I’ve put together a collection of recipes that use sourdough discard. If you’re a sourdough baker, you know how painful it is to throw away that hard earned yeasty goodness each time you have to feed the starter.
If you love to bake bread but haven’t delved into the world of sourdough yet, I encourage you to dive-in head first.
If you don’t have a sourdough starter yet, jump right in. I’ll teach you how to make a sourdough starter from scratch.
You can also read how I feed and maintain my sourdough starter to keep my starters (I have 3!) active.
When you add unfed sourdough discard to a recipe, it’s not there to add extra leavening since it’s not really active. If the sourdough starter is not a leavener, why is it in there?
The sourdough discard imparts an interesting texture and lovely complex flavor even if it’s not adding a big rise.
Try my Sourdough Discard recipes or create your own. Each cup of sourdough discard can replace 4 oz of flour and 4 oz of liquid in almost any recipe.
Since you’ve got your starter fed, check out the entire list of My Best Sourdough Recipes. Have fun!
Sourdough Discard Recipes
Here are all of my best recipes that use sourdough discard in one collection. Peruse the photos and click to view the entire post and recipe. Have fun!
Sourdough biscuits that are both fluffy and flaky. A little discard sourdough starter gives these biscuits a wonderful flavor.
A Perfect Pie Crust is a thing of beauty. The addition of a little sourdough discard adds an intriguing depth of flavor to a basic pie dough.
Super moist pumpkin bread has a wonderful background tang from "discard" sourdough starter. Fresh cranberries add another tangy pop to the flavor of the bread.
Start making Whole Grain Sourdough Waffles the night before and have hot fresh waffles for breakfast.
This classic buttermilk scone is given a little flavor boost with sourdough discard.
M J Williams
I’m new at using sourdough starter, but loving it very much. I am always looking for recipes to use the discard. Thank you very much for sharing. I’ll let you know how it turns out. I’m going to try the cinnamon rolls first.
Eileen Gray
It really is fun to work with sourdough. Hope you enjoy the cinnamon buns.
Michelle
Can you help me understand when sourdough becomes a discard? I have had my starter in the fridge and have kept it on the small side, feeding it once every week to two weeks. i believe the discard os what I pull off the original batch, however, I never seemed to have enough. I followed your recipe for feeding a starter and am keeping a double batch on the counter. can I use this in discard recipes even if it is active and bubbling? If not, what would you suggest in this senario? Id like to make something twice a week from my sourdough starter. Thanks for taking the time to put such good information out there!
Eileen Gray
Hi Michelle, yes the discard is what you pull off the original batch when you feed the starter. It’s kind of hard to explain, but if you have a cup of active and bubbling starter and add it to a recipe, that starter will continue to multiply and will be the catalyst for the rise of the baked item. If the stuff you pull off is sluggish (discard), that means there’s not a lot of active and live yeast in it. If you add the sluggish (discard) stuff to a recipe it will add flavor and texture, but not necessarily give significant rise to the baked item.
If you are baking 2x per week from your starter you don’t really need to have any discard. I find that if I feed my starter, leave it at room temp for a couple of hours to activate, then put it in the refrigerator it will be good to go for a couple of days. Take the starter out a day or two after feeding and it should still be active enough to use once it comes to room temp. Use what you need for the recipe, feed the base, leave at room temp for a few hours and then refrigerate. Just continue doing this 2x per week when you bake.
If you leave it at room temperature all the time, you will have some discard since it really needs to be fed every day. I know I’m not giving a concrete answer but there are sooooooo many variable when working with sourdough.
Sarah
In February, my wife and I decided to cut back on our shopping budget AND eat more whole foods.. AS part of this, we decided to start making our own bread. This month, all of the local stores have sold out of yeast as people stockpile supplies for the apocalypse, so in order to keep making bread, we had to get a starter going. This is new for us, and we’re learning a lot. I came looking for ways to use the discard, and found your sourdough English muffin recipe, too. Your instructions are super clear and I appreciate the amount of science and how/why information you provide – the scientist in me thoroughly appreciates it!
Eileen Gray
Why thank you Sarah! I find sourdough baking infinitely fascinating.
Elissa
I second Sarah’s comment to the letter! Thank you Eileen! Baking bread and growing starter babies is helping so much! Your website is the perfect resource during these anxious times.
Eileen Gray
That’s so kind of you to say, Elissa. I find baking to be very therapeutic and relaxing. Baking bread is especially rewarding.
Ashley V
When I feed the starter, can I just split it in half instead of using the discard? Like, create two starts from one and continue feeding / maintaining both of them? I’m sure that sounds like double the work, but I’m fascinated by the whole concept and trying to experiment with it. Your videos and “how-to” guidance are the best!
Eileen Gray
Yes, you can split the starter into multiple starters. I actually maintain 3 starters. It’s handy when I want to bake multiple things in one day. Make sure to always maintain the 100% balance with equals weights of starter-flour-water.
Rebecca
What if I don’t have access to “filtered” water? Is tap water okay? Would I use bottled water? I’m in Japan and I don’t see anything labeled filtered water and I don’t read Japanese.
Eileen Gray
You can visit my post How to Make Sourdough Starter. I explain there that I use tap water for my starter.