What Is Sourdough Discard and How To Use It

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My Five Favorite Discard Recipes

Ley’s start with what sourdough discard even is. This word gets tossed around in the sourdough world like you’re automatically supposed to know what it is. So if you’re new to Sourdough, this will be particularly helpful.

If you were to google what sourdough discard is, you’d get a few different answers, but all similar enough just to confuse you more than you probably are.

Things like, “As the name suggests, sourdough discard is a portion of the sourdough starter that is removed. This process is carried out before feeding (adding fresh flour and water) in order to manage its growth and refresh the acidity levels.”
Or, “Sourdough discard doesn’t have to be discarded. It is basically a mixture of flour and water which can be added to lots of different recipes.”
And “Sourdough discard is basically just any starter you’re left with after baking or feeding your starter.”

They are all right, but they are also not super clear. Why is one suggesting you always have something to remove, when another is saying it doesn’t have to be. Or what happens if I use all of my starter in my recipe? Do I not have any discard then? Should I have discard?

Here is what I have found most helpful in understanding Starter vs. Discard.

They are the same thing. Your starter IS your discard. Your discard IS your starter. So yes, you need it!
Think of you little pet as the yeast packet you get at the store. Thats exactly what it is. Fermented water and flour that has created a wild yeast. It is THE leavening agent for your bread. There is just two stages. An ‘Active’ and ‘Inactive’ stage. The bubbly, frothy, freshly ‘fed’ starter is the ‘Active’ one. Like what happens when you add warm water to the store bought packet. You activate it and then use it. Same idea here, it’s just a sticky goop. And instead of dissolving the powder into the warm water, you ‘feed’ it with equal parts water and flour.
That active one will grow and grow until it eventually deflates. It feeds off the proteins and gluten in the flour you fed it and all the gases/bubbles the bacteria created from that wild yeast will pop. This is the “inactive’ state. Also, often referred to as the ‘discard’. When your discard gets super hungry, it produces a gray liquid called ‘hooch’ and this just means you need to feed the poor guy/girl.

Hopefully that is helps you understand a bit more. As you work with itm it will all make sense. I’m convinced sourdoughing is one of those things you can read and read and read about but only so much will become understanding until you DO the steps. So, if you’re reading this and haven’t made any bread yet, get on it! Then come back and read it again, it’ll make more sense then. I promise.

In the beginning, I for sure had an adjustment period of having not enough and too much discard. I also had no idea what I was doing with bread, abut was killing it in the discard game cuz I felt bad just throwing it away. So i got some good experience in those first couple of months using it. Convinced myself if not a nice loaf of bread, we’d at least have some yummy discard treats to eat.
You’ll figure out your groove, and honestly, I love having a lot of discard because I want to be able to make all these goodies I’m about to share. So, if you’re like me, and doing this for more than JUST bread, get a big jar. I saved one to my Sourdough Essentials list from Amazon.

Now! On to some of our favorite recipes to use our goopy goop.

• These Waffles from Lynn’s Way of Life are the best we’ve tried.
• This Discard Pasta from make it dough will ruin you for all other noodles. So beware. I’ve made it with and without a pasta rolling thing, and it honestly wasn’t any less work or faster, the only difference is hand cutting the pasta is much more rustic looking.
• We love homemade pizza. The kids think it’s the most fun to roll and create their own personal size. This recipe is dope. I also have used this focacccia recipe from Homestead and Chill using discard and its amazing!
• The Discard Cracker recipe from King Arthur was the first discard recipe I tried. Since, we’ve made it a bunch and done tons of different flavorings.
• These buttery biscuits WILL change your life. Probs our favorite thing to make out of this list. Add a little jam or make some sausage gravy! Uff! Officially adding it to the breakfast menu for the week.

We’ve done all kinds of things, like donuts, cookies, pancakes, dutch baby, brownies, pretzels, I will on occasion even melt a little butter in a pan and fry a little discard all by it lonesome. It’s tangy, chewy and delish with an egg!

Happy sourdoughing friends!