Recipes To Use Up Discarded Sourdough Starter
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So you’ve caught the Sourdough bug. Maybe you’ve been baking fresh Sourdough loaves for a while, or maybe you’ve just made your very first sourdough starter. Either way, you’ve realized how much starter you end up throwing away every day and know there have to be ways to put that liquid gold to use.
If you’re not satisfied with tossing your sourdough starter or feeding it to your compost, I’m going over a collection of excellent recipes so you don’t have to let your hard working yeast & bacteria go to waste.
A quick note about sourdough discard: in my sourdough routine, I feed my starter as close to it’s peak as possible (which means feeding 2x a day when my starter is very active). This means feeding it right at the point where it starts to deflate, meaning my discard is as potent as traditional starter. So on days that I don’t create a levain for my sourdough I have active sourdough starter that could be put to use in a variety of recipes.
In other methods, discarded starter is collected and stored in the fridge for alternative baking uses. This form of sourdough starter discard is not as active and most likely won’t yield optimal results in the following recipes.
Sourdough Waffles
These waffles are light, fluffy and incredibly satisfying. With a little overnight prep, you’ll be ready for the best pancakes you’ve ever had in the morning.
Sourdough Starter Waffles
While waffles traditionally use baking powder or baking soda to achieve their rise, this recipe uses (you guessed it) sourdough starter! The key is prepping the batter the night before so the yeast & bacteria have plenty of time to do their thang. That way when you put the batter on a hot griddle, the result is the fluffiest tastiest waffles you’ve ever had.
Sourdough Foccacia
This herby, fluffy, soft loaf is addicting to say the least. You can use it for breakfast sandwiches, as a side, or as a pizza base.
Sourdough Focaccia
Focaccia is an incredibly versatile Italian flat bread traditionally flavored with rosemary and olive oil. But you can branch out and flavor it with any of your favorite herbs. Like any sourdough-based recipe, this requires a bit of forethought and planning, but it’s totally worth it.
Sourdough Cinnamon Rolls
Lightly sweetened dough, tangy icing and a chewy middle make these hard to resist.
Sourdough Cinnamon Rolls
by the clever carrot
I LOVE making cinnamon rolls. To be fair, I love working with dough in general, but there’s something special about making cinnamon rolls. I get warm fuzzies rolling out the dough, sprinkling on the cinnamon sugar, forming each little cinnamon bun, and placing them in their tin to rise.
It may seem laborious, but when the bulk of the work is done the night before, all you really have to do in the morning is form and bake them. And who doesn’t love the smell of cinnamon rolls in the morning?
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Sourdough Biscuits
The slightly tangy sourdough flavor adds a lot to this recipe alongside the caramelized onions.
Caramelized Sourdough Biscuits
Flaky biscuits are one of life’s greatest pleasures and these do NOT disappoint. The sourdough starter is incorporated alongside of baking powder, so just like regular biscuits, there’s no need to let these biscuits proof. This is definitely a quick and easy way to utilize that extra starter.
Sourdough banana Bread
The extra touch of sourdough starter turns a regular banana bread loaf into something extraordinary.
Sourdough Banana Bread
This recipe is great because you get to put two things to use: overly ripe bananas and sourdough starter. It cloyingly sweet like some banana breads and you get to enjoy the smell of something lovely cooking.
More Baking Recipes
An easy-to-follow guide for making a basic loaf of artisan sourdough with simple ingredients: flour, water, salt and sourdough starter.