If you love baking bread, you know that nothing compares to making your own sourdough. However, once you have an active starter, you often end up with leftover sourdough discard. Since I hate wasting food, I've gathered my favorite sourdough discard recipes so you don't have to throw it away!
What is sourdough discard?
You often need to throw away a portion to make room when you feed your sourdough starter. The portion you don't feed and remove from your container is called sourdough discard. If you don't want to throw it away, you can use it to begin another starter or use it as a leavening agent!
But most of us don't have time to bake fresh bread every day. After all the hard work you've put into feeding and caring for your sourdough starter, it seems a waste to throw away the discard every day.
How can I use sourdough discard in baking recipes?
Sourdough discard or starter is a wild yeast, so basically, if a recipe calls for a leavening agent like baking soda yeast or baking powder, you can probably adjust the recipe and use sourdough discard instead.
The first thing I think of when it comes to using sourdough discard in baking recipes is those beautiful artisan breads, but they are time-consuming to make, and I want simple recipes like waffles or scones when I have too much discard. But not just breakfast recipes. I also like to make sourdough crackers or focaccia to take with me to work.
Good thing that there are more recipes for your sourdough starter discard out there than bread. Check out the recipes below to find inspiration for creative sourdough discard recipes instead of throwing it away!
My tips for making recipes with discard
- Make sure you have enough left to feed, so don't take out too much.
- When it's your first time baking with sourdough discard, look for simple recipes like scones or muffins.
- Place the discard in the fridge if you plan to use it later. The cold helps slow the fermenting process, which gives you more time before it stops working.
