Sourdough Starter Discard
Hiya Milk Street,
So I've successfully managed to make as sourdough starter! But now I've got circa 3 quarts of discard, which is a LOT. I know King Arthur has great recipies for discard, but their also use a lot more additional flour, which is in short supply in stores these days. Do you guys have any suggestions for recipies that use up a TON of discard, or have a high discard-to-flour ratio? (I've already done pancakes and biscuits and waffles and pizza -- all came out great, but each one used only a cup of discard at the most, leaving me with quiet a lot left. :) )
Thank you!!
-Michael
Comments
Hi Michael - We don't have any recipes in our database for sourdough starter discard and, if we did, they would probably be pretty similar to what King Arthur has on their website. I did find this article that had some pretty interesting ideas (batter for fried foods, granola, etc.), but you can also freeze it or give it away to friends. I'd also suggest keeping your starter in the fridge and only feeding it once a week so you don't have as much to discard. Good luck! Best, Lynn C.
That article's great -- thank you so much!! My starter is now mature, so I've switched over to the once a week feeding schedule, which aligns nicely with when I bake. Appreciate it.
Here is a pancake recipe that only uses starter. I use an almost 50/50 starter and the pancakes work well.
http://www.wildyeastblog.com/sourdough-pancakes/
I sub my sourdough discard into any and every baking recipe (cakes, biscuits, muffins, quick breads) - by taking out enough flour and water for however much sourdough I want to put in. So, for example, if recipe called for 3 cups of flour and 1 cup of water, and I wanted to put in 1 cup of sourdough discard instead - I subtract 1/2 c flour and 1/2 c water. If you want to do 2 cups of sourdough discard, take out 1 c flour and 1 c water, etc. It doesn't need to be an exact science, but I've had excellent results in everything so far! Also, the King Arthur crumpet recipe (https://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/sourdough-crumpets-recipe) uses only discard, a tiny bit of other ingredients, took less than 10 minutes from start to eating and was the most delicious thing I've made with my discard! Lacking the English muffin rings called for, I used wide mouth Mason jar lids and it worked great.