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If you have been baking sourdough bread, then you are bound to have some sourdough discard to use up! Save some of that discard to use in of these recipes. Sweet, savory, breakfast, cake, and more in this sourdough discard recipe roundup.
Now that you are sourdough obsessed and have sourdough discard to spare, what do you do with it? Bake with it of course! I love using my sourdough discard in SO many ways. From muffins, to pancakes, and more.
You can really use discard in any recipe that calls for flour and some liquid, like milk. So what are you craving today? Pancakes? A blueberry muffin? Maybe even a slice of chocolate cake? Yup. These can all be made into a sourdough version, using your discard.
So don’t throw out the discard! Let’s bake with it instead. If you’re new to using your discard, you check out my Ultimate Guide to learn everything you want to know about it, but today we are focusing on the recipes!
What Is Sourdough Discard?
Sourdough discard is sourdough starter is the part of the starter that you take out of your starter jar when you feed it fresh flour and water.
You remove part of the starter, in order to keep a manageable amount in your starter, and that part that is discarded is the sourdough discard. If you didn’t you would keep feeding more and more to your starter! Can you imagine!?
How To Store Sourdough Discard
The sourdough discard refrigerates well and can last up to two weeks (not going to lie, I usually keep it for up to a month no problem!). It’s not being fed like your starter, so it’s not going to last forever though.
You can keep it at room temperature for up to 2 days, but it will continue to become acidic.
I like to label my discard jar so I know when it’s time to throw it out if I haven’t gotten around to using it.
I keep my sourdough discard in another glass jar, just like my sourdough starter! But you can really use any container that you would for your starter.
You can also freeze sourdough discard (not that I have) in a freezer safe bag or jar, and then just thaw overnight in the fridge before using. You can keep sourdough discard frozen for up to a year.
This whole grain banana bread is super moist and bursting with banana flavor. Made with brown sugar, cinnamon and greek yogurt, it’s the perfect thing to make when you have extra ripe bananas sitting around. I love a slice warm from the oven with butter, but this bread gets even better the day after you bake it.
Preheat and prepare pan. Preheat oven to 350oF. Spray a 9”x5” loaf pan with non-stick cooking spray or grease with butter and set aside.
Mash bananas. In a small mixing bowl, mash bananas with a fork. Set aside.
Combine dry ingredients. In a mixing bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.
Combine wet ingredients. In the same mixing bowl with the bananas, whisk in the sugars, oil, eggs, vanilla extract, yogurt, starter and stir until smooth.
Combine wet and dry ingredients. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix together with a spatula until just combined. Stir in chocolate chips.
Bake. Pour batter into the prepared loaf pan and bake for 60-65 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center of the bread comes out clean. Remove from the oven and allow the bread to cool completely in the pan set on a wire cooling rack. Store the bread, and any leftovers, covered at room temperature for 2 days, or in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
Notes
Storage: Store the bread, and any leftovers, covered at room temperature for 2 days, or in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
Flour: I use white whole wheat flour to achieve a tender texture, but you can substitute 2 cups whole wheat flour or all-purpose if you do not have any on hand.
Greek Yogurt: Can also substitute with sour cream.
Freezing: Freeze any leftover bread for up to 3 months. Wrap well. Thaw at room temperature
Absolutely!A jar of sourdough discard serves as an insurance policy against starter death. If you have some discard on hand, remove a spoonful of it and feed it fresh flour and water in a clean jar. You should have a bubbly starter ready to bake with after a couple of feedings, depending on the discard's condition.
Store it for future baking: You can store sourdough discard in an airtight container in the refrigerator for future baking with sourdough discard recipes. When you're ready to use it, let the discard come to room temperature before using it to bake.
You can store sourdough discard in a separate container, then bake with it when you want — for instance, maybe you fed your starter on Tuesday, leaving you with discard that you want to use to bake pancakes on Saturday.
I left my sourdough discard out at room temperature for a few days. Is it okay? As long as your kitchen isn't too warm (I'd say 78°F or higher) your starter/discard will be fine stored at room temperature for at least a few days without feeding. The flavor will get more acidic the longer it sits.
Do I have to discard my sourdough starter? It would be best if you discarded some portion of your starter each time you feed it unless you want to continue to let it grow. Eventually, you need to discard the used “food” (flour and water) that's been used to sustain your starter during the last fermentation period.
You can store mature sourdough discard in the refrigerator indefinitely. As long as there is no mold, it is good to use. It may develop a grayish liquid on top called “hooch” which can be poured off before use or stirred in. If you stir it in, the flavor will become more sour.
If you've just created your sourdough starter, wait until it's reliably rising and falling each day with signs of fermentation—some rise, bubbles, a progressive sour aroma—before storing discard in your cache.
If you don't get rid of the excess, eventually you'll have more starter than your feedings can sustain. After a few days, your daily 1/4 cup flour and water won't be enough to sustain your entire jar of starter, and your starter will be slow and sluggish, not much better than discard itself.
Can I use sourdough discard to make a new sourdough starter? Absolutely! You can take a portion of sourdough discard and add a few grams of flour and a few grams of water to create a healthy active sourdough starter. You may need to feed your revived starter a few more times before its ready to make bread.
Can I eat raw sourdough starter? No, it's not advisable to eat raw sourdough starter. While some people claim to have healed their gut problems by eating probiotic rich sourdough starter, it's not really advisable. Raw sourdough starter contains uncooked flour which can harbor harmful bacteria among other things.
If your recipe calls for more than 227g (about 1 cup) of starter, feed it without discarding until you've reached the amount you need (plus 113g to keep and feed again).
The best flour blend for creating a new sourdough starter is 50% whole-meal flour (whole wheat or whole rye) and 50% bread flour or all-purpose flour. I recommend a 50/50 mix of whole wheat flour and bread flour. Why do you need to use these two types of flour?
Remember, you can't use the discard from your homemade sourdough starter for the first 7 days. You can use sourdough discard in all kinds of sourdough discard recipes, including these no wait sourdough recipes, overnight sourdough discard recipes and sourdough discard recipes that use up a lot of discard.
Don't worry — everything will be just fine. A sourdough starter is often likened to a pet, but unlike a puppy, if you forget to feed it when you're supposed to, nothing bad will happen. Because even though starters are technically alive, they're incredibly resilient.
If your sourdough starter is new and less than a month old, it might not be able to survive very long without feeding. I wouldn't go more than 24 hours without feeding a very young sourdough starter (it may survive longer than this unfed however you will leave it open to the risk of mold).
Introduction: My name is Kelle Weber, I am a magnificent, enchanting, fair, joyous, light, determined, joyous person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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