use sourdough discard… Don’t throw it away! Put all that extra sourdough starter to good use!
Pumpkin Spices Sourdough Bread!
This pumpkin spice sourdough discard recipe turns out a super moist and perfectly spiced loaf of pumpkin bread!. Its perfectly spiced pumpkin flavor is made even more delicious with the amazing flavor that sourdough imparts… And it tastes even better a day after it is baked!
This is a super easy 1 bowl recipe that my whole family loves. (And I have some picky eaters!) Makes 2 loaves.
The Best Sourdough Pumpkin Bread – Easy Sourdough Discard Recipe
Buttery soft sourdough dinner rolls.
These buttery and soft sourdough rolls are super easy to make and they’re the perfect side dish for any meal! Sourdough adds a depth of flavor to rolls that you just can’t get any other way! This recipe is simple and does not require the use of special tools or a kitchen scale. I love to serve these rolls with a roast or hot bowl of soup on a cold day! Printable Recipe Card Below!
The Best Sourdough Dinner Rolls Recipe (Easy To Make!)
Sourdough Banana Bread
I can confidently say this is the easiest and best banana bread recipe in the world with sour cream! The Sour cream makes this banana bread stay delectably moist for days. It only takes about 10 minutes to mix together and lasts for up to a week. Yields 2 medium loaves.
The Best Banana Bread Recipe With Sour Cream – Easy To Make!
Sourdough Pancakes – This recipe makes super fluffy pancakes!
These light and fluffy sourdough pancakes are super easy to make, call for simple ingredients that you probably have in your pantry, and whip up in a flash! Sourdough starter gives these pancakes a depth of flavor you just can’t get any other way! We love to eat these with butter, Apricot Sauce (apricot freezer jam), and real maple syrup!
The Best Sourdough Pancakes – Easy Light & Fluffy Recipe
Sourdough Apple Fritters
This sourdough apple fritters doughnut recipe is super simple and sooo good… The sourdough gives these doughnuts a depth of flavor you just can’t get any other way!
The Best Sourdough Apple Fritters Doughnut Recipe
Sourdough English Muffins
These east sourdough English muffins are light and fluffy, crispy outside, and full of nooks and crannies, with a delicious sourdough depth of flavor that you just can’t get any other way!
Mix ingredients the night before, and wake up to a beautifully fermented sourdough that’s ready to make “nook and cranny” perfection!
https://farmhouseharvest.net/the-best-sourdough-english-muffins-from-scratch/
Sourdough Discard Crepes
My family LOVES Crepes for dinner with sliced strawberries and other berries! Serve with whip cream or powdered sugar on top!
Sourdough Crepes - Sourdough Discard Recipe
Sourdough discard crepes are a tasty and easy way to use up your leftover sourdough starter!
Ingredients
- 1 cup milk
- 4 eggs
- 1/2 cup sourdough discard
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 cup flour
- 1 tablespoon sugar (optional!)
- pinch salt!
Instructions
- add all ingredients to your blender and blend till smooth!
- Set your crepe batter to the side and preheat your nonstick skillet to medium heat. pan. Heat over medium until hot, and brush with butter to coat the base of the skillet.
- Pour ¼ cup of batter into the middle of your hot skillet, then immediately tilt and rotate your pan so that the batter spreads out into a large, thin circle. (It's easier to do in a skillet with a longer handle.)
- Cook each crepe about 45 seconds, until the edges peel off easily and the underside turns golden brown. Gently flip and cook another 30 seconds. Then remove to a plate.
- Repeat cooking till all batter is been used, brushing the skillet with butter before each crepe.
- Serve immediately.
Sourdough Brownies
Fudgy Sourdough brownies are extra delicious and have a hint of sourdough goodness that kicks the flavor up a notch!
Sourdough Discard Brownies - Easy Fudge Brownie Recipe
These sourdough discard brownies have crispy edges and chewy insides! Perfect brownie recipe for your extra sourdough starter!
Ingredients
- ½ cup melted butter
- ½ cup brown sugar
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 3/4 cup Hersheys cocoa powder
- ½ tsp salt
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1/2 cup sourdough discard
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F
- Butter a 8 x 8 baking pan.
- In a large mixing bowl, mix butter together with the granulated and brown sugars, vanilla extract, Hersheys cocoa powder and salt. The batter will be thick but gets thinner as you incorporate the other ingredients.
- Then, with a hand mixer, mix in the eggs until combined.
- Add your sourdough discard and mix until smooth.
- Pour batter into prepared pan and smooth out top as evenly as you can.
- Bake 20 - 25 minutes till edges have formed and center is set. DO NOT OVERBAKE, because the brownies set when they cool.
- Cool completely
- Cut & Enjoy!
Sourdough Blueberry Muffins
Blueberry muffins are so good, but sourdough blueberry muffins are so much better!
Sourdough Belgian Waffles!
Belgian waffles are good… BUT these sourdough Belgian waffles are AMAZING!
Sourdough pizza crust, pizza dough.
Sourdough Tortillas
Chocolate Chip Sourdough Scones
Discard Cheddar Biscuits
Sourdough Discard Cornbread
Discard Fried Chicken!
Sourdough Discard Coffee Cake
Discard Doughnuts
Sourdough Discard Zuchini Bread
What is Sourdough Discard?
Sourdough discard is the excess sourdough starter that you have when maintaining a sourdough starter. It refers to the leftover sourdough starter that you need to use, or throw as part of the feeding process, before feeding your starter fresh flour again. You see, if you keep more sourdough starter on hand, you have to feed it more and more flour and water (all-purpose or fresh ground), and soon you have way more than you could possibly use or maintain.
What do you do with all the excess sourdough starter?
You can just discard it, or throw it away, by scraping it into the sink.
OR….
You can add that extra sourdough goodness, and a little tangy flavor, to other recipes! Adding sourdough starter boosts nutrition and makes other recipes moister and tastier!
For example, crapes are good, BUT sourdough crapes are amazing!
Instead of throwing that part of the starter away, sourdough discard recipes are a great way to use that excess starter as a leavening agent and make something wonderful with it! These recipes also make great gifts!
What is the difference between sourdough starter and sourdough discard?
Good question… Sourdough starter & sourdough discard are basically the same thing. The only difference is that discard is the sourdough starter you don’t feed. People call is “discard” because it gets “discarded” during or after feeding.
Is Sourdough Discard Healthy?
Yes! Sourdough discard is healthy! It’s got lots of B vitamins and Omega 3 fatty acids and it’s full of probiotics too! It’s super good for your digestion! According to insider.com, Researchers found the fermentation in sourdough starter produces antioxidants too!
What Can I do With Sourdough Discard?
There are so many great ways to use sourdough discard! These great recipes include:
- pizza crust
- pie crust
- sweet breads
- dinner rolls
- cinnamon rolls
- doughnuts
- cornbread
- pancakes
- waffles
- crapes
- bread coating for fried foods! Like Fried Chicken!
- the possibilities are endless!
How Long Can I Store Sourdough Discard
You can store properly packaged sourdough discard for up to 1 week in the refrigerator.
How To Store Sourdough Discard
Keep your sourdough discard in the refrigerator for up to one week before you’ll need to use it or throw it away. If you try to keep sourdough discard out at room temperature, it will keep fermenting and develop a liquid on top. This liquid is called hooch, and can be mixed into starter or poured off down the drain. At this point, your starter will be very sour and will go bad if not used right away.
Sourdough discard stored in the refrigerator ferments at a much slower pace, does not get too sour, and adds a beautiful depth of flavor to regular recipes!
How To Use Sourdough Discard
You will get the best results with sourdough discard if you remove it from the refrigerator and let it come to room temperature before using it!
Can I Use Sourdough Discard Straight From The Fridge?
Yes, you can use sourdough discard straight from the refrigerator in “no wait recipes” like pancakes, waffles, and crepes! Sourdough pancakes and waffles get super fluffy even with starter straight from the fridge if you add a teaspoon of baking powder!
Is it OK if my sourdough starter smells like vinegar?
If your sourdough starter stinks like alcohol or vinegar, that means it’s so hungry that it has produced a lot of “acetic acid”. To fix this problem mix a fresh 1 cup of water with 1 cup of flour and stir in 1 tablespoon of your stinky starter. Let that sit on the counter for a few hours till bubbles start forming, then put it in the fridge! This new starter will be MILD and delicious! You can discard the remaining smelly starter or use it in one of these sourdough discard recipes!
How do I know my starter is ready?
You can test your sourdough starter to see if it’s ready to use by filling a glass cup with room-temperature water, then drop a teaspoon of your starter into that water. If the starter floats, then it’s ready to use. However, If your starter sinks, then it needs more time to develop with another feeding, or it just more time to sit out at room temperature so the wild yeast develops gas bubbles!
How soon can I use sourdough starter after feeding it?
For best results, use your starter between 4 and 12 hours after feeding! Sourdough starter usually at its peak activity between 4 – 12 hours after you feed it. For best results use it when there are lots of bubbles on top, and it has physically risen in the jar and before deflates down again.
What happens if you don’t discard sourdough starter?
If you don’t discard your sourdough starter, then it grows too big and becomes unmanageable. To maintain such an amount of starter you will go through a ton of amount of flour. If you do not discard, by day 5 you’ll need to feed your starter a ton of flour and water at least twice a day, because 1 cup of starter requires 1 cup of flour and 1 cup of water to feed. So if you have 5 cups of starter, you’ll have to feed it 5 cups of flour and 5 cups of water 2 times a day! That’s a big batch of starter! Unless you’re baking that much, you will end up with a bathtub full of starter… Maybe it’s good for your skin? You could do a sourdough bath instead of a mud bath!
Do you stir sourdough starter before measuring?
No need to stir sourdough starter before measuring into a recipe. That’s because Sourdough recipes call for an active bubbly starter!
WHY Sourdough?
I have an obsession with my bubbly sourdough starter that I use in this recipe. I use it in my kitchen almost every day for Pancakes, English muffins, Belgian waffles, and Sourdough Apple Fritter Doughnuts.
I’m in love with the way sourdough adds a depth of flavor to recipes that you just can’t get in commercially produced bread.
Plus, I get satisfaction from cooking with a starter that I made and have maintained for a long period of time with my own hands. I love to pass it down as a family heirloom and share it with friends!
I love learning how to make nourishing satisfying foods in my own home that you just can’t buy at the grocery store!
Over the past few years, grains have gotten an undeserved bad rap.
Have you ever heard of phytic acid?
Phytic acids are present in grains, beans, and nuts to keep them from spoiling.
HOWEVER, phytic acid is also an anti-nutrient that interferes with and prevents the absorption of certain nutrients.
There is a reason phytic acids are there… BUT, there is also good evidence that our bodies weren’t meant to handle them!
The good news is… Proper preparation of grains eliminates most of, if not all of, the phytic acid in grains, beans, and nuts!
Did you know that traditional cultures thrived on grains?
The main difference between the way they consumed grains then and the way we do today can be summed up as proper preparation!
Back then, It was necessary to ferment grains for leavening (or to get them to rise) into delicious bread.
Before yeast was commercially isolated and produced to be sold in little packets, sourdough starter was the leavening and a valuable commodity that was passed down for generations.
We’ve lost that art nowadays.
And, what has happened?
So many people can’t digest grains very well.
You can learn more about homemade sourdough starter, and how to make it here!
How often should I clean my sourdough starter jar?
If you want to clean your sourdough starter jar then by all means please do! Just be sure to put your starter into a clean bowl while you wash the jar. Make sure not to leave soap or residue in the jar, and transfer the starter back!
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