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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
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.
Room-temperature starter should be fed every 12 hours (twice a day) using the standard maintenance feeding procedure: discard all but 113g, and feed that 113g starter with 113g each water and flour.
Either compost or throw the discard in the trash. Use it immediately for baking: If you are going to bake something right away (same day), you can keep the discard at room temperature until you're ready to bake.
Sourdough discard is the unfed portion of your sourdough starter that you remove before you add fresh flour and water. Because of it's unfed state, it's not used to bake the delicious bread you know as sourdough, but more often than not, used in sourdough discard recipes.
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.
Can you freeze sourdough starter discard? While feeding an active starter is a better idea, freezing discard will also work. I would suggest freezing discard that has been more recently fed, it may take longer for the starter to become thriving and active after thawing.
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.
You can use 1-2 week old discard in “discard recipes”… think cookies, brownies, muffins, non-yeast breads, tortillas (pretty much anything that doesn't require active starter (aka wild yeast).
After day 7, do I keep discarding half of my sourdough starter? Nope! Once the sourdough starter is established on day 8, all you have to do is just give it flour and water. You no longer need to discard half of it.
So if you see, like, orange or pink streaking in your sourdough discard, that's bad bacteria, and you don't want to eat that, so it's time to throw that one away. That's really the only reason that you're looking for.
Yes you can use sourdough discard straight from the fridge, you don't need to let it come to room temperature if you don't want to. What is this? If you are using it straight from the fridge it may be a little stiff or thick, so you'll need to ensure you mix it really well.
You can utilize a cold starter in any sourdough discard recipe. These recipes don't require a sourdough starter for leavening, so you can use your starter directly from the fridge. These recipes offer a fantastic solution for using excess sourdough.
The best jar for your sourdough starter is a 3/4 Liter 743 Weck glass canning jar. These jars are made from durable glass that makes cleanup easy, either by hand or in the dishwasher. They have straight but slightly tapered sides, making it easy to get a spatula in and out.
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.
Sourdough discard is rich in probiotics, which can help promote a healthy gut microbiome and improve digestion. It's also a good source of fiber, which can help regulate blood sugar levels, lower cholesterol, and promote feelings of fullness.
Where should I store my jar of sourdough discard? Store your discard in a jar in the refrigerator where it will continue to ferment, albeit very slowly, whereas at room temperature, it will ferment quickly and you will soon have very ripe discard on your hands that won't be useful for much of anything.
Your starter will survive for quite a while in the fridge, even if you forget to feed it or you go away. It may develop hooch (meaning it's hungry) and become quite sour but you will be able to revive it by discarding and feeding when you're ready to use it again.
Yes sourdough bread should always be stored at room temperatures and never in the fridge. While your sourdough culture may be fine living in the fridge, a loaf of sourdough bread should always be stored at room temperature.
I've never kept dough in the fridge for more than 72 hours. The yeast will eventually run out of food to eat and the gluten structure will collapse. A sourdough made with an active culture might have a longer fridge life, but it will develop some very sour notes if left for that much time.
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